October 6, 2014

High Priest Breastplate


Here are a few more pictures of my progress on the breastplate of the High Priest. The only things left to do is to engrave the stones, and then actually mount them. (As of right now they are just being held in by pressure, so they can still fall out easily). The two shoulder stones will have six of the twelve tribes on each stone, and each of the chest stones will have a single name of one of the twelve tribes. My plan is to engrave the Hebrew letters using a font from the Isaiah scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls. My hope is to have everything finished by the end of the year!

The breastplate of the High Priest
Closeup of the stone settings (they are still now sown on yet)
A few sample stones showing Hebrew letters from the Isaiah scroll
Breastplate of the High Priest with the stones representing the 12 tribes
Showing both shoulder stones
Closeup of the shoulder stone of the High Priest
The breastplate of the High Priest

9 comments:

  1. Shoham stone- red stone !!!

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  2. I have two questions. 1) are there any places you may recommend for stone cutting and gold setting? And 2) how many inches are each stone cut by?

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  3. What tools did you have to use to do the engraving on the stones to apply the Hebrew lettering?

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    1. Stones are really, really hard to come by. I have found a few stone cutters, but most are not willing to do another set once they finish a set (it is pretty time consuming to find and then cut the stones). My best success was through a local rock collecting group in my area. But that said, I have tried Etsy, Ebay, you name it. You could do oval cabochons, as these are pretty easy to find (I know one lady who did that). As for settings, I hand made them, so can't really refer you to any place to buy them. Stones are 30x40mm. The stones were engraven using a Dremel engraver (just the cheapest I could find). If you watch my video of Exodus 28, it shows some of the process. https://youtu.be/mznSvWsv0Xc

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    2. Yes the gemstones are really hard to find. And I think your second suggestion for oval cabochons may just be my cheapest way to go for a first time project. Now the settings I must say you did a great job on them and I would like to know what was the method, material, and equipment process used to hand craft the gold settings? I always felt that doing this kind of project yourself is the best way to go being that you can save money without going through the troubles of trying to find a good jeweler just to get some settings done which will end up being a lot more costly. At least by hand crafting the settings from self-sufficient ingenuity one can learn the skill behind what it takes to create them from scratch. So just wanted to know how did you go about the process of handcrafting your own gold settings for the stones? Again, thank you for replying to my questions!

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  4. I have been taking my church through the Bible and we just finished Exodus. I want to tell you that your work here is very good and very much appreciated! I also wanted to know if any of the images could be used for illustration and on some website art for the posts which address this topic. I would gladly link back to your site and reference you as the artist should you give me permission. Thank you for your work and considering my request. (Also, nothing on our website is sold and no physical printouts or materials are ever made or distributed - so no worries there.)

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    1. As long as you keep my website on the bottom of the picture, and a physical link to my website, you are free to include my pictures on your website. I assume you have also seen my YouTube video called Exodus 28? It has a lot more on the clothing, and shows the finished product (I had still not engraved the stones yet when I made this post). Thanks for asking!

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  5. Thank you Daniel, I did as you requested and truly appreciate your work and your willingness to share it and glorify God in its use.

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  6. How much for breastplate

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