Lapidary/Polished Stones

[Mrs.Oroblanco]

Not change the subject, roc2rol,

But - always a but

Do you ever go to the rock and gem shows anywhere? Just wondering if you have thought about selling some of those "hearts" you make, in a bigger way?

Beth (Mrs. O)

[roc2rol]

well its definitely an option I’m shooting for
ya know how fine the craftsmanship & quality is at those shows
I keep missing big opportunities
Valentines day passed
that would have been a big roc’n heart day
Mother day is coming up
I made these last year as
Christmas tree ornaments

I think they have some potential

but life takes strange twists and always get off track

thanks so much for asking Beth !!
I’ll keep you in mind when I get back to the grind
of roc’n hearts

[Mrs.Oroblanco]

Is that silver that you have those encased in?

If it was me (and, of course, it is not), and I was just starting out, I would start out with my mind on one particular show. (like the one in Quartzite). Make a few for each holiday coming up in the next year, and some "just because" items. Believe it or not, I would also have "loose" (already made) hearts of different sizes - for people who want to make their own.

It's none of my business, of course, I was just thinking about how I might go about starting to get known. I would also have business cards done up for custom jobs. (there is always some people who get different ideas from what you have), and, custom usually means a little more bucks.

I hope to see some of your stuff around!

Beth (Mrs. O)

[roc2rol]

Those are excellent ideas Beth!
I want to put a tutorial together of the steps
Gluing rocks together or intarsia is fascinating
When I grind a half of heart it looks like an angel wing
So when you put 2 angel wings together it makes a heart.

As it progressed I got a bit more fancy

I was shooting for the American flag
I haven’t quite found the right red & white striped rock, yet

Beth do you have any pictures of your faceting?
Or of the rocks you hounded?

Thanks
E

[Jim Hatt]

Ed,

You're just going to have to cut thin strips of red and white rock, and laminate them together for your stripes.

More man-hours in the piece means more money for your work!

Jim

[roc2rol]

This is turning into an interesting discussion from my p.o.v.

I was thinking of starting a lapidary thread
and transferring these few messages
But I’m afraid it would turn too quickly in to a
self-aggrandizement promotion
which WOULD NOT be my intention

I’d like such a topic to be an encouragement to any member
who might be interested in starting lapidary as a hobby.
Lapidary equipment & techniques can be confusing for a person
who may have an interest but doesn’t know where to get answers.

So I’m looking for a bit of advice from others.
Is a lapidary topic to specific to be of general interest on this board?

Thanks!

Ed

[Mrs.Oroblanco]

Roc2rol,

I don't know if its "too" specific, though, I think that folks, like me, who like rocks - all kinds of rocks - might like to get into the discussion - but maybe on a "tumbling" side of the rock world - do your thoughts of lapidary include that type of thing?

I don't think I have pictures, but, its no problem to take out the "collection" and get some pictures, probably in the near future. I still even have dops with started stones (I didn't sell everything with the faceter, since I had 40 or so extra lops and grits and wheels, etc.)

You gave me another idea with your explanation of how you put them together. How hard would it be to sell "angel wings" types of stones? A right wing and a left wing, plus, maybe something in the center - could make a butterfly, or a number of other things. Heck, they could be sold separately too - like if someone wanted to put a gemstone in the middle and put on a pin back - gosh, I could think of lots of things, all based on your initial product. That really has room for expansion!!

Sorry - I wasn't trying to interfere - I just love rocks (of all kinds). I wonder what you could do with some obsidian or a few apache tears, or - something like topaz, quartz crystals or amethyst (we have some of all of those)?

Beth (Mrs.O)

[roc2rol]

Geez Beth with ideas like those I might have to move to the Dakota’s !

An idea I haven’t done yet is to put a heart together with hole in the middle.
Self-explanatory what that one means.

That would be great if you could post a pic of dopped rocks!
I’m sure very few folks have any idea what that is.
And what is a lop?

I don’t dop when I grind-- although at times --it would be an advantage!

I haven’t done enough tumbling! I have a couple nice tumblers.
That really could be topic by itself. Want to start it?

1rock at a time

Ed

[Plays In The Dirt]

"Dopping is an important technique or concept for those interested in lapidary for many reasons; it helps and is used to glue a rough rock that needs to be faceted and polished onto a dop stick--which is generally just a
wooden or metal stick--so that it can be easily worked with, and accessed when being faceted and polished with the diamond grit wheels and the buffing wheel.

When dopping, one places a dopping stick, which can be an ordinary wooden stick, into a tub of dop, which is a special type of lapidary wax. Gather enough dop wax at the tip of the dop stick, and form a small ball there. At the same time while you're trying to gather enough dop on your stick, place your rock or stone at a place where it can be heated up as the rock needs to be fairly warm for the dop wax to stick on it; however, if your rock is too hot, the wax will also slide off. The rock needs to be at just the right temperature in order to get a steady fit so that it won't fall off again - especially when you're grinding away at the rocks."

Photos of a dopped rock:
http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/arti ... ping_rocks

Scroll down the page on this one for pictures of a dopped rock:

http://djsgemstones.com/about-us.html

[Mrs.Oroblanco]

A "lop" is my mispelling when I'm trying to type and think at the same time I meant "dops".

The stones I have on dops are a turquoise (not a really good one, but I wanted to see if I could facet turquoise - ended up starting to just grind everything into a cabachon). But I have some apache tears - from Arizona, and some obsidian (from Nevada), some quartz crystals and some other stones from when we were in the southeast (mostly North Carolina, especially a few emeralds and rubies). I also have some sapphires (they are not faceted, but polished in a oval shape).

With smaller stones (the ones I played with), I sanded my fingers more than the stones, so I put them on dops. I had a small tumbler, but I'm not sure it is still running (it is still packed), but I'd really like to make a bigger one.

I am no expert, believe me - but I still like it. I sure wish I had someone to talk to about it when I first got the faceting machine. I had a few books about it, the hows and whys and the different angles, but, a real person to talk to would have been great - especially about speeds, which grit is better for which stones (especially when you are first starting them) - and - like you were talking about - how to do it without dops - and without taking your fingerprints off,
how strong a water stream - oh, I had - and still have, lots of questions.

It's very relaxing (tough on the neck), but enjoyable. I never did figure out why, sometimes, I got overlap on the facets, even when everything was set up perfect. I think its a timing thing, but...............................there has got to be a better
way than checking every 30 seconds - or changing it all the time, short of a full facet.

I confess, I have thought for a long time about all the different things (besides slabbing) one could do with stone if they had more talent than me.

I also have 2 big hunks of jade from the Yukon that I would love to do something with. They are fairly large, each about 10 pounds or so, so I'm pretty sure that they could make a variety of things from each piece. (though I really need a good wet saw).

PlaysintheDirt,

I think most of my dops are metal (aluminum? maybe), different sizes - and a few wooden ones with metal tops, and I think that, while you can burn the wood, when you heat up the metal ones, they get too darned hot really quick, all the way down to where you are holding them Don't ask how I found that out

roc2Roll,

On that rock with the flag colors - can they be notched (or is there a way to notch) them, so you could almost have an inlay of the stripes?

I told you - I'm a rock nut, didn't I? Just because I couldn't do it, doesn't mean it isn't something you could do. I think that would be cool! I do inlays with wood - like ebony wood inlay in rosewood - things like that - but with the glues we have available to us nowadays, seems like you could do something similar with stones - of course, it would have to be done, I assume, before the final polishing, so that they could be all the same level of polish? You work with them, so you would probably know more about the possibility than me. But, I gotta say, I've never seen one that is like our flag! (and some of these rock shows have people from around the world - Canada (maple leaf) etc., could be a "custom piece". Then, you could also think about making each state. People who travel always like to collect things from the states.

If you don't watch out, I'll be changing your career instead of your hobby!!

Sorry, getting carried away again,

Beth (Mrs. O)