▲ 760 r/Suiseki
“Breaching”
Sandstone on White Oak
L-10”, W-4”, H-8”
This is one of my valued stones due to its rare shape and interesting weathering. It is hard to tell from the picture, but this stone was one of the most difficult stones to balance.
u/802GreenMountains — 9 days ago
▲ 263 r/Suiseki
The Oracle
Serpentinite on Black Walnut
L-5”, W-5”, H-7”
u/802GreenMountains — 13 days ago
▲ 236 r/Suiseki
Sandstone on Cherry
L-10”, W-5”, H-12”
I thought a contemporary daiza would go well with this stone.
u/802GreenMountains — 19 days ago
▲ 50 r/Suiseki
A decidedly non-traditional, but interesting, experiment.
Milky Quartz on Sapele
L-8", W-4", H-5.5"
Last summer I tried to experiment with making a viewing stone light. I found the thinnest under-counter LED puck light I could find and embedded it under the stone. While I really liked the light the stone emitted, I wasn't too impressed with the stone itself. However, my niece really loved the idea and encouraged me to make more of them. I explained that it was rare to find a stone with a nice shape and good translucency, but I would keep an eye out. This was the only stone I found that fit that criteria.
Then, while working with my grandnephew, who was interested in learning the craft, I suggested we use this stone to make a light for his mother that he could give her for Christmas. He liked the idea and this was the result. I have to say that I was surprised that I liked it. The way the light only penetrates the front of the stone suggesting a cave-like opening, made me realize this was a perfect stone for this experiment.
If anyone is interested in trying something similar, here are some things I learned:
When I placed the light under my first stone, light escaped around it's edges. I stuffed tissue under the stone in those areas which, while effective, didn't appeal to my sense of aesthetics. I don't know if a cut stone would work better, but I found it nearly impossible to prevent this with a natural stone.
I tried to remedy that problem with this one by spreading some Bondo inside the base and setting the stone on top with a plastic wrap barrier. While this worked, working with Bondo is really messy and the fumes obnoxious. If I were to do this again, I think I would try using some type of wood filler.
Another problem I ran into was the LED light has a mid-line connector that is about 1/4" in diameter. I did consider cutting and splicing the wire, but went with drilling the larger hole. For my first stone, I placed this hole underneath the base, which became another source of light loss. For this stone I left wood under the stone where the light is placed. This allowed me to drill my hole so it exited the bottom rear of the base instead.
u/802GreenMountains — 26 days ago
▲ 199 r/Suiseki
2 for 1
For those of you that are as interested in the journey as much as the product, here’s the story behind these. I don’t typically collect stones that require cutting, mostly because I don’t own a wet saw. But when I found this highly weathered limestone, I was hoping to figure out a way to do it.
Then, while driving around town one day, I noticed a saw sitting in someone’s driveway. I stopped and asked the owner if he’d cut it for me. Although he probably thought I was a bit loony, he agreed.
My initial plan was to keep the half shown in the 2nd picture, where I saw a Yeti cave on a Himalayan peak, and discard the other. I think I was so focused on the one half, that I overlooked the other. It wasn’t until I saw the stones separated that I realized I had a 2 for 1.
u/802GreenMountains — 1 month ago
▲ 133 r/Suiseki
Serpentinite on Black Walnut
L-4”, W-4”, H-5”
Just finished.
u/802GreenMountains — 1 month ago
▲ 522 r/Suiseki
“The Quarry”
Shale on Rosewood
L-6”, w-5”, H-7.5”
One of my favorite finds, this stone evokes memories of my cliff-diving youth.
u/802GreenMountains — 1 month ago
▲ 264 r/Suiseki
“A man on a horse…waving his hat…in the sun.”
Sandstone on Red Birch
L-6”, W-2”, J-9”
u/802GreenMountains — 2 months ago
▲ 157 r/Suiseki
“The Color of Spring”
Serpentinite on Black Walnut
L-6”, W-4.5”, H-5”
Made my first hunting trip of the year to a mountain river that has lots of colorful stones. This one is my favorite.
The colors of this stone remind me of the day I found it. It started off overcast and windy,and felt quite chilly by the water. I was thinking how nice it would be for the sun to come out and warm things up.
A couple of hours later the sun finally emerged. With no shade and the sun reflecting off the water and rocks, I started to sweat. That attracted a cloud of blackflies that tried their best to crawl into every opening on my face. I remember thinking how nice it would be if it got cloudy and windy.
u/802GreenMountains — 2 months ago
▲ 510 r/Suiseki
Sandstone on Black Walnut
L-7”, W-9”, H-7”
My 11 year old grandnephew comes over once a week to learn how to make viewing stones and we completed 4 or 5 together over the winter/spring. He chose this stone for our next project together and was in charge of the design. I suspect the fact he didn’t want to make feet may be due to the increasingly nice weather outside. However, I’m impressed that he stuck with it and has learned how rewarding hard work can be.
u/802GreenMountains — 2 months ago
▲ 380 r/Suiseki
L-7”, W-5”, H-9.5”
This stone has been sitting on my workbench since last summer. Every time I picked it up and studied it, I just couldn’t envision a daiza for it. I decided to go ahead and set it in the wood thinking that would make it easier. Then I literally sat staring at it for a day and a half. I finally came up with the idea for the feet, but couldn’t picture the rest of it so I just figured it out as I went along.
u/802GreenMountains — 2 months ago