Jordy's Gem and Lapidary Odyssey thread!

[LtypeI]

Jordy, thank you so much for starting this thread and keeping it going! And thanks to the experienced lapidaries, I've been poring over this and madly googling to see if I can find a local lapidary club - it looks like so much fun! Learning metalsmithing is on my bucket list, but playing with stones looks like it might be even more fun. Thank you for sharing your expertise! And if anyone can advise on how to find reputable lapidary clubs (I'm in the DC area), please let me know

 

[jordyonbass]

Jordy, thank you so much for starting this thread and keeping it going! And thanks to the experienced lapidaries, I've been poring over this and madly googling to see if I can find a local lapidary club - it looks like so much fun! Learning metalsmithing is on my bucket list, but playing with stones looks like it might be even more fun. Thank you for sharing your expertise! And if anyone can advise on how to find reputable lapidary clubs (I'm in the DC area), please let me know

I'm glad it has made someone want to find their local club, I think people would be surprised how easy it is to do their own cab stones. They could even turn it into their own jewellery or a piece for a friend! Let us know how you go with finding a local lapidary club!

Also I see your profile indicates you are a trade member, do you mind me asking how you are involved in it?
Sorry to be nosy but curiosity, y'know?

 

[LtypeI]

I'll definitely let you know! I haven't found anything local, but I've been a bit slammed at work and haven't had a chance to really focus on my search.

Not nosy at all! The trade designation is a technicality - I have an Etsy shop that I don't have time for, basically. I started it up when my first kiddo got older and I had free time for hobbies, but then I had #2 and am back to just about zero free time So the shop languishes, but it still exists so I guess I'm trade. I'm an attorney by profession, though, jewelry is just fun for me

At any rate, I've loved reading your posts and am looking forward to hearing about the process of learning faceting! I'm still pretty new to stone cut generally, and precision faceting seems like a kind of amazing magic in my eyes.

 

[jordyonbass]

Last weekend Mrs Jordy and I went for a 9 hour drive to surprise my father for his birthday, while we were there she found a little market and there was a stall selling timbled stones. She picked up a bunch and the plan is to re-shape them into more symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing shapes and then for her to practice her cabochon wire wrapping on them.

I honestly have no idea what they are but they're more stones for the collection. Some of them look like the agates we've worked on.

 

[MJ_Mac]

Jordy - I think the last stone you posted is fluorite. I've bought some tumbled fluorite beads for a necklace and it looks identical.

 

[jordyonbass]

Jordy - I think the last stone you posted is fluorite. I've bought some tumbled fluorite beads for a necklace and it looks identical.

Thanks Poodles!! I had a quick look on Google and some of it looks really similar to that stone.
Some of it also looks like Amethyst and we simply call it that as a way to distinguish it from the other rocks in the package but I literally have no idea what they are

 

[MJ_Mac]

You definitely have chevron (or commonly called dog tooth) amethyst in the mix. I think the green is prehnite, the brown is either obsidian or jasper (I think it looks more like mahogany obsidian), the dark navy may be dumorteirite. I can't tell what some of the others are - the triangle shaped with slight sheen may be labradorite. This is just my opinion on having worked with various gemstone beads over the years. I thought I'd throw it out there so you at least have a place to start your research.

 

[Mh159]

I'm getting started with the parramatta lapidary club tomorrow. i have toumaline rough I ordered off of gemrockauctions.com and can't wait to get started. I wish I lived close to the New England area so I could find my own saphires fossicking. Good to see some other Aussies on here (I'm orriginally from the States but moved to Sydney a couple years ago. Gems is my new passion

 

[jordyonbass]

I'm getting started with the parramatta lapidary club tomorrow. i have toumaline rough I ordered off of gemrockauctions.com and can't wait to get started. I wish I lived close to the New England area so I could find my own saphires fossicking. Good to see some other Aussies on here (I'm orriginally from the States but moved to Sydney a couple years ago. Gems is my new passion

That's awesome, I was actually born and raised around the area there!! I have a friend who used to be a member of that actual club as well, when I made it a bit more public with my friends that I was learning how to cab stones he mentioned to me that he used to be a member there. Good luck and please feel free to show us what you have done at your club!

You're a lot closer to the New England area than I am and fossicking up there is something I have been thinking about doing at some point in the future. Until then there's Wee Jasper that I am looking at doing a trip to, which is close to Yass (where the famous McDonald's sign is located ). They have Sapphires and Garnets there however I don't think they have the kind of quality blue sapphires that New England has. I know aussiejamie was up there recently and apparently he did pretty well, I'm waiting for him to share pics with me of his finds

 

[aussiejamie]

Hi guys,
Why don't you guys try digging at Grabben Gullen near Canberra. I have seen some very nice sapphires come from there and much closer to where you guys live. I will share some pics very soon. Been a bit busy

 

[jordyonbass]

Hi guys,
Why don't you guys try digging at Grabben Gullen near Canberra. I have seen some very nice sapphires come from there and much closer to where you guys live. I will share some pics very soon. Been a bit busy

I almost forgot about Grabben Gullen, thanks mate!

I just had a look at the map, Grabben Gullen and Wee Jasper aren't too far away from each other at all, about 60km (40 miles for our US friends). I think Grabben Gullen is technically closer to Mh159 but Wee Jasper is closer to the Hume highway so that is the obvious place to go. Since I would be driving all the way up from Melbourne I would probably look at fossicking both locations over an extended trip away. We're the outdoors type so no issue with getting dirty, I've been talking about it with Mrs Jordy and she is really keen to go on a trip. She said she would probably start yelling and dancing the moment she finds her first gemstone

 

[theredspinel]

Digging for your own gemstone.... my idea of heaven!!

 

[Lovinggems]

I'm watching Prospectors right now, these people mined over $1 m worth of Amazonite in a 10 week period.

 

[jordyonbass]

TRS, honestly I keep forgetting how good Australia's gemstone deposits are and I kick myself about it. I can literally drive less than 10 hours to 3 locations I know of that produce gemstones, another one as well where I have to take a cruise liner to Tasmania and drive which will probably take about the same time. Vincent Pardieu is at the Tassie Sapphire fields right now, I'm very interested in what he finds as it may give me some future planning to do. We are spoiled here in Australia as we have quite the variety of gemstones; Diamonds and FCDs, Sapphires, Garnets, Opals, Peridot, Topaz, Spinel, Quartz, Zircon. Heck, we even have Emeralds!!

LG I have seen a few episodes of Prospectors but have been meaning to actually sit down and watch them all. I saw the episode where one of the guys was pulling out Topaz crystals bigger than my fist. And it was getting so close to that desirable Imperial red color that I was getting ridiculously excited as he pulled out huge chunk after huge chunk. I love seeing some of the Aquamarine specimens they get on the show as well!

 

[chrono]

Jordon,
I love those cabs that you photographed - they are varied and have interesting patterns. I can visualize them strung together as a chunky bracelet.

 

[jordyonbass]

Jordon,
I love those cabs that you photographed - they are varied and have interesting patterns. I can visualize them strung together as a chunky bracelet.

Thanks Chrono!! If you mean the most recent pics, they're not cabs just yet - just rocks that have been in a tumbler. We're going to reshape them into the more traditional cab shapes so stay tuned for more, I am hoping to have progress pics for ol' pinky soon as well if I can find time to get down to the club.

I also have an upcoming post that I shall be making about one of the harder lessons we have learned recently, it's not going to be a fun post for me to make but it's part of the learning process

 

[arkieb1]

Wow Jordy, your post is amazing!!! Do you find cabbing difficult? I've always wanted to learn to do it. I started trying to use a cutting wheel and impatiently cut a few really ugly wonky gemstones and worked out I don't have the patience for it or the eye for the angles either. My husband was fantastic at it (he paid for another career cutting stones for his father as a teen) but refuses to do it, he claims he is too old and it's a strain on his eyes.

 

[jordyonbass]

Hi arkieb!

I don't find cabbing to be the most difficult thing I have ever done; as per my post about the cabbing process that I have learned in particular, everything is marked out so I have guidelines to work with in order to get the stone to that familiar cab shape. There's a bit of free-hand work to do towards the end of the process and you check everything by eye however there's plenty of tricks to check your work (like rolling a stone under a long fluorescent light globe to check for hard edges that break the light's reflection).

What I have found most interesting about it is that people who work on doing stone cabbing and people who do car or boat restorations follow very similar processes in order to put that shine into their finished product. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising but there's so many cross-over items I see between the two different fields that it's almost uncanny.

It's a shame your husband won't do it, he could be making you some awesome stones for jewellery pieces!

 

[jordyonbass]

THE ROCKHOUND FEVER STRIKES AGAIN!!

It's been a little while since I've been in here as I haven't had any updates until now. Between working graveyards or whenever the club has been open, moving house with the loose ends still being tied up and finishing my old job today - I just haven't had the time to get down.

That won't stop me from continuing where I can though

Today I ordered a package of opals from Justin at Black Opal Direct (who has been absolutely fantastic, he put up with my ridiculous newbie questions with the greatest patience). They are mostly for me to learn on however I plan on gifting some stones to family and friends if they come out well. Here's a snap of the package from his website, I can't wait for it to arrive!!
I also have a plan for doing these stones that will involve a combination of polishing both with machinery and by hand. When the stones arrive I'll take some pics and elaborate more on what I plan on doing.

 

[theredspinel]

THE ROCKHOUND FEVER STRIKES AGAIN!!

It's been a little while since I've been in here as I haven't had any updates until now. Between working graveyards or whenever the club has been open, moving house with the loose ends still being tied up and finishing my old job today - I just haven't had the time to get down.

That won't stop me from continuing where I can though

Today I ordered a package of opals from Justin at Black Opal Direct (who has been absolutely fantastic, he put up with my ridiculous newbie questions with the greatest patience). They are mostly for me to learn on however I plan on gifting some stones to family and friends if they come out well. Here's a snap of the package from his website, I can't wait for it to arrive!!
I also have a plan for doing these stones that will involve a combination of polishing both with machinery and by hand. When the stones arrive I'll take some pics and elaborate more on what I plan on doing.

Yes!!!!!!!!!! I have been waiting so long for that post cannot wait to see more pics of it and read about what you do!

 

[jordyonbass]

Thanks TRS! My next post will be once the stones arrive, I now have the dreaded waiting time while they ship from Justin (which I am sure you understand completely!) but as soon as they are here I'll be taking some snaps.

I've also got another post to make soon regarding a hard lesson I have learned recently about buying rough stones, I'm still in the process of getting that sorted out and will post about it as soon as the issues there have been resolved.

 

[Lovinggems]

The opal parcel is beautiful, looking forward to your next post!

 

[jordyonbass]

So one of the good things about living in the same country as the world's largest Opal supply is overnight postage, the package from Justin arrived today and I'm really excited!! There's some really nice stones in the package so I took a few snaps (excuse my horrible fingers lol)

So my plan with these stones is to use a mix of machinery and one of the steps of the 'Steiner Technique' that Justin has shown on his website and youtube channel. If you aren't familiar with the Steiner technique, Justin was sent a pic of an opal that was cut by hand by a teenage boy from overseas and was shocked to find out that the young fella had cut it by hand - no fancy equipment. He started by shaping it on a corundum knife sharpener, then worked the stone with 400-1200 grit sandpaper and finally a leather strip with Cerium Oxide to give it a fine polish.

While I do not have the patience to do the same with the knife sharpener and sandpaper, my plan is to use the machinery at my lapidary club to do most of the work and use a leather strap with Cerium Oxide to do the final polish. This is for 2 reasons; first I am worried about contaminated felt wheels at my lap club causing scratches and also because I wanted to try something different. A little bit of old and new world mixed together!!

 

[theredspinel]

I can't imagine having so many black opals to play with!!! Do you run them all through your hands??

Some really do look like they have great poc and I can't wait to see your pinky ring stone all finished! Will you start with that one first or use a less nice one to practise on?

 

[jordyonbass]

Not exactly, I more sit here under a fluoro light looking at the colorplay and when one really pops out at me I yell at my wife 'Phwooaaaaarrrrr come look at this one honey!!!'

While the nobby looks like it would be the easiest to cut, I am going to save it until last as I think it may also be the most valuable stone in the package. The tiny bit of color bar showing glows like there is a light inside, the potch showing looks a minimum N3 and the shape is perfect for an oval. First is ol' pinky when I get back to the club, then I'll try cut and polish some of the cheaper opals. After that I have a few requests and gifts I will try to get out of the better stones that I'll be saving towards the end and last of all will be the nobby.

Any ideas for a rockin' mens cabochon ring anyone?

 

[chroman]

How about something with a beetle motif?

 

[jordyonbass]

Hmm...maybe not so much a beetle motif but possibly a spider one where the stone is the abdomen? My only concern with that would be how much the setting wraps around my finger as it may get damaged by the strings on my bass guitar (will be a stage ring for gigs). My wedding ring doesn't give me issues but a pinky ring may (I've never played with one on so there may be problems, I'd have to put one on and try).

 

[chroman]

A spider design would be cool too - seems like there are lots of options in the insect world. Lots of stubby bodies for a cab, and you can make it as dark (mood wise) as you migt want for on-stage.

Sounds like you may have another project in the making - experimenting with how much ring you can get away with before it gets battered by the strings!

 

[jordyonbass]

Yeah I may have to do some research there! Unless there's a very tough metal that can take a beating that you or someone could recommend, tungsten would be a good candidate but I learned the hard way that I don't need any more rings on my hands that conduct electricity

In about 7 and a half hours from now I'll be at the lapidary club, attacking ol' pinky. Hopefully I will have some pics to share after our session is finished!

 

[jordyonbass]

So we've just gotten back from the club and have big smiles right now. Ol' Pinky is about 90% finished, just a few little finishing touches required. It's not the prettiest sapphire cabochon and I probably ground away a bit too much but I'm happy with it considering I made no markings and freehanded the entire stone.

Mrs Jordy's task was to rub up the color bars on the opals however she got a little carried away and ended up starting a pair of tear drops. They still need more work but are starting to look amazing, she was surprised how easy they were to do!!