What is Lapidary?

in #introduceyourself7 years ago (edited)

Lapidary is the art of cutting gemstones. The person cutting the gems is also referred to as a Lapidary artist. I specialize in cutting cabochons, that are polished and rounded on the top. This gemstone is called Mohave Desert Jasper from California. It requires special diamond saws to cut through the rough rock. You grind and polish the stone on diamond wheels until all the scratches are gone. This beautiful Kingman Turquoise is all cut with a freeform design. Cutting the gemstones takes lots of precision and patience. It's very relaxing and calming having to concentrate so deeply. This beautiful slab of Montana Agate will probably be the next stone I cut into. It has me inspired for a couple of ring ideas. Upvote if you like rocks! Thanks .)

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Definitely upvoted! You are quite the Lapidary artist! This is what I want to do with a lot of my agates, and make jewelry out of them. So I read you were looking to make tutorials, I think you should!

I don't have the equipment to cut any of my rocks yet. Only have a rock tumbler, but I am pursuing more primitive options for cutting them in the mean time.

Instead of buying a lapidary saw, you can buy a tile saw, and put a good lapidary blade on it. That will save you a few hundred dollars. Craigslist and ebay are good places to look out for used equipment. I have whats called a flat lap thats called the "all you need" 6 inch lapidary unit. It's around $450 brand new. Check to see if you have a lapidary club ( gem and mineral) in your area. They usually have rock cutting classes. I used to teach the junior classes year ago in Sonoma Counties mineral club. Sometimes they have jewelry classes too.

Nice thanks for the tips!

OOh these are so cool! I can't decide if I like the first one better or the bottom one, they are just too pretty.

I'm not really sure which one of those I like better myself lol. There both so beautiful.... Thanks

Your rock collection is really cool.

Thanks bro. Wait till I break into my Goonies stash lol...

Haha... Just noticed that barber dime has been polished up almost as much as your rocks. Still can see the date though! :)

here a shot of my Goonies treasure box lol...

wow... it really does look like a goonies treasure box!

dude, this is bloody amazing!

It's got the thumb polish from being in circulation for so many years. Love old silver coins... I found a euro 50 cent piece today metal detecting. That was a first. Pretty odd for these parts lol

Lovely stuff! That last piece of agate is a beauty. Apart from the amber ive yet to try proper stone cuttung and polishing. Keen Follower now

I love Montana agate. I find these oil agates on the coast that are similar, but with dark spots. The best ones are only about marble size at most but they sure are beautiful. Thanks for the follow.)

welcome! Im glad youve decided to joined the party!

Long live and prosper.

Thank you I certainly appreciate the warm welcome.

Welcome to the best community ever which values our hardwork . Hope you'll have good time here. Gud people are waiting for you... Feel free to share what you like with me and be in touch @sarinakhan

Thanks so much for your support. I appreciate the warm welcome.

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