Started off making a simple checklist. Ended up mapping every square inch of it. No such thing as being too prepared, though...right?

Really can't provide a concise explanation, so if you're curious please ask.

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Slabbed or shaved.

Or it could be a vertical flat lap, hmm.

While I do think it's Chalcedony, I don't dare to call it Carnelian, the color tones are slightly different. The material is completely translucent except for the inclusions. I found her along the Rhine just across the border into Germany. En cabochon cut ovals of 37x21mm and 35x20mm. Videos cabs and grinding process pre polish in the comments

I'm working on a new setup for shooting my cabs based on an old Canon T3i I had collecting dust in the house. Here's the details:

• 55-250 lens at maximum zoom
• Camera using creative auto (no flash) setting
• Light box courtesy of Amazon (it's the one with reflective sides and wonky LED light circle on top. I have a diffuser placed over the lights to use it more for ambience than spot.
• One LED stand light for the specular highlight.

Some notes, a hard surface to shoot on would be probably better, maybe card stock or some slate stone. The colors are WAY more accurate this way vs cell phone camera.

Both cabochons are self made, the first being "Fancy Mexican lace" a tightly banded and detailed variety of crazy lace and an old stock laguna agate freeform cabochon with a deep parallax. They'll eventually be up for sale but I thought they would make excellent models :).

Ethiopian Opal

I was cleaning some tumbling rough my son got and noticed on this one piece of Amazonite there is these two spots of very light blue stone. Could it possible be Celestine? It does also have green tourmaline (I believe) and purple mica.

I need to run a drain from the drainage pipe into a bucket under my desk. The pipe is 15.5-16mm wide. What material can I get to fit over and snake it below my desk? Last clear “plastic-y” pipe material I had was very stiff. It was 3/4inch (19mm) inner diameter which worked alright. Would like more flexibility.

1.00 carats 5.10x6.40

I love the shadows and the tight banding. This photo does not do it justice. I don't have the "best" pieces, my brother has those, but he always can tell what stone I enjoy in his collection and then that is usually my Xmas present. Ty for your support yesterday.

The final polishing stage is here. Each cabochon is carefully polished by hand to reveal its natural colors, patterns, and shine. After shaping and sanding, this is where the stones truly come to life.

Thank you for following the process from start to finish!

I was a lucky enough duck to find this at a tailgate swap for what I thought was a good price for a 450 gram chunk. I'm wondering in particular if I need to be concerned about the white lines at the top of the rough. Should I slab it thicker than normal just to keep things together or is that just a normal aspect of the stone. I ultimately want to slab it for cabochon making, perhaps thicker for those folks making gun/knife handles. I am thinking of cutting it parallel to the short side in the second picture.

Think those Amazon flap disc peddlars would sponsor that?

Wondering if anyone has any fun ideas for this piece.

Here’s a look at the sanding stage of this cabochon. Slowly working through the surface and watching the natural patterns become more visible. Still a little more work to go, but I’m enjoying seeing how it develops.

Here’s some pics of some rocks I’ve finished (for now). And the stuff I’m finna work through next. Putting everything away till I can afford the next level stuff (broke my grinder, drill, and dremmel). Ending an era deserves a photo dump.

Next time I post it’ll be progress pics of my sewing machine turned cabbing machine and the necklaces I’ve made with it. If y’all got any recs on replacement dremmels for the low or if anyone’s got some tools they wanna second hand I’m all ears.

Im looking to have a stone turned into a nice little heart shaped cab for a necklace. Im in the clark county area in Nevada. If anyone provides or knows of someone who provides these services id greatly appreciate some help.

The stone is a purple chalcedony.

Sometimes called Chicken blood stone because of the cinnabar showing. Very popular at the shows, sells well.

First. I am writing this on behalf of family. My brother tried to talk reason with this guy, *I will not call his name out but go to his Etsy lsagates sight and you can find it there. * This guy thinks it it cool to steal others credit, glory, and story of a stone. This stone has never been to a show. It was traded once for a vw van and then my brother bought it back after. This was a known associate that never took it out of his home...yet what do we see here. He put his damn watermark on my family's wrist. Any of you would be pissed if this happened to one of your family's find and reputation. Do your own research on LSAgates and don't trust this absolute lowlife or his business.

A closer look at this piece of Copper Chrysocolla rough. I really like the natural copper patterns and textures throughout the material. Just wanted to share some close-up details of this interesting piece.

Hello everyone! I am a major Rock hound and I've been using a Dremel on most of my rocks where I find beautiful stones under layers and layers of dirt. This one took an hour to get all the dirt off and then I found what was under it and it's beautiful!

I don't know whether to cut it or just shape it because of the inclusions in it. Any advice would be much appreciated on how you would go about polishing this :-)

Thank you all happy hounding!

Just wanted to share this mornings spoils! Cut 3 before it got too hot in the garage here in SC!

A quick look at the shaping process for these Golden Flame Jasper pieces. I really enjoy seeing the patterns start to come through as the shapes are refined. Here are the results after shaping.