Lapidary pics

[Eu_citzen]

Though it might be fun for those who do any kind of lapidary to post pics during cutting/polishing and even pics of it when its done.

Here is a Nigerian Tourmaline (Dark C) I'm cutting..

Before Pic.. Note I sawed trough a fracture (thunder like thingie to the right in the crystal) to minimize inclusions and ended up with 2 pieces, one larger and one smaller. The smaller I'm saving for later.

Here is the larger one..
Everything is roughed in and ready to pre-polish.

Here is some past projects:
A Namaga Garnet, Africa. Approx 5 mm round in my own design.

 

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[Rasputin]

Very nice. What faceting machine are you using?

 

[Twisted One]

Very nice looking cuts! I have never done this before, only a little silver smithing, and working with some quartz. I have always wanted to do some more silver and gold smithing, and lapidary. There is a local community shop type thing and they do classes, but they always seem to land on the same nights as my night classes at the college.

 

[Eu_citzen]

The tourmaline has been put aside - started to show a crack that wouldn't stop growing. Will re-cut that one later on.
If there would have been no cracks it would have ended up at around 3 cts. Not every stone is a success.

Here is my latest project, a colour shifting garnet from India. Approx 5 mm.
Proof cutting my own design for garnets with dark colours.

Rasputin,

Raytech Shaw is the machine I use..
Happened to know a dealer of that machine but I was also taught to facet with that machine.
Did change lubrication and such on the machine to get better precision though.


Twisted One,

I to started with quartz - however I've grown fond of garnets lately.

Well if there is a local shop thingie - why not just ask if they could do a class for college students?
Might be more then just you interested.

Either way, it never hurts to ask!
Even if they don't have time there might be a rock club also around - one of the members might have some time to show you.

I to have done some silver smithing but decided it is nothing for me.

 

[Twisted One]

I've talked to him several times during Gem and Mineral shows, and they only do occasional classes due to the lack of interest. Although he said if you join the club you can usually learn more by hanging out in the shop then the actual class will teach you.

I used to do jewelry for a local shop for extra cash, mainly just silver caps on local found quartz. Nothing fancy other then maybe mounting another type of cab on the front of the cap if I had the room.

My wife's favorite stone is Opal, so I am interested in learning to work with it, but heard the softness makes it rather difficult to work with.

I have a really nice piece of green tourmaline and always wondered how to judge the value of something like it. It is almost black it is so dark. I will see if I can get a couple pictures of it.

Pretty sure it had a fracture in it, so might be more worth while to cap it then to try and actually cut it.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Yes, usually joining a club can be helpful if there is one close by. The classes usually only teach the basics. The rest is IMO learning by doing. My favourite way of learning.

I've tried designing my own jewellery, doing all the soldering, bezel setting, prong settings etc.
Little bit of everything really.


Opal? Did you say opal?

Opal is one of my favourites and I know a fair bit about it.

About the tourmaline, the first step is to put it on a white paper and see how dark it is.
If it looks dark on a white paper in sunshine it is to dark to facet. You can still cabb some of them though.

 

[Twisted One]

I like that first opal, nice reds. My wife likes the third one with the mix of red and greens.

On white paper in the house it is still dark, in sunlight it lightens up enough. But I think it is too thin. I am not sure if it has natural faucets or if someone tried to cut it once already. I actually pulled it out of a box of scraps from that store I mentioned earlier. That was 20 years ago, and still haven't done anything with it. I might even consider wire wrapping it if I can come up with a cool enough design.

I also have about small case of raw turquoise from back then. Was going to tumble them but my tumbler broke and never bought a new one.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Do take a picture, best is on the white paper and in sunlight.

The first picture is Australian opal, the rest is welo opal from Ethiopia.
I'm also faceting a opal at the moment. Will get some pics later on.

 

[Twisted One]

There is an old opal mine near me somewhere, keep meaning to locate it and see if I can get permission to look around. There are a few local guys bringing in tons of it from somewhere they are always at the Gem and mineral show with fairly large amounts of it.

Man, looking at my post in this thread alone you can see I am a procrastinator. "I have been meaning to...", ""some day I will....", "I was going to...."

 

[Twisted One]

Here are some pics I just took.

 

[Twisted One]

About 7/8 inch long. And 3/8 wide. I think it would make a nice pendant piece with a silver cap on it.

 

[Eu_citzen]

It might be on the border of being to dark to facet, or that is due to inclusions in the stone.
Don't think it'd be to thin though. I think the "facets" are natural and not cut into the stone.

Wonder if it would be possible to polish a piece of silver and set behind the crystal in such a kind of pendant.. as a kind of mirror to light it up a bit.

 

[Twisted One]

Would be an interesting idea. Maybe a small cap on the top to cover the "ugly" piece, but let the cap go all the way down the back, with maybe a small rim to enclose it all.

Sadly none of my equipment is functional anymore...broke my dremel I used for polishing and shaping. I guess I could go down and pick up a small sheet of silver and tinker with it a bit.

I know it is clear enough to let light through to the polished surface that would be behind it, but it might have diffused the light enough that it wouldn't reflect much back?

 

[Eu_citzen]

Yeah - that does sound good.
A small rim might add some interesting effects - maybe shape them like a couple of claws or waves or.. 8)

Dremel? Oh man, makes me feel like I'm from the stone age... (pun intended)

I was taught to saw out pieces of silver, solder it and do most things by hand. Even pre-polish and polish.
Maybe that is why I never got to enjoy it.

Difficult to say, might even be as simple as having a poor viewing angle to the stone. Dunno.
Just use common sense and your good to go most of the time.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Well, here is the faceted opal I was talking about. From Welo, Ethiopia.

The CS Garnet I posted before has been put in acetone to remove it from the dopstick.

 

[Twisted One]

Great color. I don't think I have seen anyone facet an opal before.

 

[Eu_citzen]

I know - a local jeweller wasn't to interested in cabochon cut opals..
But could be interested in a faceted one, so I made one so she can see.
Have had that one for 2 years before I cut it.

They are quite soft and such and due to that they aren't often faceted.
I even left a extremely thick girdle just because of that.

That one has electric colours in sunlight - we are having a cloudy day today..

Next to cut is my first try to re-cut a synthetic sapphire.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Synthetic (flame fusion?) sapphire. The picture is quite old, though. I am now cutting the other side of the gem.

 

[Eu_citzen]

I see I forgot to add the colour shifting garnet picture here.. Enjoy.

Sunlight:

Incandescent light:

 

[Eu_citzen]

Sapphire, possibly synthetic (havent checked yet). Approx 5 mm and cut in my own design.
0.61 carats approx.