And now, for something completely different -

[charlieb]

You probably aren't going to see an article on how to make these in any turning magazine and I doubt one will be included in any wood turning show. The range of objects to turn is pretty broad - but these things weren't even on my "one of these days I'm gonna turn some ..." list. And if you've followed my turning journey at all you know I've headed down some off the wall tangents.

Got some small scraps?

Got a kid, niece or nephew who things tattoos are way cool and awesome? Well make a few of these and show them. They may come to understand that we "older people" were young - and stupid - once. It's far easier to BE a unique person than to LOOK like one.

-cut 'em into two parts, some small rare earth magnets, a little epoxy - A Parent Phreak Out item! The Teen Market would eat them up! I could retire on the income! Oh wait, I've already "retired".

Never mind.

charlie b

[Lee Michaels]

That is just like you Charlie. You talk to somebody for a couple minutes and it *turns* into another lathe project.

As an old marketing guy and having known a couple tattoo artists, I can tell you that this market is there and can be accessed readily if you have a desireable product. They have conventions and publications. If you wanted to develop this product, you could probably ending up with a nice little sideline.

There are lots of folks who would happily represent you at any of the gatherings around the country. If you came up with a comprehensive line of products, I am sure that people would buy from you directly as well as shops for their clients.You could make them out of soapstone, onyx, etc. You could inlay semi precious stones. You could wood burn in some desighs. Maybe have a glass or mirror middle.

You could get on of those metal mini lathes and make stainless steel turnings. You could mount jewelry findings to any kind of metal base.

These folks who modify their body are proud of their modifications. And just like belly button jewelry, if given a chance, they would buy lots of "jewelry" for their ear lobes. (maybe even a "bone" design) ;)

I don't know if you would be interested in such a thing. But the market is there and if you wanted to, you could easily develop it.

Lee Michaels

[Andrew Barss]

a word of warning -- cocobolo contains the same irritant as poison ivy does, and you don't want guys from a biker bar coming after you with swollen earlobes.

-- Andy Barss

[Joe AutoDrill]

Andy,

That's very insensitive of you... All of us drunken, violent bikers with ear lobe adornments aren't necessarily irritated by Cocobola... Jeez.

[HeyBub]

Dilbert ran into something similar: a vendor selling "nose puppies." They are small, ceramic puppies that one stuffs up one's nose. "Find a need and fill it," was the vendor's motto.

The vendor also offered: "I'm not doing it for the money. I just want to leave the world a better place."

[charlieb]

Lee:

Thanks for plenty of great ideas and info about marketing. Perhaps someone here will follow through on it.

Me, I did custom jewelry for about 15 years. Didn't make much money but got to be part of peoples lives via the pieces I made for them. I did a pair of wedding rings for a couple I don't recall meeting in person. Everything was done by mail. They sent me a few sketches, I sent them the wax patterns, they sent back suggested changes - and the wax. Took a while for everyone to be satisfied. Was fun since she was in Iowa and he was in Oregon. Got christma cards from them for years.

Maybe I'll just turn some of these 'til it gets boring - give them away to surprised "pierced" strangers and leave behind some very confused recipients. "Who was that masked man?"

Hi Ho Silver - AWAY!

The Merry Pranksters were on to something. And if Wavy Gravy can still do it - well I sure as hell can.

charlie b

[charlieb]

Good point. Though I've shellaced all the ones I've done so far, I guess it could wear off after a while. Will look into wood toxicity. thanks for the heads up.

I did some death heads for some local Hells Angels back when I was doing lost wax cast jewelry. If you think Disney and Coca Cola protect their copywrited stuff, the Angels make lawyers look like pussycats. A guy who hung around the college was posing as an Angel - wore colors and had the Angel's wing tatooed on his right shoulder blade - apparently part of the initiation ritual. The Angels rectified the copywrite infringement by a) taking back all is Angels paraphanalia AND b)removing the tatoo via abrassion - on a cinder block wall. There were also some "punative damages".

Deals were made with a handshake and they paid cash on receipt. Never had a problem with any of them. Took a while to get to know a few. One, "Nasty", carried a loaded 44 in the back of his waste band. His favorite drink - pink lemonade, favorite song - Paul Simon's "My Momma Loves Me". Got to know two more - actual brothers. One was a marble sculptor who had studied Michaelangelo and some of his copies were truly amazing. The other brother was a pen and ink and engraving artist who also was very very good.

That Book By Its Cover thing seems to be true - as is the Do Unto Others thing. Pity that we seem to be forgetting the latter more and more these days.

charlie b

ps - anyone have a set of plans for Nose Bones?

[B A R R Y]

Here I sit drinking a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale after a nice ride on my Trek, pulling on my earring, thinking "Cocobolo never bothered me..."

Oh... THAT kind of biker!

[Joe AutoDrill]

This is going way OT, but I once had a conversation with a guy that told me he rode his bike 100 miles in a single day for the first time ever... And then he told me he had been riding for 30 years... I wasn't impressed until I realised that MY bike had an engine and his had pedals.

Same story but reversed happened to me with someone when I told him I did a

500+ mile ride the day before and he thought I was lying... Of course, he had the pedal bike and I was on the engine-driven variety that time around.

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. [phone]

01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: Spindle Drills:

[Doug Miller]

At least once a year, my father takes my sons on long-distance bicycle trips. Last summer, they rode 78 miles in a day and a half.

Dad's going to be 76 this fall.

[Joe AutoDrill]

Your 76 year old dad is in better shape than me... I'm less than half his age... Kudos to him!

[Dean H.]

"Joe AutoDrill" ...

Just dragging this further off topic, 100 miles is considered a big day if you are off-road motorcycling on tight single track trails in the Sawtooth mountains. Only the hard core, very fast guys get 100 mile days. Last summer we did a 35 mile ride that took us about 5 hours.

-Dean

[Joe AutoDrill]

Dean,

I can not imagine that... 100 miles *on-road* with an off-road capable bike like the KLR, KLX, etc. would kill my tailbone and hips... Can't imagine

100 miles off-road at a much slower speed... With bumps and ruts and roots and small furry animals scurrying away...

I've done 300+ miles at 30 MPH average speed... May 5th of this year actually.... Left the house at 6:30 AM and got home at 6:29 PM. Thank god for GPS and lots of really smal back roads through the NJ, PA and NY farmlands...

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. [phone]

01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: Spindle Drills:

[Frank Stutzman]

And to utterly drag the thread out into the weeds...

A fellow I know in Florida flys a single engine airplane. Its a larger one and he often carrys a Honda 90 in the back when just he and his wife are travelling.

One afternoon they dropped in on Sturgis, SD. They unloaded the weenie bike, climbed on and putted off to the local mini-mart. They then found out that the big motorcyce rally was occuring. Came out of the store and found severel burley bikers looking over this Honda 90. One of the bikers, seeing the Florida plates, asked when they had left Florida. "Oh, about 7 this morning"

[Joe AutoDrill]

Nice... Unfortunately, there is a huge percentage of motorcyclists that have the I-lie virus... You know, the one that fisherman have that causes them to say there fish was *this big*... so they probably didn't believe him even though it was true.

[B A R R Y]

In our case, 20 is a long day.

Once a year, usually towards the end of the season, we do a group ride we call "The death ride of the east", where we pedal 48 miles of singletrack over 8-9 hours. The night before, we hide food and fluids at road crossings. Most participants are in their 40's and 50's.

[B A R R Y]

That's great!

[Tim Douglass]

ones until their ear lobes reach their shoulders. I seem to remember something like that from an old National Geographic....

-- "We need to make a sacrifice to the gods, find me a young virgin... oh, and bring something to kill"

Tim Douglass

[Leon]

That's a long way to go to just be dropping in. 1200 plus miles as the crow flies.

[Mark Jerde]

and set it on fire...

My high school dura mater. If the wind was the usual direction (usual being about 364.25 days per year) on final the double-wide on the right about 1/4 mile away belongs to...

Great story. Thanks!

-- Mark