Waiting...
Tickets for Burning Man go on sale online at 1200 hrs California time. I go to the site at 1200 hrs California time and there is an ad page telling me how great InHouse Ticketing is and how they will solve all my problems as an event planner.
That's all. Servers must have gone blooie within a minute.
So, while I'm waiting for something to happen, I will talk about pickling. "Pickling" is the term used by um, uh, people for putting a patina on or otherwise etching or changing the surface of a metal object by immersion in a solution of some kind, usually an acid. I use two kinds of pickles for my castings:
Simple and safe: three parts hydrogen peroxide in 3% solution (i.e. the disinfectant you buy in big bottles at the drugstore) and one part ordinary white vinegar (3-5% acetic acid in solution). The vinegar is a catalyst; the peroxide does the pickling. Lay the pieces in the bath (warm solutions work better) or better yet, suspend them. You can tell it's working when bubbles appear on the surface of the casting. Brush the bubbles off with a feather or Q-tip to let it work. Leave it for a short or a long while, then put the casting into a container of undiluted white vinegar. This halts the reaction and the "smut" comes off the casting as a white precipitate. Rinse off with water and clean with an old toothbrush.
This makes a dark or iron-gray patina when there is lead present, doesn't react to tin or bismuth so the Cerrobend castings I make have to use the other method:
Be Careful - I use a solution of muriatic acid and brush it onto castings, or place it in a dilute bath. You can get muriatic at most hardware stores - I got mine at Capital Iron. Be careful with this stuff - use it outside and wear gloves at least. Also remember that if you are diluting the acid, pour the acid into the water, NOT the other way round. Depending on the strength of the solution, this will also give a grayish patina.
When I get around to cutting out those copper bat wings, I will see which works better on that metal. Either is supposed to work.
Servers still down. I think I'll take a walk.
[EDIT:] Later now, and I see they have paused sales at 1330 to "fix an electrical circuit problem" (probably someone kicked the plug out of the wall in a rage). So maybe I'll get a ticket today, and maybe I won't. But I did get some interesting-looking videos - Taras Bulba and The Second Civil War - at VdeP, as well as an old Parker Pros. racing game, Formula 1, in the long box.
['NOTHER EDIT:] The Borg says they resumes ticket sales at 1515, but I still can't get past the same 'overload' screen. Sod this.
[FINAL EDIT:] Got them with no trouble at 0853 Thursday, not the lowest price but close enough. So, that's done!
Black Rock City, here I come...
That's all. Servers must have gone blooie within a minute.
So, while I'm waiting for something to happen, I will talk about pickling. "Pickling" is the term used by um, uh, people for putting a patina on or otherwise etching or changing the surface of a metal object by immersion in a solution of some kind, usually an acid. I use two kinds of pickles for my castings:
Simple and safe: three parts hydrogen peroxide in 3% solution (i.e. the disinfectant you buy in big bottles at the drugstore) and one part ordinary white vinegar (3-5% acetic acid in solution). The vinegar is a catalyst; the peroxide does the pickling. Lay the pieces in the bath (warm solutions work better) or better yet, suspend them. You can tell it's working when bubbles appear on the surface of the casting. Brush the bubbles off with a feather or Q-tip to let it work. Leave it for a short or a long while, then put the casting into a container of undiluted white vinegar. This halts the reaction and the "smut" comes off the casting as a white precipitate. Rinse off with water and clean with an old toothbrush.
This makes a dark or iron-gray patina when there is lead present, doesn't react to tin or bismuth so the Cerrobend castings I make have to use the other method:
Be Careful - I use a solution of muriatic acid and brush it onto castings, or place it in a dilute bath. You can get muriatic at most hardware stores - I got mine at Capital Iron. Be careful with this stuff - use it outside and wear gloves at least. Also remember that if you are diluting the acid, pour the acid into the water, NOT the other way round. Depending on the strength of the solution, this will also give a grayish patina.
When I get around to cutting out those copper bat wings, I will see which works better on that metal. Either is supposed to work.
Servers still down. I think I'll take a walk.
[EDIT:] Later now, and I see they have paused sales at 1330 to "fix an electrical circuit problem" (probably someone kicked the plug out of the wall in a rage). So maybe I'll get a ticket today, and maybe I won't. But I did get some interesting-looking videos - Taras Bulba and The Second Civil War - at VdeP, as well as an old Parker Pros. racing game, Formula 1, in the long box.
['NOTHER EDIT:] The Borg says they resumes ticket sales at 1515, but I still can't get past the same 'overload' screen. Sod this.
[FINAL EDIT:] Got them with no trouble at 0853 Thursday, not the lowest price but close enough. So, that's done!
Black Rock City, here I come...