How to and explaining
Laminated ivory use
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In general...I mean what I say, "A way of life, a way of thinking." I spent 25 years alone in the wilds doing it 'my way' coming up with innovative ideas and solutions as well as artistic ideas. I do not do much the way everyone else does, so my products may not be what you are used to or expect. I want customers to be happy so it's good if we are on the same page. What I do and offer is more art, then science. Art is less about instructions and the ability to replicate by following directions, more about one of a kind. Less consistency than science. Art can be far out awesome, or a disaster! If you want another one it will not be the same! Hopefully it is even better! But yes, it could be a let down! My happiest customers are those seeking innovative one of a kind.
Likewise- keep in mind I am usually at the source of the raw materials. The good news is, provenance, knowledge, no middle people,, lower price, lots of selection. A flip side is 'out remote, not totally civilized. No cell phone, check emails every couple few days or I may be out on a dig for a week! Lack some fine tuned social skills. I'm a one man show, no helpers. Again, god news is, good prices, lots of knowledge The rest of the information is an offshoot of these thoughts. |
laminated fossil layersI sometimes laminate thin mammoth ivory bark to a stable strong background of exotic wood. A first reaction is often "Yulko! I want the full meal deal, genuine 100% natural all the way!" I may not change your mind on how you feel. My reply would be, "I also have that available at twice the price, all natural,"
I'm not trying to be known as cheap or a supplier of inferior product! My thinking is based on conservation. It is sad that only 1 % of the fossil ivory found is desired. The rest traditionally is 'garbage' sold dirt cheap, or tossed out. It's genuine 50 thousand year old Pleistocene material that could be used and cherished. It's a tad thin a tad weak? So fix it up, show off it's beauty! |
Natural fossil layeringLook at the picture above and the one to the left. Is the difference worth twice the price?
A variety of situations occur with ancient materials, that can require 'fixing.' Often the inner material is soft cracked weak on a thin nice looking outer bark. Sometimes the back can be stabilized with glue or resin. Other times filled with ivory dust and glue. Lamination if this option is chosen, can be other ivory, colored micarta, something inventive. Not everyone knows how, has the materials or the time to fool with it! Yet does not have the money to "Put another zero on the price," for material you do not have to fool with! This is one solution I offer: Let me fool with it.
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Knife handle made from the laminate
These are pictures of a finished knife I made from this material. The knife sold for $450. I do not suggest this laminate used on $1,000 and up truly high end finished product, but makes a fine product on a working knife. Or collector on budget
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Natural, Authentic, Real, value and cost.
Customer often use words like 'natural, 'Authentic.' 'Real,' 'unaltered.' Then want to pay me with plastic.. My hand is out for gold, assuming you understand and agree we are dealing 'real to real.' I smile. Women used to tell me they were for real, and in to 'nature'. They cut and dyed their hair shaved armpits, cut and altered their nails, used make up to look better, Wore clothes, and 'enhancers' of various kinds. Because it is what people expect? So ok, let's get real then. I want to discuss reality with you.
I want you to be satisfied, know what you are getting, yet I live in a different world then some. I'd like us to be on the same page, neither one of uss feeling we got scammed.
I assume there are people like me, who want quality raw materials, inexpensive because there is little time involved. The buyer can I can grade, clean, cut, and polish, to save money and turn 'raw' into a personalized product that suits our unique projects. ! As artists, that's what we do, right?
90% of the time raw natural needs 'work,' of some kind. Most raw wood will crack and warp if you do not dry it slow or seal it. Many rocks are to soft to polish, so need impregnating, like most turquoise, as well as dying. If you buy most material truly raw, you know, or would learn, 90% of it needs help. The raw that doesn't need help is often 'primo' with a primo price tag. If you cant afford primo, where cost is no object, you're needing to settle for 'enhanced,' if I do it or you do it.
On Ebay, silver and gold are colors, not materials. Glass beads go under 'gems.' Legally, art only has to be ten percent altered to be called yours. 'Native American' can be 90% from China. 75% is. Turquoise on the market is 95% rock dust and glue. A great many stones are dyed, even created in the lab. Most wood we accept stained, sealed, laminated ,mixed with glue, certainly not 'right off the tree.' We may or may not be told what got done to it. It's assumed we understand.
I'm at the source of most of what I sell raw. Fossils, rocks, wood. I find fossils wet, muddy unidentifiable. I call that 'raw.' If you know how to get the dirt off, dry it so it does not crack, identify it, grade it, I can sometimes sell it for a few dollars a pound. Alaska rocks can be the same! Muddy, wet , a 5 gallon bucket full of "I'm not sure what, just pretty right now," untill I take the time to clean and grade them. Very 'el-cheapo.' Wood can be fresh off the tree, with ants still living in it. If you know what to do with it 'raw,' it can be ten cents on the dollar compared to graded sorted, cut, cleaned. It's what I do myself at the Tucson rock show, where rocks are shown by the 55 gallon drum full. I buy 100 pounds for the same price as one perfect half ounce stone. I clean grade cut polish . In my own art, I end up with a unique product as a result of how I cut the raw. When I sell some raw, I assume you are like me and know how to work the raw and have the tools. Possibly a customer would be unhappy if all they know how to do is wire wrap an already prepared stone, and buy my raw thinking it is just a super unheard of deal. Make sure you look at any pictures or ask if you are not sure.
What level do you wish to come in on? I may buy 100 pounds of 'nice stone' like Lapis for $1 a pound. I can re-sell it site unseen for $2 a pound. I can wash, grade, cut , polish for $10 a pound. I can high-grade and fine tune the best pound out of 100 pounds and sell cabs for $10 an ounce. It's the same exact material I paid 100th of this price for and so can you. I can sell mammoth ivory as low as $10 a pound. You have to buy 50 pounds. It's 'somewhat graded.' (I took out all the blue. alligator etc I easily see.) I am grading hundreds to thousands of pounds. I miss some good stuff. In that 50 pounds will probably be at least a pound of primo that will pay for all the rest. That's how it works. The other 49 pounds needs help. Fill in a crack, stabilize the soft, etc. Or as I say, pay me to do that. Keep in mind I sell at all levels, raw for a dollar, and raw for $20,000.
Unique materials
One of a kind might well be far out! But 'far out,' could be much better, or much worse than normal. It might be untested. There could be some reason no one has used it like this before. Cutting edge is an experiment. I once accepted a 30% failure rate and write off. "So what!" Half my castings could not be used! But there was in the big picture, one in a hundred that pays for all the rest put together. I fool with 'processes,' resins, and stuff like a fossil opalized squid tentacle for a knife handle. I use win-dig symbols as letters when I write my books. I specialize in 'not recommended.' I thrive on, "That's not how it's done." "Here, watch this," is a common line. My best customers sing the same song. I have wood no one else in the world has for example. Some has no name. I find it myself 500 mines in the wilderness. I have a stabilizing process I adapted no one else knows, and no one else's wood looks like this. There is no popularity scale set yet. Are you a leader, or follower? I have much of the normal stuff, but my specialty is 'stuff only I have.' Some of my bread and butter business are items everyone sells, that I buy wholesale from a source you do not know about , or in quantities you can't use, do nothing to it but repackage and mark up the price. Bt my specialty and joy is the unique materials I finds myself.
The downside? A higher then normal percent of my raw material is 'tweaked.' Not square, not fully polished, Accurate when cut to the nearest 1/16th of an inch, maybe, but not to the nearest 32nd. Partly because it is cut and worked by hand one at a time. "You are recutting and polishing anyhow! Why pay me shop time to fine tune it!" My material may not be consistent quality, especially when I find much of it. It is what it is. I'm an expert a a few things, good at a lot of things yet sell an amazing variety! I may not know myself how to grade or price things I'm not an expert at. Like I'm not an expert on turquoise, it's not an Alaska product. Yet acquire a lot of it like 100 pounds on hand. I have graded wrong, and sold hundred dollar pieces for ten dollars. Happy customer! Few would correct me and return $90. It is also possible I find something beautiful but it is azurite malachite and I think it's turquoise and want good money! An indignant customer wants $90 of his $100 back! Sometimes rare unique is worth whatever people agree too. I may buy a box at an estate sale and not even know what I bought. I might know more than you about it or I might know less. Keep in mind I have been in business over 40 years and dealt with a lot of things! But some people are an expert at one thing, like the turquoise example I gave. I meet people who can tell me what mine and what year it came out!
The art Like raw materials, one of a kind, trying something new I think will work. It is often better than normal, but can potentially br worse, can fail in some way as it is untested. I try to reflect this as best I can in the price. I may ask $500 for something that someone else with an established name in a reputable gallery might get $5,000 for, the same exact item. In fact some people sometimes buy from me and mark it up in their gallery I have no access to living remote. One of the prices I pay for the lifestyle. Likewise I have more primitive not updated tools then the civilized, less formal education, fewer other artists to stay in touch with and bounce ideas, get advice, collaborate with. Some of this has to be kept in mind when viewing my web site.
I want you to be satisfied, know what you are getting, yet I live in a different world then some. I'd like us to be on the same page, neither one of uss feeling we got scammed.
I assume there are people like me, who want quality raw materials, inexpensive because there is little time involved. The buyer can I can grade, clean, cut, and polish, to save money and turn 'raw' into a personalized product that suits our unique projects. ! As artists, that's what we do, right?
90% of the time raw natural needs 'work,' of some kind. Most raw wood will crack and warp if you do not dry it slow or seal it. Many rocks are to soft to polish, so need impregnating, like most turquoise, as well as dying. If you buy most material truly raw, you know, or would learn, 90% of it needs help. The raw that doesn't need help is often 'primo' with a primo price tag. If you cant afford primo, where cost is no object, you're needing to settle for 'enhanced,' if I do it or you do it.
On Ebay, silver and gold are colors, not materials. Glass beads go under 'gems.' Legally, art only has to be ten percent altered to be called yours. 'Native American' can be 90% from China. 75% is. Turquoise on the market is 95% rock dust and glue. A great many stones are dyed, even created in the lab. Most wood we accept stained, sealed, laminated ,mixed with glue, certainly not 'right off the tree.' We may or may not be told what got done to it. It's assumed we understand.
I'm at the source of most of what I sell raw. Fossils, rocks, wood. I find fossils wet, muddy unidentifiable. I call that 'raw.' If you know how to get the dirt off, dry it so it does not crack, identify it, grade it, I can sometimes sell it for a few dollars a pound. Alaska rocks can be the same! Muddy, wet , a 5 gallon bucket full of "I'm not sure what, just pretty right now," untill I take the time to clean and grade them. Very 'el-cheapo.' Wood can be fresh off the tree, with ants still living in it. If you know what to do with it 'raw,' it can be ten cents on the dollar compared to graded sorted, cut, cleaned. It's what I do myself at the Tucson rock show, where rocks are shown by the 55 gallon drum full. I buy 100 pounds for the same price as one perfect half ounce stone. I clean grade cut polish . In my own art, I end up with a unique product as a result of how I cut the raw. When I sell some raw, I assume you are like me and know how to work the raw and have the tools. Possibly a customer would be unhappy if all they know how to do is wire wrap an already prepared stone, and buy my raw thinking it is just a super unheard of deal. Make sure you look at any pictures or ask if you are not sure.
What level do you wish to come in on? I may buy 100 pounds of 'nice stone' like Lapis for $1 a pound. I can re-sell it site unseen for $2 a pound. I can wash, grade, cut , polish for $10 a pound. I can high-grade and fine tune the best pound out of 100 pounds and sell cabs for $10 an ounce. It's the same exact material I paid 100th of this price for and so can you. I can sell mammoth ivory as low as $10 a pound. You have to buy 50 pounds. It's 'somewhat graded.' (I took out all the blue. alligator etc I easily see.) I am grading hundreds to thousands of pounds. I miss some good stuff. In that 50 pounds will probably be at least a pound of primo that will pay for all the rest. That's how it works. The other 49 pounds needs help. Fill in a crack, stabilize the soft, etc. Or as I say, pay me to do that. Keep in mind I sell at all levels, raw for a dollar, and raw for $20,000.
Unique materials
One of a kind might well be far out! But 'far out,' could be much better, or much worse than normal. It might be untested. There could be some reason no one has used it like this before. Cutting edge is an experiment. I once accepted a 30% failure rate and write off. "So what!" Half my castings could not be used! But there was in the big picture, one in a hundred that pays for all the rest put together. I fool with 'processes,' resins, and stuff like a fossil opalized squid tentacle for a knife handle. I use win-dig symbols as letters when I write my books. I specialize in 'not recommended.' I thrive on, "That's not how it's done." "Here, watch this," is a common line. My best customers sing the same song. I have wood no one else in the world has for example. Some has no name. I find it myself 500 mines in the wilderness. I have a stabilizing process I adapted no one else knows, and no one else's wood looks like this. There is no popularity scale set yet. Are you a leader, or follower? I have much of the normal stuff, but my specialty is 'stuff only I have.' Some of my bread and butter business are items everyone sells, that I buy wholesale from a source you do not know about , or in quantities you can't use, do nothing to it but repackage and mark up the price. Bt my specialty and joy is the unique materials I finds myself.
The downside? A higher then normal percent of my raw material is 'tweaked.' Not square, not fully polished, Accurate when cut to the nearest 1/16th of an inch, maybe, but not to the nearest 32nd. Partly because it is cut and worked by hand one at a time. "You are recutting and polishing anyhow! Why pay me shop time to fine tune it!" My material may not be consistent quality, especially when I find much of it. It is what it is. I'm an expert a a few things, good at a lot of things yet sell an amazing variety! I may not know myself how to grade or price things I'm not an expert at. Like I'm not an expert on turquoise, it's not an Alaska product. Yet acquire a lot of it like 100 pounds on hand. I have graded wrong, and sold hundred dollar pieces for ten dollars. Happy customer! Few would correct me and return $90. It is also possible I find something beautiful but it is azurite malachite and I think it's turquoise and want good money! An indignant customer wants $90 of his $100 back! Sometimes rare unique is worth whatever people agree too. I may buy a box at an estate sale and not even know what I bought. I might know more than you about it or I might know less. Keep in mind I have been in business over 40 years and dealt with a lot of things! But some people are an expert at one thing, like the turquoise example I gave. I meet people who can tell me what mine and what year it came out!
The art Like raw materials, one of a kind, trying something new I think will work. It is often better than normal, but can potentially br worse, can fail in some way as it is untested. I try to reflect this as best I can in the price. I may ask $500 for something that someone else with an established name in a reputable gallery might get $5,000 for, the same exact item. In fact some people sometimes buy from me and mark it up in their gallery I have no access to living remote. One of the prices I pay for the lifestyle. Likewise I have more primitive not updated tools then the civilized, less formal education, fewer other artists to stay in touch with and bounce ideas, get advice, collaborate with. Some of this has to be kept in mind when viewing my web site.