Post #366008 by Paipo on Mon, Mar 10, 2008 5:39 PM

Where exactly are you? A sandy isle in the heart of Texas?!? Intriguing....(edit: never mind, I'm a dumbass...Mustang Island of course...now I see why there's no stone!)
I have one word for you - ebay. You can buy micromotor handpieces, burrs, stone...almost everything you need, then just sit back and wait for it to arrive. Don't get too carried away with top-of-the-line gear when you're just starting out. My handpiece (NSK) cost me over $3K NZ, so you'll want to go for something cheaper if you're just doing it for fun. Foredom make one (micromotor) which I imagine is pretty decent, but they are all expensive - a good heavy duty dremel or foredom (ie flexishaft) will suffice when you're starting out and is affordable too. I used one for almost 5 years before I upgraded. Many of the wood guys seem to already have one of these in their kit too. As for burrs, I think a lot of the US guys are using the Lopacki(?) brand diamond burrs and have said good things about em. Prices I can't advise on, cause I source all my stuff locally! I'm pretty sure Ben and others have supplied info in the Q+A thread on some of their sources...

Regarding my work, I just have a myspace page for my tiki art (see sig), and a personal site for non-tiki stuff (see "homepage"). Usually the only thing available will be what I'm currently working on (unless it's a commission) and I sell in the marketplace here occasionally, or on ebay under the name new_zealand_jade. Drop me a PM sometime and maybe we can work something out!

[ Edited by: Paipo 2008-03-10 19:58 ]