First Simba

Here is the first tamp offered in Simba, a Dynasty Grade piece.  It sold in a heartbeat.  The good news is that I can make more Simba tampers.  This one is a shape that I call a Tusk. (The listing for it may still be up at the Ming site.)  Appropriate name, eh? This really isn’t a new shape for me. I’ve done a number of Tusks and many, many horns over the years, but, never with Simba!  Look at the grain on that!  It looks so much like elephant ivory that I’d be hard pressed to tell the difference.  Plus, it has the warmth of cellulose acetate.  On the side shown the grain is more uniform, but on the other side it is a bit more variable adding to the realism.  On the top edges you’ll find that wonderful cross-hatched matrix that really wows me with elephant ivory.  The folks at Mazzuchelli who developed this material years ago were right on their game.  Oh how I wish that I had more Simba.

So, now that I have introduced Simba to the line-up I envision tamps in the following shapes: Tusk, Whisper, Bluto, Dart and possibly the Predator, Proteus and Incubus. I’m open to suggestions on that.  I’ll just have to see what happens.  Unfortunately there won’t be many of any one shape made as the supply of Simba is so darned limited.

BTW, you may have noted with the first Simba piece shown back on May 14th that there was a darkening at the transition of the material to the brass due to material transparency between the grain.  As you can see I have solved that problem.

I hate to say it, but this material won’t be around for long unless I can find more, but the chances of that are slim.  If Simba interests you get with me now for a special order.

FYI!  Seeing a Dynasty Grade piece on my site today someone asked me how long the Dynasty Grade has been part of Ming-Kahuna.  The answer is that I first created the grade back in 1998.  Since then I briefly had “Carver’s Choice” which really wasn’t a grade at all, and now the most recent and final grading system: Prefect, Mikado, Dynasty and Apex.  KazeTamps and Moxies aren’t graded. I would estimate that only between five and ten percent of tamps make Dynasty.  Since introducing the Apex grade back around 2001 or so only ten pieces have made the Apex grade.