2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class
Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28

Mud Season!

Spring has come to southern Vermont - the snow is melting. The dirt roads are still frozen at the bottom, thawed on top, and all that snow melt can't soak in so it makes a soupy, slippery mud on the road surface with deep ruts. To prevent damage to the Stellafane roads, we held this session at the Fletcher House in Chester. We hope to end the course next month at Stellafane.

Lap Mold

Jay made a lap for Gary with his lap mold on the back deck of the Fletcher House. The flexible
mold is placed on the mirror to give it the right curve. You can see the details in the photos below.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Lap Mold Master Chef Jay Two-time winner of 'Iron Lap America', chef Jay cooks up a special 64/73 blend of Gugolz pitch.	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Lap Mold Pouring Pitch The mirror is under the mold, and the paper towel hold up the mold corners so the curve of the mirror will be reflected in the mold. The tool is then pressed into the warm pitch.	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Lap Mold Removing the Mold The stack has been flipped so the tool is on the bottom, and the pitch has cooled. Jay slowly pulls the mold away, revealing the nicely formed lap (excess pitch squares will be snapped off and thrown back into the pitch pot).
2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Lap Mold Cerium Please! Jay squirts some Cerium Oxide onto Gary's mirror for the first pressing of the lap.	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Lap Mold Tom observes Tom watched the whole lap making process from a comfortable seat on the deck.	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Lap Mold Press On! Gary presses the mirror onto the lap, to shape the lap to the mirror's surface. The lap still needs a final trim, but this will be done in about 20 minutes when the pitch ahs fully cooled.

Fine Grinding

We have a few students who are fine grinding. Claudio is having a good time, while Kim and Kayla seem to be more intense and focused on becoming one with the mirror.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Fine Grinding AlOx Treatment At the Stellafane Spa, we apply Aluminum Oxide as a way to sooth the nerves and smooth the skin. Claudio demonstrates the positive psychological and physiological effects.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Fine Grinding Kim Concentrates Kim is very focused on her fine grinding at the moment.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Fine Grinding Kayla Grinds Kayla works with Aluminum Oxide in her grinding.

Building A Dob

Jay gave the last lecture of the course, on building a dob, using Kriege's book and his own fine scope as an example. That nice custom paint job was not covered in the lecture, however. The Fletcher House has a comfy living room for giving talks in.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Building A Dob Jay Makes a Point Randy, Gary and Rick listen as Jay points out an item in Kriege's book.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Building A Dob Big Couch! Alex, Samantha, Dave, Claudio and Terry all listen to Jay's talk (Well, Claudio is taking a peak at Kriege's book, too).

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Building A Dob Nice Paint Job Jay shows off his scope in a basic Dobsonian mount.

Polish, Polish, Polish & Figure

Late in the course you expect to have a lot of folks polishing and figuring, and we do!
Here is a gallery of the mirror makers who are polishing and figuring.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Polish, Polish, Polish & Figure Ray	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Polish, Polish, Polish & Figure Gary	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Polish, Polish, Polish & Figure Terry
2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Polish, Polish, Polish & Figure Fran		2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Polish, Polish, Polish & Figure Rick
2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Polish, Polish, Polish & Figure Jim	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Polish, Polish, Polish & Figure Alex	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Polish, Polish, Polish & Figure Alex's iPod Hmm, I think Alex is selecting his next play list before he gets back to polishing.

Surface Check

We caught a few folks checking their mirror's surface this session.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Surface Check Samantha & Dave Dave checks for complete polish on Samantha's 10" with a laser.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Surface Check Dave Inspects Dave does a quick inspection of his mirror's surface.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Surface Check Carl Checks Carl use the bright sun to check his well polished mirror.

Testing

There was a lot of testing going on, as you might expect with a lot of students figuring. But for some reason, we didn't take many pictures of this activity this session.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Testing Randy & Dave Randy watches & listens as Dave aligns his tester (note red dot in center of mirror). This is Randy's very short focal length mirror (f/3.8) in a double pass (at focal length) test.

Social Time

Mirror Class is a great time to chat with friends. We had some guests from ASGH and ATMoB up this time, so there was a lot of opportunity to talk with old friends and catch up.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Social Time John, Dave & Julie	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Social Time Paul & Wayne	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Social Time Dr. Al & John
	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Social Time Dick Parker (ASGH) & Ken
2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Social Time Friends on the Porch It was a very pleasant day, and the porch was quite inviting. Dave (ATMoB), Dave, Debbie & 'Starleen' enjoy lunch outside.	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Social Time Tom, Jay & Fran	2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 Social Time Fran, Dick, Tom & Jay Fran's polishing stand seems to be a favorite gathering place. The stand was designed by Dick Parker (in the white sweat shirt).

It's a Wrap

That about does it for this session. Here are a few miscellaneous pictures as we end the day.
See you all next month.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 It's a Wrap Pretty Pattern Claudio called me over to show me this pretty pattern on his mirror as he was fine grinding.

2008-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 6 held on 2009-Mar-28 It's a Wrap Kim cleans up Good toothbrush technique, Kim!