Lapidary pics

[centfladigger]

here are some cabs I have made. I havent workedanythingin at least a year. I wore down a wheel on the cabbing machine and have never replaced it and then work and life got in the way. The Boulder Opal I traded for from my friend Gene, he goes by Oubla on ebay and he lives near me and has his own mine in Australia. I love working that hematite messy stuff, it will ruin any shop with its mud like colors,lol
I dig and hoard coral down here and have traded it over the years for other materials, so here are some pics of different materils I have and have cabbed

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[Eu_citzen]

this is a small batch of opal I bought from a jeweler friend, I figured if I liked boulder opal I wouldlove this stuff. I bought the mid grade he had and the first 4 pieces I worked trying to cab all cracked. I guess either the heat from too much wheel contact got them or they rehydrated and broke. I had 1 last piece and I worked it very slowly for a few hours, very little water etc. After I cleaned the cortex and could really see into it I knew I wasnt cabbing this one anymore.
I took it back to him and had him facet it for me and it turned I out I got the better deal on him. lol He didnt think this big chunk was any good , he thought a sand pit rand through it, it didt.
I ended up with a 6.5 carat opal . I/we turned a #150 pile of rocks into a $5000 ring

Looks like Wollo opal to me, put them in water until they've absorbed it throughout the stone and let them dry again.
This will usually get rid of any stress inside the rock. Open any cracks using a saw or whatever..

I almost always season mine, let them sit and "rest" approx 6 months after the before mentioned process before working them.
Exception is larger pieces which should go directly to the seasoning to minimize potential loss of weight!

I remember getting a sizeable piece of rough, good bit over 50 cts, which broke due to not being seasoned.
Largest piece I ended up with was 14 cts in the rough.

[Eu_citzen]

VERY nice cabbs!!

[Eu_citzen]

Brecciated Rhyolite (or metavulcanite of some sort, uncertain)


Serpentine-granite mixture (or, actually an altered granite)


Giving carving a try, first piece is a welo opal. You can see it got a bit to hot during polishing - a crack started to show.

[Eu_citzen]

Was playing a bit with some welo opal the last couple of days, and this is what I came up with:



Half cabbed, half faceted. sometimes called a bufftop.

[Eu_citzen]

Long time since last post, time for some new eye candy.

A colour shifting garnet in my own "Hex Brilliant" design, just a test cut to see how it performs.

[centfladigger]

I love that color, very nice job. you do good work

[oneeye]

Very nice looking!

[Eu_citzen]

Thanks you two.

[tngirl]

EU, I am in love with those garnets! They are absolutely gorgeous.

[oneeye]

Since the tourmaline in the first page developed cracks I later re-cut it..
Here it is in a new cut:

Keep in mind it is magnified a lot and does look HEAPS better to the naked eye.

Amethyst in a Portuguese cut/design. 161-ish facets.

Another free-form opal from Ethiopia.

Anybody have an apatite? I do!
It has unpolished ("frosted") facets, the colour reminds me of cold nights above the polar circle.

Can you tell me where someone can find an amethyst in a Portuguese cut/design?
Thanks for sharing.

Dan

[Eu_citzen]

Maybe, I'll PM you later.

[Eu_citzen]

Putting an old thread back to life.

Test cut of a new design in very dark garnet.
Not what I hoped for, these garnets are always good for a surprise, but I got light through the stone!

[Eu_citzen]

Just adding some opals which have been elusive to the camera and some newer cuts.

An interesting, rolling kind of pattern. Lovely. 2.71 cts approx.


Large, double sided cabb. The other side isn't as lively. Approx 10.29 cts.


Small Australian opals, yes they are in a plastic bottle cap. Smallest one is 0.32 cts. :lol:


Very bright stone, quite large to at 9.5 cts welo.



Shows Contra luz, not very good picture but you get the idea.