Red Plume Agate - Oregon, USA

This is quite a special piece for me, after sourcing a lovely slab of this material from a guy in California, I had looked forwards to cutting it for ages. The little slab was going to yield either 2 or 3 small stones, 25x18 and under, or one big one! Guess which option I went for? You can imagine my delight at the finished article!

The red plume patterns are truly mesmerising and the depth of beauty shown by the fortification banding running thorough it is quite superb! The stone was very hard and took a lot of careful shaping to develop the height and shape to the dome, but the overall profile was good and even. At 40x30mm it's as large as I generally cut, and the silver plated setting lets the beauty shine around. I was more than happy with this effort!

40x30mm Red Plume Agate - Oregon, USA

Leopard Skin Jasper - Mexico

This material is one that is quite familiar to lots of people, but I still love to cut and polish it! Known as Leopard Skin Jasper it is a form of orbicular rhyolite. The soptty patterns are very attractive and the finished stones are among the most recognisable of all. 

This was cut for a Buddy who really likes animal prints! I decided to keep the cab low to blend nicely with the bangle, so the finished stone is under 3mm thick. At 14x29mm it has a nice balance, and the silver plated setting really gives it some character! I have a distinct feeling that I'm going to be cutting more of these.... 

14x29mm Leopard Skin Jasper - Mexico

Red Jasper and Haematite - Norfolk, UK.

Of the very few stones that I am able to collect and polish, this one has to be my favourite! I have only found a couple of small pebbles, they seem to come from the glacial boulder clay that overlies the local geology. The finished stones show an amazing combination of brecciated red jasper with haematite and quartz infill.

Not too difficult to cut it is a relatively hard material and takes a nice polish. This is an 18x25mm cabochon set as a ring in a silver plated setting. The dark stone contrasts nicely with the bright silver, and although the piece is rather large, it does show off it's beauty with great aplomb! One for the Summer Festival Season maybe?! 

18x25mm Red Jasper and Haematite - Norfolk, UK

Turritella Agate - Wyoming, USA

There is great fun to be had cutting this material, although it has an occasional trick of cracking clean through - often late in the cutting process of course! The fossilised remains of these little gastropods is a window in to an ancient undersea world, it is curious that these particular organisms had the good fortune to find themselves below some form of igneous material. The consequent agate build up in the fossil bed gives the material real depth and shine.

I cut this small cab some time ago, but despite it's minimal size, the central fossil was really well framed. I left the dome quite high to give the material chance to show it's 3D qualities. The stone is often surprisingly hard and does have the tendency to undercut as your shaping the cab, so keep checking and adjust your motion to compensate for softer areas. I set the 18x13mm cabochon in a silver plated commercial setting as a small pendant, it ended up looking really nice for such a small chip of rough!

18x13mm Turritella Agate - Wyoming, USA

Rainforest Jasper - Australia

Rainforest Jasper is amazing. Those windows of Agate are incredible - and all different varieties of Agate too! I think the colour is lovely, two tone green with orangey brown and other interesting inclusions encasing a chocolate box of exciting Agate patterns and styles. Beautiful stone!

Fun to cut and polish - I like cutting this material a lot. it's surprisingly even in it's hardness despite the physical contrast, so it cuts and shapes easily. It's quite hard - a typical Agate or Jasper hardness. Polish is easily achieved and by .25 micron it's bright as glass. Wonderful shine!  I set the 25x18mm cabochon in a commerical silver plated setting - one of my favourite horizontal designs - you may have noticed.

25x18mm Rainforest Jasper - Australia

Amazonite - Brazil

This is a delightful stone for the ladies, a minty pale green which really lights up when being worn. Subtle crystal sparkles from deep inside and the natural pale mottled appearance make it a desirable choice. A close relative of the Moonstone and Labradorite - It's light bending effects are more gentle and refined.

As a material for Lapidary, it's a joy, a little harder than Sodalite - it cuts quickly and predictably, although it can be a little brittle when thin. The shaping and grinding are straightforward and polish is achieved quite easily on the finer diamond pads below 3 microns. I set the 25x18mm cabochon in a commercial silver plated setting.

25x18mm Amazonite - Brazil

Gary Green Jasper - Nevada, USA

It's a spangle bangle! Another 25x18mm cabochon - my favourite size for cutting, small and light enough to be worn as anything from a pendant to a big ring, it's an ideal size, and sets this bangle off delightfully. The Gary Green Jasper is actually a fossilized wood, the amazing deep green colour shows details of the woods structure in subtle wavy grainy patterns, it's very hard but also extremely beautiful!

I enjoyed cutting this one as the slab was not only a gift, but also very thin, which means although the shaping grind has to be gently done the preform stage was really fast despite the hard nature of the stone. I was pleased with the resulting cab though, it really glows! I set the 25x18mm cabochon in a commercial blank silver plated bangle setting.

25x18mm Gary Green Bog Jasper - Nevada, USA

Snowflake Obsidian - Mexico

Snow?! In May! No - it's Obsidian from Mexico, the crystals formed in the cooling glassy material and made pretty snowflakes in black volcanic glass! Excellent! It's a pretty pendant in the form shown here. light enough for everyday use but eye-catchingly bright. It's sure to raise comments!

It's typically splintery to work - a factor of it's vitreous nature, but it's soft and machines quickly so it's easy to get a shape and pre-form done. Take your time when polishing however as the material shows every fault in your polishing process - miss a patch adn your exposed! the finished 25x18mm cabochon was set in a silver plated commercial setting.

25x18mm Snowflake Obsidian - Mexico

Labradorite - Madagascar

Might as well start with a glitzy glam rock! This one is Labradorite from Madagascar, very bright blue flash in this particular example, but yellow and green are seen also, sometimes several colours and patches in one stone. The golden yellow ones are truly amazing.

The material cuts reasonably well, it takes a little practice to align the rough when slabbing. But from grinding and shaping perspectives it's easier than jasper and agate, and takes a nice bright polish with diamond. This was a 25x18mm cabochon in a silver plated commercial setting. 

25x18mm Labradorite - Madagascar

New Beginnings

Here we go!

Blogging has eluded me for some time, so it's now or never - I'm giving it a try.

I'm a rock polisher - a Lapidary Artist if you want to put it that way. My fascination is with rocks and minerals which can be cut, ground and shaped and finally polished to a glossy bright sheen. The finished stones are then often set in to my jewellery pieces.

Currently I'm working on calibrated (specific size) cabochon stones. But soon I hope to learn about silver smithing and graduate on to my own custom pieces which can accommodate my own custom stones. Anyway - back to the present...

I cut using a small simple machine, a tile saw and some customised polishing pads which give me pro results on am machinery. Well - That's it for now - I'll upload some of my past projects for you. Hope you like what you see.

Cheers for now....

GlamRocks