Well its been awhile since I’ve picked up a rock to give it a polish or even a cut. Last weekend I finally decided it was time to get something done. That and my friend kept berating me about not working any rock. Ha! It finally worked, all that guilt.
So anyway, I worked a crazy lace agate, reworked a botswana agate, and the chrysocolla, malachite druzy that begs to be seen. I knew that working the druzy would make me want to set it or wrap it in silver.
It was fun and boy do I need to practice. It did make me want to practice though. So I’ll be cutting up some more soon.
Here are a few pics and the finished pendant.
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful 3 day weekend! 😉
Well I suppose its time I get back to work and get a few things cut or wrapped or both. These 2 wraps are my latest.
My original twisted pendant is one I wear almost daily and it still gets quite a few compliments. I just had to try to make more after that one. It wasn’t easy either.
The malachite drusy, and chrysocholla drusy in the new twisted pendant is from Lima peru. I love this stone and it has been hard to find. So when I do find it I have to buy as much as possible. The cutting of it is pretty tricky tho. I just hate to lose any color or drusy crystal. But I can’t wrap a big a chunk of rock nor do I want it to just sit on a shelf and get dusty. This rock just begs to be cut and wrapped.
The next pendant has a focal skull magnasite bead. I bought a few skulls at a rock shop in Alburquerque NM last summer. Since it was a nice turquoise color, I had to add a little coral and a Pecos River diamond we found in NM too. The garnet was just a lil more color and I like for these twisty pendants to have as much color as possible. This pendant is just totally southwest inspiration.
I finished a pendant that is a twist of stones and silver wire. I wanted it to have stones on all sides and no matter which way it hangs it would have something pretty. I had a piece of the Chrysocolla/Malachite Drusy from Peru and I wanted it to be the focal. I soldered a couple of pieces of 18 gauge silver wire to make it look like a dragon finger, or so it does to me anyway. Then I started weaving from it. The piece has 3 tourmalines, 2 garnets, and a spinel along with the drusy cab. Here is the pic for it and a lil video.
I had an idea for another but it will have to wait since my life has been invaded by a couple of lil gremlins.
They are so much fun, but just like kids they take up alot of time.
Thanks for coming by!
Super Bowl Sunday, and I get to cab til the game starts. Thats a wonderful day!.
I cabbed a small piece of Chrysocolla drusy that as left from a piece of stone I won on the Taogem forum. Â It had some amazing blue green or teal colored druse and dark green malachite druse. Â Its from Nuevo Mundo Imports. I highly recommend them if you want the best chrysocolla and malachite drusy. The crystals are so clear and shiny. Awesome stuff. Its pricey but you get what you pay for. I also cabbed another quartz drusy cab.
I also cabbed a Queensland agate. The Queensland agate has some very nice patterning and layers, plus a little drusy in the middle. Love it!
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. Â 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. Â 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. Â The little crystals are so pretty and catch the light like stars.
I’m so grateful for the extra day off! I even got to cab a little bit. I cabbed a few of the cuts from yesterday. The psilomelane is messy and stains your hands but, love those orbs. The coquina jasper is fun to work with. The patterning in the stone makes you see all kinds of different things. As for the chrysocolla druzy, well just as before, its so pretty. If you like sparkle and shine that is!
The sun decided to make an appearance mid morning and made for a great day to cut some stone. This is something I love to do. I was planning on cutting the malachite end of the druzy but found some Morgan Hill poppy jasper, script stone, agate and some green stone that I’m thinking is a petrified bog. It has some awesome greens in it, and takes a great shine. I kept finding stuff I’ve been wanting to cut or polish, so rocks just kept jumping into my hands. Ok so I finally got the saw out and cut it up here are some pics of what I ended up with.
Now to cab it all.
Happy Valentines day! I hope you get to spend time with someone you love, doing something you love to do.
The druzy cabs are awesome. So wrapped in silver they are even prettier. The blues are bright and the crystals very clear. This is a really nice stone to work with. I can’t wait to cut some more. I’m hooked is all I can say. I wore one of these pendants to work and let me just say, it was an attention getter. I love it when people just can’t help but comment on a pendant I’ve made, but all I heard was, love that stone.. yeah, (me too) .. lol. I suppose since I’ve worn it I’ve claimed it.. 🙂
So I cut the Chrysocolla side of the rock from the prior post. It was a little tough, being that I didn’t want to cut it wrong or lose any of the druzy. I then cabbed it and was really happy with the outcome. I also cabbed a piece Morrisonite that takes a shine like glass with very little effort. Love this stuff. Here’s a few clickable pics.
Today was a great day to get things done around the house like cabbing and starting up some pendants. lol, ok, so I wasn’t talking about washing clothes and cleaning house. Thats a given, for Saturday. Anyhoo, I got to finish a couple of cabs, start a few others, as well as finish up a pendant and start a few. Here my hard work for the day even tho it doesn’t seem like much.. I’m only posting the finished stuff.
I hope everyone’s weekend ended safe and happy as did mine and those closest to me. You know who are.
Raqyz's Rocks 