What do the lines on a carved stone ball mean?
Concentric carved lines on stone balls appear to be stylised oculi. This ball also has a roughly triangular arrangement of three dots in an interspace between the knobs. This appears to be identical to the arrangement of dots found on the Parkhill silver chain terminal ring, found near Aberdeen, a Pictish artefact.
How did leatherworkers make the carved stone balls?
Into the 20th century leatherworkers polished leather, parchment, and hides, by tying the skins to a frame using a ball at each corner of the hide then rubbing down material being worked with stones. The corners of the hides were wrapped around the balls which allowed the bindings to hold fast without slipping off.
How are carved stone balls related to Pictish symbols?
A similar distribution to that of Pictish symbols led to the early suggestion that carved stone balls are Pictish artefacts. The core distribution also reflects that of the Recumbent stone circles.
What kind of stone is the Towie ball made out of?
Examples made from Hornblende gneiss and granitic gneiss were noted, both very difficult stone to work. Granitic rocks were also used and the famous Towie example may be serpentinised picrite. The highly ornamented examples were mainly made of sandstone or serpentine.
What’s the best way to tone brass plates?
Place a piece of scrap paper over the acetate and once again, press down on the brass (this time through the paper and acetate) with the iron, keeping the iron moving. Be careful not to melt the acetate. The actual toner transfer happens very quickly, and I found it needed very little heating with this method – in the order of 5-10 seconds.
What are the steps to etching a brass plate?
Etching Brass Plates. 1 Step 1: What You Need (and Where You Can Get It in the UK) You will need: Brass plate (I got mine from eBay) Iron Computer to prepare artwork Laser 2 Step 2: Preparing the Artwork. 3 Step 3: Prepare the Plate. 4 Step 4: Line Up the Mask. 5 Step 5: Toner Transfer.
What kind of paint to use on brass plates?
The artwork I used is a piece called Tribal Eagle by *xx-trigrhappy-xx and is used with permission. Acetone (optional – but useful. Nail polish remover is mostly acetone and will do nicely) Cheap tupperware (You’re not going to be able to reuse this for food!)
