Tiny Finals

[Chris Comtois]

I'm doing a project for a friend who wants to display chandelier crystals in her window, like a sun catcher.  She wants it relatively small - about the diameter of a pencil and 18 inches long, so I'm thinking quarter inch since I happen to have some laying around.  I'm looking for ideas for finals on the ends - like a tiny curtain rod.  Besides a curl or leaf, any suggestions for tiny finals? 

[ThomasPowers]

How good are you with small stuff?   A tiny basket made from very small wire is a possibility.  Look at some of the fancy stuff done with guillotine fullers, chisels, etc they can be reproduced smaller with care.  I've done 1/4" dragon heads before.

[VaughnT]

On 1/4" stock, it's really easy to chuck a short bit into the drill and file away at it until it looks like an acorn.  Then all you have to do is weld the short bit to a longer bit to make your miniature curtain rod.

Also, just because the main body is from 1/4" round stock doesn't mean that the finials can't be a bit larger and more involved.  Obviously, you need to keep the scale of things in mind because you don't want to overwhelm what's being displayed.  

You could make the entire thing look like a tree branch coming off the main truck and branching a little bit towards the end.  Nothing overly busy, but....

[Foundryman]

Just a word of warning, tell your friend to make sure the crystals aren't in direct sun light, my old school teacher came home one day to find a circular section of her carpet smouldering due to the crystal on her window sill magnifying the sun. If she was home 10 minutes later it could have been a lot worse than having to but a new carpet.

[Chris Comtois]

I'm not overly adept at the small stuff, but I figured this would give me a chance to practice.  I thought about the basket twist but wasn't sure how to go about it, being hung up on using quarter inch - wire is a simple and elegant solution for that.  I love the acorn idea - I wanted to do those first, so I'll put some old drill bits to work for me on that one.  I don't even want to think about the heartache and frustration a quarter inch dragon head would cause - you're a better man than I! 

[ThomasPowers]

My wife often spins using a chest magnifier when working with small stuff; perhaps one of the magnifying lamps set by the postvise and some very small punches and chisels?

[Frosty]

Chest magnifier!?

Causing fires isn't much of a hazard unless you're hanging relatively large crystals. However I can't say how large is too large I could be all wrong. I have one in a window right now that commonly focuses the sun on the window sill maybe 4" away and doesn't even warm it enough to feel.

Regardless of my experience and thoughts it's a good thing to keep in mind.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Well she did one example of 18 ply handspun that was about the thickness of my dental floss---at 18 ply....  The sort of thing you hand to folks who are saying all handspun is crude...(She spun warp for weavers for a sheep to shawl once and then had them calling every week for years wanting more...)  I've joked with her about not really spinning as I can't see the thread between her fingers and the spinning wheel if I'm not right next to it. All I can see is her "making the motions".

As for fires:  probably depends a lot on location.  As I recall we've had documented fires start from thrown out water bottles out here in the high and dry. (And lost a french couple who paid no attention to the warning signs in a bunch of different languages including french telling them they needed to carry gallons of water on a hike at white sands.)