Back in the swing

05 Feb 2011 1 Comment

by Raquel in cabbing Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Back in the swing of cabbing anyway.  I’ve been away from my cabbing equipment for awhile and it sure is good to be back at it.  I was so excited that I couldn’t decide what I wanted to polish first.  It was even a bit hard to concentrate.  I found that I wanted to polish all the lil slabs I had cut.  Which is way too many. So I started a few and only finished four.  As soon as I get a chance I will finish the others.  I ended up with a drusy quartz cab, a laguna agate, a queensland agate cab, and a chrysocolla cab.

I had read on a forum awhile back that one of the members there would mix a few different polishes and get a glass like shine on his cabs. So I tried it out.  I mixed some red rouge, green polishing rouge, and cerium oxide equal parts. I got a really good polish but I think it needs to be mixed with something other than water.  I didn’t like the consistency.

God is truly wonderful. It always amazes me when I cut a rock open and inside there’s this amazing pattern that you would never have thought could be in there.   I can sit in awe just checking out a small slab of rock.  I suppose this is my kind of meditation.  All the layers and colors. Awesome!!

The pink Queensland agate just formed itself. All I had to do was take off the ugly brown stuff from the outside and  it was already a heart.  Not a perfect heart, but then who has a perfect heart?

The other cabs were just as much fun to make, the drusy has been on my mind for awhile, since drusy jewelry is all the rage now.  The little crystals are so pretty and catch the light like stars.

Thanks for coming by,

Until next time…

11 Apr 2010 3 Comments

by Raquel in cabbing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Don’t you just love cloudy days, where you just wanna stay home and just veg? I do! But instead of just vegging out, I cut up a few slabs and got some cabbing in. I’ve had a couple of slabs that I’ve been wanting to cab but I had been putting it off. One was pet wood and it has a really cool picture in the stone. I had been worried that it would crack or mess up, and I couldn’t bear the thought of messing it up. But it kept calling me, so I finally just went for it. I’m glad I did too. Funny or odd thing is that the Mookite or Mookaite also has a face in it. Although its a little different. Anytime you get a cabochon from an artist its unique and this just goes to show how unique they can get.
I’m also adding pictures of the second jade carving I finally finished. It seems to have taken forever to finish this one. I really enjoy carving jade, but it seems like I get a bit obsessed and have no time for wrapping. I found the stone at Jade cove and wanted to leave the shape pretty much the same as when I found it. But I wanted to carve some sort of design in the middle of it so that it could be worn. After carving it, I added a small faceted sapphire in the center.


Well so far so good and another day to go. Hope you have a great weekend!

And another Estate sale

30 May 2009 1 Comment

by Raquel in Cuts & cabs Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

I was out with my cousin and Aunt when we saw a sign that said estate sale, so of course we had to see what they were selling. We pulled in and first thing I saw was a cab template. Now if there’s a template you know there’s rocks or cabs or sumthin! I asked for rocks and was told nope not any, wait maybe. Haven’t pulled everything out yet. No, it wasn’t that early. They were just really busy. Well a guy said let me show you something, tell me what you think. He led me to the back yard and against the wall was a small tub with some cut rock. He said he wanted to sell it but not sure how much. Well It was hard to tell what all was in it but needless to say I bought it and on the way out another box that had metal in it. I told him it looked like silver but, I wasn’t sure. Some of it is copper for sure, but I will have to check the rest out. At the bottom of the box there was some silver bezel wire and silver wire the rest I don’t know. Anyway I bought it all. Here are some clickable pics.


Some of the stones were carefully marked and put in small manilla envelopes or wrapped in tissue paper. Others laid in boxes on cotton matting. Yes, at one time well cared for.
I’m glad to have found this gentleman’s treasures. I hope to do them justice. I know I’ll treasure them too.