Carving Green Wood
Q: I’ve got some sections of tree trunk that I want to carve into figures. Can I carve it when it is still fresh, or does it need to season first? If I leave it outside (in Britain) will I need to use some kind of preservative?
Making Paint
Q: I want to make my own paints from dirt, rocks, vegetables, spices, etc. I have seen paint make from colored dirt by adding a little white glue and some water. Is this going to work with everything?
Making Sculpture in Papier Mache
Q: How do you make the paste for papier mache? Is it just flour and water? What can you build it on besides balloons?
Carving Amber
Q: I’ve picked up some nice pieces of amber and I was wondering how to carve it.
Pearls, and How They Grow
Q: When I looked closely at the hole drilled into a pearl I’d bought, it looked like a thin shell of pearl over a bead. Is this normal, or was I ripped off?
Drilling Pearls
Q: I would like to enlarge the holes in some freshwater pearls. Any suggestions about how to do this?
Adhesives for Sea Shells
Q: I make jewelry from sea shells. I have been using hot glue to stick them onto metal findings, but it’s messy-looking and it tends to peel off. Are there any adhesives that would work better than this?
Distinguishing Genuine Ivory
Q: How can you tell if an object is genuine ivory? And if it isn’t, what else could it be?