what can i say...at last.

 

thanks to all the help and advice i got i eventually managed to get it. mainly i was'nt saving the object as a new object as stated. i also put the tile setting to none. a work of art it aint (i'm still working on the model.) but it's something i can get my teeth into when the time comes to do it properly. things like getting the placement of the texture in the right place and putting a bump map under it.  much much thanks to those who helped.

billy