10/15/19 Report - How To Recycle and Get More Out of Your Junk Finds. Crafts and Classes.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Crude Sea-Seasoned Dug Cross Displaying "PAX"

If you metal detect very much, you'll get some pieces that can no longer be worn.  They might be broken or corroded or both, like the cross shown above.  You might accumulate a collection of corroded or broken rings, chains, coins, etc.  So what do you do with those broken silver or gold items that can no longer be worn?  One option would be to sell them for the value of the metals, but there are also some other options.  If you take jewelry making classes you might be able to use your salvaged materials from broken jewelry to make new jewelry.

Many years ago I took a lost wax casting class at a local community college.  The class not only provided instruction, but also access to expensive equipment for melting and casting newly created jewelry.  I also sold some of my scrap metals to fellow students who did not have their own supply of scrap silver.

The silver cross shown above is too corroded to be cleaned, but it could be melted and made into something else.  It doesn't look like something that was sold at a jewelry store.  It could have been made by somebody as a craft project.

Here is a warning:  Before selling or melting an item be sure you know that it isn't anything you want to keep.  Once you melt it down, it is gone.  The cross above needs to be researched.  I don't know how old it is.

Here is a ring that I always thought was probably made by an unskilled person like myself.  I really doubt that it is anything old or interesting.  It doesn't appear to be either old or well made.

Crude Dug Silver Ring.

I have no interest in cleaning or trying to sell this ring, but it contains nearly half an ounce of silver that could be melted and reused or sold for scrap.  There is no silver marking on the inside even though it tests as silver.

Here is another piece I found that I always thought could have been made by an amateur.

Silver TJ(?) Ring.

The TJ ring looks a crudely made but also lacks a silver mark.

You can also find other types of jewelry making courses, such as silversmithing and wire wrapping.

Let's say you found a nice fossil shark tooth fossil and want to wear it.  You can either pay someone to make a pendant for you or you can make your own.  Most of the shark's teeth I've seen made into jewelry are wire-wrapped, which is an easy technique.

Here is one example from the internet.

Of course it helps if you are a little artistic and have a knack for the craft, but you'll never know until you give it a try.

You can purchase all kinds of wire and other materials, as well as jewelry making equipment, from Rio Grande.  They sell a tremendous range of jewelry making supplies and equipment.

My wife turned some of my fossil finds into pendants and sold them online.

Here is an example of a piece of wire wrapped sea glass.  I just picked this one off the internet too.

Wire wrapping is a simple technique but you can be very artistic with it and make some very elaborate and beautiful items.

The price of a class will be very reasonable, especially considering the access you get to good equipment for making your own creations.  You can get good instruction for free on the internet, but when you take a class, you also can get access to good equipment.

I took my lost wax casting course many years ago at Broward Community College.

On the Treasure Coast the St. Lucie County Rock and Gem club offers courses on lost wax casting, silversmithing and wire wrapping and more.  The classes generally cost in the range of $35 to $65.  In many cases you'll also have to purchase supplies, like maybe casting wax.

Here is a link to a list of the St. Lucie County Rock and Gem club classes.

http://www.slcrockandgem.org/Classes.html

I've found a few rings that were obviously made by unskilled amateurs that used lost wax casting, but I've also found several examples of wire wrapping.

My wife does more jewelry making than I.

You can purchase any equipment you might need, but equipment and materials can get expensive so you might want to give it a try and practice using the equipment before you purchase it yourself.

You can purchase almost any kind of jewelry making supplies or equipment from places such as Rio Grande.  You can find them on the internet.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There are still some systems on the map, but there are no immediate threats.

The surf on the Treasure Coast is now down around 2 -4 feet and will be getting smaller the next few days.

11/16/16 Report - Earthenware Pot of Lamps and Coins. 6000 Year-Old Amulet Found. Seagrape Trail Closed Again.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

6000 Year-Old Amulet Created Through Lost Wax Process
Source: See link below.

... the amulet was made via a process called lost-wax casting — one of the most important innovations in the history of metallurgy. The age-old process, which is still used to make delicate metal instruments today, involves crafting a model out of wax, covering it in clay, and baking the whole thing until the wax melts out and the clay forms a hard mold. Then molten metal is then poured into this cavity and cooled until it hardens. When the mold is broken open, a perfect metal model of the original wax structure remains...

The Washington Post article claims this amulet was made by a process "still used by NASA."  What a load!  I've done lost wax casting.  It is no big complicated scientific technology.  In fact, as the article shows, it has been used for thousands of years.

A detectorist should know what lost wax casting is.  Real reales were not cast in a mold.  

You can melt broken silver or gold junk finds and make new objects using the process. You can take classes on how to do it.

Here is a youtube tutorial on the process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFbmtJyBthg

And here is a link to the original article on the discovery of the 6000 year-old amulet.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/11/15/this-6000-year-old-amulet-is-the-oldest-example-of-a-technology-still-used-by-nasa/

The main definition of "amulet" is something like a small object worn to ward off evil, harm, or illness or to bring good fortune; protecting charm.

I don't  know how they determined the purpose of the object was anything more than aesthetic.  At times it seems that archaeology is accompanied by tons of wild imagination.  

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Darrel S. reports that Seagrape Trail was closed again.  He reported a variety of pieces of metal at Turtle Trail and similar miscellaneous metal finds in recent days at Seagrape Trail.

Here is an example of what Darrel dug yesterday at Turtle Trail where the blue bags are covered once again.

EO Dug by Darrel S.
Photo by Darrel S.

I can't explain the closing of Seagrape Trail.  There is no apparent reason that satisfies me.

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Archaeologists are puzzled over the discovery of a Roman-era earthenware pot filled with oil lamps and bronze coins in the commune of Windisch, in the northern Swiss canton of Aargau...

Here is the link for the rest of that story.

http://www.thelocal.ch/20161115/mysterious-roman-remains-uncovered-in-swiss-town

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This was one heck of a year.  I can't believe that we are coming towards the end of 2016 already.  Seems like just a few weeks ago I was doing the January 1 post.

The tide is going to be unusually high today.  Watch the tide charts.  The water level in the lagoon has not been low for months.  If it has been, I missed it.

Happy hunting,
treasureguide@comcast.net