From This...to That!

Back to share more about my adventures in lapidary! To begin with, I will share my source of materials:
Yep, that there is the gravel road between buildings here at Sterling. doesnt look like much does it? All most people see there is a bunch of worthless dusty rocks, but I see more. I pick through it looking for diamonds in the rough as it were and I bring them here

This is my makeshift studio in the fiber arts building, I cant help but wonder where I will end up when classes resume in there! Now for the magical machine that makes my work possible!

This little beauty is the Inland Swap Top lapidary wonder! Using this machine, I can cut, shape, and polish all of my stones. Aside from the saw blade and shaping drum, there are also 4 different grits of polishing discs and a wool finishing disc that adds the final shine!

These are stones freshly picked from the road, the dust has been washed off of most of them and they are ready to be worked. The second picture is of some stones that have gone through a couple of discs. The sticks they are affixed to are called doping sticks, used to hold the piece while working. That green goo is a special wax that hardens when cool and holds stones very securely. The stones in the last picture are finished on one side, they must now be frozen to be released from the wax.

Here are a few completely finished stones ready to be wrapped

Thats All I have for now, I do have some new stones from New Hampshire, and Connecticut that friends have brought me from their travels, I am so excited to see what I can do with them!