Casting a compass rose....of sorts.

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gothycdesigns

gothycdesigns

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Hey everyone !!

Well in a past post, I noted I would be setting some bottle stoppers up to sell at a Tattoo shop. One of the ideas my tatt guy asked if I made some stoppers with a compass rose. I guess higher end customers that are goal oriented like those things. So in searching for some,
I kind of find it hard to find a supply of them, such as a bag in bulk of 5 or 10 or even 20. I figure some place may have trinkets of such but all I really find are compass rose that cost up to $30ea.....

So this is my question, would this be in bad taste if I found a decent picture online, printed them off and casted them on the stoppers? Has anyone really done such if they can't find the real thing? I have experience with mold making and casting from doing a lot of FX stuff. And thought of buying one compass rose and casting it and making copies. But doing that, I'd then have paint each one I cast.


Thanks in advance.


Ray K.
 
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How may points do you want for the rose? 4, 8 or 16? Make a mold for a diamond shapes of varying sizes (1 size for a 4 pointer, 2 for the 8 pointer etc.) Sort of like a pyramid that 's been stretched from opposite corners. Pour the lower half or the stopper which I presume will be a solid color, glue the points in the shape of your rose to the lower half and then pour the clear upper. The cardinal points could be one color and the smaller divisions another.

Clear as mud?
 
You could try cutting veneers into shapes and glueing them into place on the top of a flattened stopper. You could cast over the top and then turn round if you wanted a magnifying effect.
 
I don't actually know what a compass rose is. I think a small silk rose would look good in a bottle stopper. You can find those easy enough and cheap enough and they usually have a little stem on them. The stem can be used to hold the rose suspended in a mold, and then after it sets, you drill out the stem and that is where the stopper attaches. I have used small pine cones, glued a little dowel on the bottom to suspend them and that works great.
 
workinforwood said:
I don't actually know what a compass rose is.
Click to expand...
A "compass rose" is the marking on a chart (a nautical or aeronautical map) that shows its magnetic orientation. On modern charts, it includes graduated marks for all 360 degrees. More traditionally, it looks something like this:
compassrose.jpg

I've wanted to do a segmentation of a compass rose for quite a while, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Regards,
Eric
 
Sylvanite said:
A "compass rose" is the marking on a chart (a nautical or aeronautical map) that shows its magnetic orientation. On modern charts, it includes graduated marks for all 360 degrees. More traditionally, it looks something like this:
compassrose.jpg

I've wanted to do a segmentation of a compass rose for quite a while, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Regards,
Eric
Click to expand...


I have asked Constance to see if were possible to make a kit for me awhile ago. I told him no need to hurry with it so I think it is still on his to do list. He has not contacted me about it yet.
 
Maybe I should rephrase this. Since I can't find a bulk buy on some Compass rose trinkets,
I was thinking of printing out on paper the desired compass and basically cast that in the stopper instead.

Since some turners here are doing this on pens, I was thinking of doing it for the stoppers. So do you think this would be tacky to do on a bottle stopper (on top)?

I have no problem with the casting part of it. Actually one of the pictures I had saved of a compass rose the other day is exactly like the one shown above by Sylvanite, there are a couple of other designs. But thinking that paper compass rose casted may work and more affordable than buying up trinkets.

Thanks

Ray K.
 
Just a thought

Use photo paper and not plain paper

It is thicker, thus less likely to curl, and can be either glossy or satin.

Lee
 
Are you asking will it work, probably. Will it look tacky, probably. Will anyone care, probably not. It just would lose something. Not sure how 3D it would look and looking from the side it would have no depth. All anyone can say to you is try it and see how it comes out and show us and then we can decide better.
 
gothycdesigns said:
Hey everyone !!

Well in a past post, I noted I would be setting some bottle stoppers up to sell at a Tattoo shop. One of the ideas my tatt guy asked if I made some stoppers with a compass rose. I guess higher end customers that are goal oriented like those things. So in searching for some,
I kind of find it hard to find a supply of them, such as a bag in bulk of 5 or 10 or even 20. I figure some place may have trinkets of such but all I really find are compass rose that cost up to $30ea.....

So this is my question, would this be in bad taste if I found a decent picture online, printed them off and casted them on the stoppers? Has anyone really done such if they can't find the real thing? I have experience with mold making and casting from doing a lot of FX stuff. And thought of buying one compass rose and casting it and making copies. But doing that, I'd then have paint each one I cast.


Thanks in advance.


Ray K.
Click to expand...

What would you consider a reasonable price?

I believe that CoinsAndPins makes a series of Compass Rose Geocoins for around $8 each which could be inlayed into a turning. Their website is down for maintenance atm so I can't confirm the price.

LapelPinPlanet has a simple pewter one at $3 each for 10 or more
 
If I really have to. I would pay up to $30 if needed for 1 piece. Because I know I can always make an impression and cast it to then make a mold for multiple castings of 8 in a mold. I did this with small skulls I found. So I now have a mold out of GI-1000 silicone that has 12 small skulls that any time I could pour 1-12 when needed or just to pour to gain a bulk supply for myself.

But cheaper is also good as long as it looks decent. But in looking the other night, I think I may have found a place to get compass rose, a zodiac sun dial and other things for cheap pricing. And if need to I can also add some paint to repaint them to whatever I would think match a scheme.
 
gothycdesigns said:
If I really have to. I would pay up to $30 if needed for 1 piece. Because I know I can always make an impression and cast it to then make a mold for multiple castings of 8 in a mold. I did this with small skulls I found. So I now have a mold out of GI-1000 silicone that has 12 small skulls that any time I could pour 1-12 when needed or just to pour to gain a bulk supply for myself.

But cheaper is also good as long as it looks decent. But in looking the other night, I think I may have found a place to get compass rose, a zodiac sun dial and other things for cheap pricing. And if need to I can also add some paint to repaint them to whatever I would think match a scheme.
Click to expand...


Would you care to reveal your source for the compass rose???
 
What about just laser engraving with color fill on the endgrain of a piece of hardwood, then cast the clear PR over that? There should be someone on here who can do the engraving and fill at a reasonable price.

Failing that, you could pick up a cheap but good looking small compass, cast it into PR and have a working compass stopper. Should be great for backpacking through France :)
 
I know what I would do. I would copy this as a jpeg file. put it into a "paint" program, get it sized right and print it onto decal paper. Then I would transfer the decal onto the end of a round acrylic or PR pen blank that complimented the bottle stopper material, cut the piece as thick as I wanted to embed it into the stopper, drill the top of the stopper, glue in the compass and then CA finish it.

Treat it the same as you would a "do dad" that many turners put on the tops of stoppers. If you wanted to give it 3D look, you could put the decal over a pretty "shooter" marble, quartz, etc.

Total cost (including the marble :) ) about $1.
 
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