AMMOLITE

I recently was given a wonderful gift of some spectacular Ammolite rough.  Here are a few pieces that I have started to process.  Each is about the size of a quarter.

Ammolite is a very rare opal-like gemstone found primarily in Alberta, Canada.  It may well be the rarest gemstone on earth, as rare as genuine red diamonds.

Ammolite is the fossilized shells of Ammonites, which are composed of aragonite, the same material as pearls.

Ammonites were spiral disc shaped cephalopods that once lived in tropical inland seas, becoming extinct along with the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago at the end of the Mesozoic era.

The iridescent opal-like color play of Ammolite is caused by the interference with the light which rebounds from the very thin stacked layers of aragonite platelets.  Reds and green are most common, but all colors of the spectrum are possible.  Thicker layers of platelets produce the reds and greens, thinner layers of platelets the blues and violet at the other end of the visible spectrum.

The Ammolite layer is a very thin sheet, often not more than 0.5mm thick and is usually backed with its dark gray to brown shale matrix.

Because Ammolite is relatively soft for a gemstone (4.5-5.5 on the Mohs scale) and the very thin mica-like platelet layers are subject to flaking, it is common for Ammolite to be treated with epoxy or polyester resin to harden and stabilize the material prior to cutting and polishing and to be made into doublets and triplets with a clear quartz cap to protect the delicate Ammolite from damage.

Look for reverse doublets and triplets of this spectacular gemstone in my on-line store soon.

Lightning Ridge black opals

The second week of classes I took at William Holland School was OPALS taught by Joe DePietro.  The class was first rate as Joe is a veteran opal cutter and long time dealer with a wealth of knowledge and experience.  I had purchased a small parcel of Lightning Ridge black opal rough at the Denver show this year, in anticipation of taking this week of instruction.  Apparently I had some beginners luck in choosing a good lot, since I was able to find some good color and I cut a few nice stones.  Joe was kind enough to evaluate them using a software program called 'Smart Chart' available through opalmine.com.  It is a 14 step process of evaluating type, brightness, body tone, shape, color, coverage, weight and many other factors to arrive at a 'field wholesale' price from a database periodically updated through the website based on market activity and market conditions.  I was stunned at the prices, nearly as much as I was amazed and captivated by how spectacular Lightening Ridge black opal can be.  Last year at the Tucson shows I talked a good deal to various opal dealers and cutters who all told me - once you start cutting opals, it will capture you and regular cabochons will never be the same anymore.......... I see their point........

1.25 ct. N3 green-blue, slightly-bright oval

4.45 ct. N4 green, blue,orange bright freeform

I also cut a couple of nice blue stones that were evaluated using Paul Downings method and brightness scale with comparables drawn from his newsletter market updates

9.65 ct.

8.00 ct.

I have several other nice stones in progress and have converted several chucks of rough to 'rubs' in search of color.  I have several more some nice pieces of the deep cobalt blue with N1 body color and some lavender color crystal with a moss pattern.

Stay tuned for more pictures and updates on opals.

By the way.  If you are interested in purchasing any of these stones, they are available.  Money back guarantee if not satisfied.  E-mail me at cabochondesignz@gmail.com

William Holland 3

Thursday night after supper there is a "tailgate" show in the dining room where students and instructors can sell their creations.  It only lasts and hour, but I sold 9 cabochons that evening.  The day before I sold a nice flat top ruby zoisite stone to a student in the Silver I class........

.........and two nice rutilated quartz cabs to a fellow student in my Cabochon class.  She had both of them wire wrapped by the Wire instructor, Dawn Thornton of Dawn's Creations in Welaka, FL.  Dawn's web-site is: dawn-n-mack.com

Wm. Holland School 2

Tuesday night there is an auction of donated items to help pay the costs of equipment and supplies at the school.  Not all items are lapidary or jewelry related, but most are.  It's for a good cause and some of the items are bid up well beyond all expectations...... how 'bout a chocolate bar for $10.  The best item in the auction was a gorgeous slab of old stock blue Biggs Jasper that was phenomenal.  I think it went for $60

The auctioneers are well known to the regulars and do a great job getting the bids from the crowd.  Everybody's favorite is the Opals instructor Joe DePietro, who has very poor hearing..... you'll say $5 and he'll recognize the bid as $7.... ask for $10....recognize a phantom bidder in the back of the room at $10...return to the previous bidder.....'what?  whad chu say?? (silence) $12??... you said $12....I have $12..... who'll give $15??       I not really sure how deaf old Joe really is.......   What a riot.... It was a hoot.

Joe Depietro

Wednesday afternoon is free time.  I drove through the mountains to Franklin, NC., visited the gem and mineral museum, drove some nice narrow curvy roads and returned to Young Harris after dark.  Great day.

Wm. Holland School of Lapidary Arts

Today was the second day of classes.  Excellent instruction, good facilities, beautiful North Georgia mountains, fall foliage, perfect weather.  What a deal!!

Cabochon Classrom and classmates

Six 'Genies' and all the extras needed..... trim saws, dop pots, buffers, etc.  It is really nice to meet new people and chat with folks who have the same interests you do.

 Past Otto's Lodge, up the hill in the trees, is Spark's lodge

Otto's Lodge is essentially a motel for students.  Wow!  better than name brand motels I stayed in on my cross country road trip to get here.  Sparks Lodge, also has rooms for students as well as the dining hall and most of the classrooms.

"Mystery Agate"

OK - does anybody know what this stone is --  or might hazard a guess?

This is not a trick question.  I don't know what it is.  I got the small slab remnant from the scrap bin at the Old Peublo Lapidary Club cabbing lab about two years ago.  I don't have it listed for sale on my Etsy on-line shop, because I don't know what it is.

I think it the pattern on it looks like a tornado.  Hey - what can I tell you - I used to see all kinds of things in the clouds  as a kid while lying on my back in the cool grass down by Sackett Brook........

TEXAS!

Note to my Lone Star friends:  I like country music.... really I do..... but contrary to popular Texas belief, as judged by the number of country stations on the radio dial, ....... THERE ARE OTHER KINDS OF MUSIC Y'ALL!!!  (I get to say -y'all- because I lived in North Carolina for the biggest part of my adult life).  Now that I got that of my chest - I am at the end of my second day on the road and doing my duty as a guest of this BIG country - watching the Texas Rangers beating up on the Yankees!!

I have stopped at a couple of rock shops and bead stores along the way from AZ, through NM and TX.  It is always fun to chat with store keepers and I always see a few cabs I am envious of.

I waved when I was going through Fort Worth and passed the road that takes you toward Trophy Club......

On to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia...... the weather has been perfect.

Road Trip!!

In the morning I am hitting the road.....heading for northeast Georgia for two weeks of classes at the William Holland School.  Week one - Cabochons.  Week two - Opal cutting.  The weather should be cool and maybe I will get to see some fall color in the Appalachian Mountains while I am there.  I hope there is some left by the time I get there.  I wish I had lots of time to travel the Blue Highways, but this is going to be a green sign, I-something-or-other, what state am I in now, trip.

I have plenty of slabs and a bag of Lightning Ridge black opal rough to work on........ I can't wait!!!!

Turquoise Hunt

Yesterday I went to Bisbee, AZ for the annual turquoise hunt sponsored by the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum.  Once each year the museum has access to the mine dumps from the famous copper mining operations in Bisbee.  Organized and coordinated in conjunction with Freeport McMoran Copper, the current mine owner, rockhounders who purchase tickets for this event are transported by bus from a lot across the street from the museum past the original Sacramento pit and the famous Lavender pit, onto and through the mine property to dump #7 where the mining company generously 'rips' (turns over) the tailings on a broad flat area known to yield some nice turqouise, including some of the brilliant deep blue 'Bisbee Blue'.  The company provides drinking water, water for washing your finds, port-o-john facilities, stand by first-aid capability just in case, and a few polite mining company employees to remind us when we have wandered past the designated collecting area or onto the steep slopes and berms, which is verboten, for good reason.

I did not have much luck, but a few nice pieces were found by others, as always, which keeps us eternally hopeful and coming back again.  I was looking for material that would produce at least a 10 x 8 finished cab, and although I found many nice chips with great color, I left them behind hopefully to be found by one of the many first time novice rockhounders or children whose day would be absolutely made by finding even a small piece of 'Bisbee Blue'.  I suspect that there are many small treasures being proudly shown to family and friends today.

Despite not finding a monster chunk of some of the rarest and most beautiful turquoise in the world, it was an awesome day.  Great Arizona fall weather - clear blue cloudless sky, mid to high 80's - good conversation with old and new friends, giving a little advice to eager novices, getting a bit of sage advice from the old timers who really know their stuff.  There is not a better way to spend a day.

Aluminum dop sticks

I have always found traditional wooden dowel dop sticks and wax to be awkward, messy, somewhat unreliable, and most of all, slow and time consuming.  I especially don't like dopping small stones on small diameter sticks.  I find it difficult to hold and control a small diameter stick in my fingers and dome a small cab smoothly..... AND.... I like to scribe a line around the perimeter for the intended bezel height after I have established the outside shape.  This means I de-mount the stone, place the stone bottom side down on a flat surface, scribe my guide line around the edge and re-dop the stone to dome the top.

Another technique used by many, including me, has been to glue the stone to a flat head wood screw with epoxy or CA and screw it into 1/2", 9/16", or 5/8" diameter wooden dowels, or to glue the stone directly onto wood, brass or aluminum dop sticks.  That works OK, but....... every one of my wooden dowels is not exactly the same, meaning the pilot hole is not precisely dead center or perpendicular in the end of the stick, (small things like that annoy me),  I have to replace the wooden dowels once in a while as the pilot hole wears out from repeated use, I need lots of dops for all the stones I have in progress at any one time if the stones are glued right to the stick ...... AND...... (this is the biggie)........  I still have to (or want to) de-mount the stone to scribe my bezel height guide line around the stone after I have established the outside shape.

Here is my solution:  I use two sizes of aluminum dop sticks with tapped holes in each end.  One is  5/16" diameter with a 6-32 tapped hole in one end and a 10-32 tapped hole in the other.  The other stick is 1/2" diameter with a 1/4-20 tapped hole in one end and a 5/16-18 tapped hole in the other end. The sticks are 4" long have a 1" medium knurled area on each end.  I use 3/4" long flat head machine screws glued to the stones with CA.  I can glue up a large number of stones on the appropriate size screws and quickly screw them into the dop stick, snugging them up with a standard machine nut.  I also have a small bench block with four clearance holes drilled through it.  The clearance holes are a bit larger than the head diameter of the four sizes of flat head screws I use.  After grinding the outside shape of the cab I can quickly remove the stone from the stick (screw still attached), set the screw shank into the appropriate clearance hole in the block, scribe the bezel height guide line around the edge of the stone, and re-attach the stone back on the dop stick in no time at all.

When the cabs are complete I only have to place the stone(s) with the short screw attached into a sealed jar of Acetone or Nitro Methane to be-bond the CA.  I can use a smaller container since I don't have to place the entire dop stick into the container, and I still have the threaded dop sticks for use on new stones I am working on.

I also have an adapter with a 6-32 male thread and a female 4-40 thread which an be attached to the standard dop stick so you can glue up very small stones on 4-40 machine screws.

As far as adhesives go, I primarily use CA rather than epoxy, but for delicate stones I don't want to excessively expose directly to Acetone, Nitro Methane or their vapors for de-bonding, I glue up the stones with regular white glue and paint the edges of the screw head with nail polish after the glue has dried to waterproof the bond.  When it is time to take the stone off the screw, I dip a small artist brush in Acetone and remove the nail polish without unduly exposing the stone to the solvent.  Drop the stone with attached screw into water and the white glue dissolves quickly.  As you can probably guess, I prefer this method for opals.

Soon, in my on-line store and through my website, I will be offering a kit containing dop sticks, a starter assortment of screws and nuts, and the drilled bench block.  I know some of you might have a metalworking shop at home and are capable of making these dop sticks yourself. (or maybe already have).  The design is copyrighted, so you shouldn't make them for sale, but you may make them for yourself.  I will send you a copy of the drawing if you want, but honestly, if you have the capability to make these, you don't need the drawing, do you.....

AARRRRGGHHH!!! *&^!@+$@" GRAVITY!!

This chrysocolla from the old Rowley Mine in Gila Bend, AZ didn't survive a fall from my work bench to the shop floor.  Well..... it happens.  Thankfully not too often.  I don't glue repair broken stones, so this goes into the scrap heap for now..... to be recut at some time in the future........

WEBSITE LAUNCH!

Today I launched my website  www.cabochondesignz.com
Take a look and give me some feedback.  I sell all my cabochons through an on-line store on Etsy.com
There is a link to the Etsy store on my website.  I am excited about the transition of my hobby into something more.

Currently in my workshop I am working on psilomelane from Chihuahua, MX, black jade from Australia, chrysocolla from Arizona, and rutilated quartz from Brazil.  Look for cabs from these materials in the Esty on-line store soon.

August cabs

This has been a busy month.  I set up an Etsy shop on July 31st and sold my first stone on-line while I was still entering listings.  The shop had been live for about an hour!

check it out.  There is link to the shop on the right side of the page

Here are a few cabs that are not currently listed for sale in the shop, but are part of my personal collection.

July cabs

We often say 'where has the time gone!'  This entire year has been racing by at the speed of light - hasn't it?
I have probably spent more time making cabochons than I should have, but far less time than I would have liked.  I have a day job as a quality assurance manager for a small manufacturing company and do some consulting on the side.

Here are a few pics of some of the work I have done recently.

Send me an email if you are interested in purchasing a stone for your jewelry project or collection.  For that matter - send me an email with any sort of question or comment.

'Sonoran Sunset'

Sugilite

Ruby in Zoisite