You’re Welcome…… Great to hear from you again.

Cali jade, like everywhere, has it’s good, bad and indifferent. What it does have is the blues which can be fantastic!

Donn

Thanks for the link to this website. What do you think of California jade?

Jeannie

BRAD BLAKELY

Thanks for the comprehensive reply to my message, you answered all of my ??s. cheers!

I ended up finishing the problem stone at 600grit diamond and a coat of Parafin oil. I just ordered some of that Renaisance wax from the UK (they use it on artifacts in the British Museum) but have yet to try it on Jade.

Yes I have come accross Michael Barlow…he dosen’t like to business with locals and only sells to china and US as tonnage, damn pity that! But I occasionally find the odd lump of Tammworth Jade in the oddest of little rock shops, It’s good solid stuff and I like that olive/blue combination it has. I do have a good supply of A Grade Cowell Black and Bluegum which is a joy to work and have also been giving the Wyoming and Siberian Nephrite a go, I like the Siberian material a lot, very translucent! Maybe one sunny day Ngai Tahu will open their Pandoras Box to a select few…we wait in hope. (I don’t blame them for protecting their sacred taonga though) Imagine if all indigenous cultures got their treasures back…the world would have to be a better place.

I will be back in NZ at the end of 2010 to visit my brother in Auckland and then on to Christchurch for the fourth “Coast-Garde” collective exhibition at Form Gallery (Jamie Fergus, Rys Hall, Paul Bradford, Andy Ruskin, Karen Roberts, Tim Royal and Jason Tweedie) we have had the show happening for a couple of years now. While I’m over getting my feet wet! I am aiming to visit John Edgar who I met at the Tai Poutini Polytech Exhibition in 2005 (I did the certificate). Anyway I would luv to visit your studio (if that’s cool) and the timing is right…where do you live?

Thanks again for the reply, Jason

Yep, stone of varying hardness is a pain. Without seeing the actual specimen you describe it is difficult to advise. Different finishing processes for different stone….. if the inclination is even there to work such stone. Depends on the desired result. The last piece of a difficult, multi grained nephrite has just been completed. A dark blue Californian jade which can be seen on http://www.DonnSaltJade.com…. titled ‘Blue Warrior’. A fantastic, very hard nephrite which has just been smeared with olive oil.

Traditionally the Chinese do use a clear, hard wax to finish their works. A very competent, contemporary Chinese piece was recently in my care for a year and was minutely examined on numerous occasions. The deep recesses had a thick layer of wax which looked and felt like paraffin wax…. ??? Interesting!

Finishing is almost always the making of a good piece. Poor quality material is very rarely worth the effort unless there is something unique to explore in the jade. Patterns, color or colors, specific grain etc. etc……
Your own fine works illustrate a cognizance of this.

You are correct, I do have sufficient NZ stone, accumulated over the decades, to serve my requirements. I am also very aware the present generation of new carvers do not have access to prime material as was once the case. Do not be mistaken here….. high quality NZ jade has always been scarce. The gold activities of the ’80′s did bring much to the surface which was unprecedented!
With NZ jade being virtually unobtainable for most these days I have been researching and experimenting with stone from various other global sources and have discovered there is much excellent jade still to be obtained. Should aspiring carvers wish there is jade available that is equal to any NZ stone.
A couple of examples are on the site linked above….. and purposely not NZ look alikes.

Indiscriminate cutting of the best of the best by commercial energies has always been a sore point…… the greed and plagiaristic attitudes suck !!!! Once upon a time hooks and curls were considered a waste of jade and mindless cabochons by the thousand were the call of the day …… ugh !!

Have you come across Michael Barlow yet ???
He has a jade claim he’s working near Tamworth, NSW. The stone from there is not dissimilar to our NZ material.

Cheers…. Donn

Jason Tweedie here, kiwi residing in Brisbane Australia…I have just discovered your site and also the carving path site…I sent you a message on the TCP but I have only just registered and it my not have got through.

Luv your work mate you have really refined your style to perfection and a mystical edge too!!! and being of an older generation still have some good NZ stone left in your Pandora’s Box, did you get this stuff in the 70s and 80s when the mad rush to extract all earth’s goodies was in full swing?.

Anyway I was asking about how to (or should I say how you) finish patterned Pounamu (NZ Nephrite) that has the hard and soft areas throughout (I have noticed in your work that is out there for public access that you have not used any of this lower grade material (do you find it as troublesome as I do and only use valuable time on the good shit?), I found it would orange-peel after about 600grit diamond cloth, so I left it at that, then soaked it in Parafin oil…which I know other carvers in NZ do. Can you shine any light on how best to finish this material, I know the oil dries out with time and needs to be re-applied, how do you overcome this problem?…I’ve heard that the chinese rub their work with pure hard beeswax?

I recently have been working with Cowell, Siberian and Wyoming Jade (and Arizona Fire Agate, luv it!) which I have found a much more user-friendly experience than doing battle with the NZ stone that is left for us non-commercial guys. There is a lot of good material getting cut up like bread on the factory floor in NZ…what do you think about this? How many spirals and drops can really exist on this planet?

Enough raving from me and you’ve probably heard it all many times. How do you upload images to this site? You don’t have to answer all my ???s but I would luv to know the finishing process you do.

Cheers Jason