Nice people thread part 8 - worth the wait

lostinrates

GDB2222 wrote: »

I'm sorry to hear that, but It's turned my world view upside down. I'd always had the idea that humans have trouble giving birth because we only started walking upright fairly recently, and I presumed animals just manage splendidly because they've had millions of years to adapt.

I can promised you all sorts of animals have terrible births. That why lambing ( and calving) is a big deal for farmers and vet students seeing practise. Problems with births then of course, differently, the problems babies can have. Infections from partial Placenta retention are a biggy, and the caul never looks complete to me ever. I always keep it for the vet who always says, yes there is 'this this and this) but its something I just don't 'see' and don't see how tiny bits missing can be noticed. (Its just something I can never see, while I know a vet who always has people like me who can see very slight unbalances not just obvious lameness by him when he is vetting at events) Special girls goal was late ( six weeks late:eek:) and a partial induction, but we still needed a rope around the legs and to pull. Births are beautiful, but stressful!

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd have offered to make/send them, for free .... if I'd had the bits. Trouble is, sourcing the bits would have taken a long time........ hours/days/weeks possibly.

I'd have hand forged the top bits as that'd be the easiest way to get those (easier than trying to buy something).... and the pearl is probably bought in a pack of 10 or 20, or a string .... and then I'd have needed to get the wire.

As it is .... I've not got any of that stuff

Clever PN.

I'm assuming that forging involves heating. Does heating risk damaging the pearls? It may be a stupid question, I know nothing of pearls.

lostinrates

GDB2222 wrote: »

But a *lovely* temperament?

Lovely. And smart.

lostinrates

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Thinking again, I'm being unfair about that. The constituent parts are probably about a tenner, but a 3.5 x mark-up's not bad by jewellery standards at all.

So, where should I look?

PasturesNew

silvercar wrote: »

Clever PN.

I'm assuming that forging involves heating. Does heating risk damaging the pearls? It may be a stupid question, I know nothing of pearls.

Depends what I bought/how I did it. The ones in the link were gold plated, which would leave me with an issue over whether the colour was important, or the gold plating. If colour I'd have hand-sawn from sheet bronze, then domed and beaten by hand, before finishing with filing and polishing.

The pearl goes on next.

In answer to your question re heat/pearls: Yes, the heat would damage the pearls, but there are ways to protect things (which takes a little bit of practising/trialling), but it is possible if one DOES have to have a peal in situ - it's certainly not for the faint-hearted, or with anything expensive

Edit: I'd have heated the sheet before I started, might have to heat the bronze pre-doming and maybe while hammering. Each heat treatment is accompanied by a session in acid.

Of course, my end result would have been of a higher quality and carefully hand-crafted.... so you can put the price up again for that

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd have offered to make/send them, for free .... if I'd had the bits. Trouble is, sourcing the bits would have taken a long time........ hours/days/weeks possibly.

I'd have hand forged the top bits as that'd be the easiest way to get those (easier than trying to buy something).... and the pearl is probably bought in a pack of 10 or 20, or a string .... and then I'd have needed to get the wire.

As it is .... I've not got any of that stuff

Yikes, I would have wanted to pay you anyway! I don't expect anyone to fund my foibles. Well, apart from the guy I am using as a pillow ATM.

chewmylegoff

GDB2222 wrote: »

I'm sorry to hear that, but It's turned my world view upside down. I'd always had the idea that humans have trouble giving birth because we only started walking upright fairly recently, and I presumed animals just manage splendidly because they've had millions of years to adapt.

I thought there was an issue with human births due to our relatively large brains meaning that heads are too big meaning that human babies are born earlier in development terms than other species. This obviously doesn't explain why my birth took longer than normal though...

GDB2222

lostinrates wrote: »

I can promised you all sorts of animals have terrible births.

Do wild animals have the same issues as domesticated ones?

And Chewie, I can assure you that some of us have remained immature since birth.

neverdespairgirl

GDB2222 wrote: »

I'm sorry to hear that, but It's turned my world view upside down. I'd always had the idea that humans have trouble giving birth because we only started walking upright fairly recently, and I presumed animals just manage splendidly because they've had millions of years to adapt.

Animals do, in general, give birth a lot more easily than humans. But there are, of course, exceptions.

Horses are also spectacularly poorly-adapted for survival, I reckon - lots of them would've become extinct if they'd not been domesticated, I think!

neverdespairgirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd have offered to make/send them, for free .... if I'd had the bits. Trouble is, sourcing the bits would have taken a long time........ hours/days/weeks possibly.

I'd have hand forged the top bits as that'd be the easiest way to get those (easier than trying to buy something).... and the pearl is probably bought in a pack of 10 or 20, or a string .... and then I'd have needed to get the wire.

As it is .... I've not got any of that stuff

The pearls are almost certainly bought by the 16 inch string, because they are pierced all the way through. It's generally only the highest-end freshwaters that are bought by the piece or pair, and then they'd most likely be half-drilled not fully-drilled.