Jordy's Gem and Lapidary Odyssey thread!

[jordyonbass]

Thanks dk and LG! Ugh spelling mistakes galore, I seriously need to proof read more. I will look at taking pics tomorrow of some of the opals we have cut lately, we are starting to buy more expensive rough and cutting some beautiful stones! I am building a very formidable collection of opals

 

[mastercutgems]

Bravo Jordy

You are doing a great job with your lapidary arts journey...

I always enjoy your threads and look forward to the next read and visuals...

I pray you have fun and have many new and exciting discoveries...

Well done !!!

Most Respectfully;

Dana Reynolds
ASG Certified
Supreme Master Gem Cutter
#96cge42

 

[jordyonbass]

Thank you Dana, good to hear from you again. Another question while I know that you're watching
Do you have a favourite gem to cut? I am just so unbelievably hooked on opal that my interest for other gems has all but died!! If so, is this sort of thing normal and eventually I will move onto other stones? Or should I seek an Opalholics Anonymous?

Here's some before/after collage pics of the stones I have done recently, I just realised I actually don't have many pics of my opals as I take short 10 second videos to show the colourplay. As far as my skill progression with opal is going, I am finding that I am nearly there with my shaping. The last few stones I have done have been ovals and tear drops and the proportions have all been satisfactory to my eye, my wife's eye (she is far more critical), her 17 year old sister's eye and also aussiejamie's eye and Justin from BOD's eye as they will quite often get a short video from me and will give me any criticism they may see needed.

At this point in time the opal cutting is going to continue however an illness with one of our cats that cost a fortune has really clamped down our rough buying

 

[mastercutgems]

WOW Jordy You are doing some very nice things for those pieces of rough !!!!

You are surely doing them justice...

As to your question and I hope I am answering it correctly.

I stayed on opal while cabbing for over a year; of course the genie cab machine was my first lapidary arts machine and of course opal with the fire like those you are cutting will keep you entertained for some time to come
Then in cabbing I went into picture jaspers which again entertained me as I was always seeing these neat pictures in the gem itself and could alter them at will; fun stuff as well. I think those with a creative mind tend to lean towards those minerals that will consistently amuse us and make us want to come back to the wheels to see what awaits...

So in cabbing; opal first, then picture jaspers, colorful moonstones with eyes and sheens also are neat; stars and catseyes also are fun and will keep you alert into orientation and centering of the eyes/stars; but I stayed away from corundum as it eats the heck out of your bonded wheels unless it is such a fine one you just have to cut it

Next in the cab arena was the chrysoprase, gem silica chrysocolla, jelly sugilite, and or anything that just popped with color and had that liquid color look to it and something also hard enough to take a good polish... Those are my favorites in cabochon cutting...

Then of course the faceting arena; and really there is only a few I totally do not like to work with and that is usually in the polishing aspect of the procedure; quartz is my all time least favorite to polish... in all reality I can truthfully say I hate to polish quartz on a faceting machine; not bad at all on the genie; but woe to the batt lap or tin lap... Some love it I hate it. Next is the flourites which I also do not like; then sphalerite; after those I can find a way to enjoy them and do cut about everything else.

To me the easiest is garnet, sapphire, beryl family, spinel, zircon, sphene, topaz, etc. and usually in that order... Of course any of them can give you a fit if and when you come across an inclusion in them like rutile needles etc. and they sometimes can make you pull your hair out or well that is my excuse for the thinning hairline

I know one time when I first started I was cutting an amethyst round brilliant; I had no one to teach me; just the book by Vargas and I was loading too much cerium polish on and was getting these indeterminate scratches; crazy and frustrating; no internet to ask questions to etc. finally after I had lost it; I took the gem to a 300 pound anvil and politely crushed it with a 2 pound hammer; saying to myself " you will never aggravate another cutter in your lifetime little stone" So you will have your "little amethyst" days and just take a deep breath and email someone and it will all be okay LOL

Sorry for the novel but just know it is a journey full of smiles and a few frowns; but I do hope that most all your adventures in this craft will bring you joy...

Most Respectfully;

Dana Reynolds
ASG Certified
Supreme Master Gem Cutter
#96cge42

 

[jordyonbass]

That's awesome Dana, thanks for the great read! It made me think and go back through this thread, I had already forgotten that I was enjoying cutting Malachite for a while there! The green with the lines running throughout it were just so beautiful!! And you're right, continuously getting a different look every time I cut an opal is keeping me enthralled and has done so now for basically half of my lapidary journey! I don't know how many round brilliant cut sapphires I will be able to do without getting bored but it seems that opal could never bore me

So today is Tuesday in Australia and it is Melbourne cup day, the biggest horse race of the year (and the southern hemisphereI believe), one of the perks of living in Melbourne in the state if Victoria is that today is a public holiday while it's business as usual for every other state. So today I am going to spend my day off cutting a couple of black opals, hopefully I may have a completed pic later today!

 

[jordyonbass]

And where they are at now. Some bits of potch visible but quite happy, the small one ended up 0.99 carats and the big one is currently at 3.1 although I am probably going to do a little more work on it. My back has been giving me some issues lately which can lead to impatience on my behalf

 

[mastercutgems]

Hi Jordy

I think they look great...

Yes opal is one of those unusual gems that sometimes you quit while you are ahead as those color layers can leave in a heartbeat never to return I know more than once I thought I saw something under the layer I was working on that just was not there and my wishful thinking left me with less than I had LOL

As for the back I know when I used to cut a lot of cabs I had lower back issues; and I know it was the position I was at for hours; so I try to do set-ups a few days before cutting at the wheels, during and a few days after just to keep things loose. I know my last career was very physical unlike cutting ; so I have to force myself to be physical. In the summer I farm which is very physical but when the crops are finished I am back to riding the bike 5 miles a day and exercise at least every other day... I am 56 now and it is amazing how fast this ole body goes down-hill when you do not use it...

It is too easy to get engulfed at the wheels especially with opals they seem to draw you in and the cutting goes quick as it is soft; whereby chalcedony and harder material do not react as quickly as opal.

I hope your back gets better very soon as you need that thing and nothing worse than a aching back. We need nothing to distract us from our craft

Be Well

Most Respectfully;

Dana Reynolds
ASG Certified
Supreme Master Gem Cutter
#96cge42

 

[jordyonbass]

I know what you mean by seeing something on the opal but having difficulty bringing that colour out, there's waves of potch in a piece I have been working on and my confidence on whether it will produce anything is declining. Such are opals!!

I'm physically active with everything I do as well; my job is physically taxing at times, I get out in the bush and try to get out on my boat as often as I can. I think the issue may be the difference in height of stool and machine. I may have to adjust my setup to lift the machine some more or get a lower stool.

 

[jordyonbass]

NEW DEVELOPMENTS WITH MY OPALS!!

So a lot of my friends are aware that I am hooked on cutting opals at the moment, some of them even fascinated by how I do it and enjoy watching me grinding the stones as the opals go from a rough rock with colour to a smooth, shiny little stone with beautiful colours.

Recently I was approached by a friend of my best mate's mother; she is a hobbyist as well but she does silversmithing and not lapidary. She has a huge tub of Opal mined from Coober Pedy in the 60s that she was gifted a long time ago, she usually just set rough potch pieces in her jewellery and had been looking for someone to cut her stones. I offered to take a look at her stones and she sent me a package without knowing what to look for other than my 20 seconds of advice over the phone; out of 10 pieces I managed to get 4 low grade but still nice looking stones for her and she is absolutely ecstatic. In return she is setting some of my opals in simple silver bezel rings and a pendant. I am really excited to see how they come out!!!

Other than that it's been a little slow for me lately, I lost my job recently but have just had another bag of stones come in the mail to keep me occupied in between searching for jobs, job interviews and dealing with a legal issue I have at the moment (not against me, thankfully). One of the stones is an absolutely amazing black opal rub with blue and green colourplay, is over 8 carats and will require very little work. I think this may be a new high-water mark for me and may be destined for a quality setting for Mrs Jordy

 

[Lovinggems]

The blue on the opal is gorgeous! Sorry to hear re your job situation and I hope you'll find something else soon.

 

[jordyonbass]

Hi LG, sorry for the very late reply!

As for the job situation, I have just secured a new job that pays really well. Great in that regard but I have enjoyed my time off work to cut stones at home, I am not going to get anywhere near as much time with this position for opals as I did with my last position

Lately I have been in Sydney helping my father setup his new business however before I left I managed to bump out a couple of stones; one being the large black opal I previously showed and a semi black opal that I had laying around from a previous bag that I didn't think would make anything. Boy was I wrong!!!

I have also started to try and learn a bit about photography and getting my pictures to show a more true reflection of what I am seeing. I am still learning and have a very MacGyver'd setup but I am getting there!!

 

[Lovinggems]

Re: Jordy's Gem and Lapidary Odyssey thread

Great job on the cabs, I really like the dark blue flashes of the first one.
Congratulations on securing a new job, the upside with earning extra cash is you can buy even more opal roughs!

 

[jordyonbass]

Sorry for the late reply but thanks LG!

Recently I have gotten news from my real estate that we have to vacate for our landlord as he is wishing to move into the property, unfortunate but it's got me motivated to cut the rough I have sitting here before I pack everything for the move
I have also had one of my stones come back from a jeweller after having it set in a stirling silver ring with bezel for my best friend, I have another 4 stones with her and waiting on their completion. We're at the point now where we have over 50 cut and polished opals in our collection, I keep on filling up display cases

 

[aussiejamie]

Hi mate,

You are doing a great job and your stones are coming out nicely! You are always welcome to ask your questions and there are no silly questions. What you are doing is the best way to learn as nothing beats getting your hands dirty and actually cutting gems! As you probably know by now, if you make a costly mistake you won't make that same mistake again!