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Author Topic: Hello from Canada!  (Read 1809 times)

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R.U. Sirius

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Hello from Canada!
« on: June 30, 2020, 09:24:58 AM »

For reasons unrelated to lapidary arts, few years ago I got interested in porosity of various types of rocks. This led me down the rabbit hole where I finally realized just how much I have always been fascinated by gemstones, minerals, and geology. Inevitably, I joined the local club, and even managed to, once in a while, spend a few hours in their shop.

My current focus is on jaspers and agates, but also turquoise, rhodonite, magnesite, howlite, and nephrite. I am here mostly looking to improve the technique and design skills, and to share my attempts at cabbing and flat lapping. I would love to start working on intarsia composites!

I am a scientist by training, so I also enjoy understanding the chemistry, physics, and engineering behind lapidary processes.

Cheers!
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Stonemon

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2020, 09:44:07 AM »

Welcome to you from western Oregon!
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Bill

Felicia

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2020, 12:55:17 PM »

Welcome. We'd love to see your work. Do you have any specific questions about the stones you're interested in working with? Since you are interested in magnesite, here's a picture of some pinolith cabs I recently made. IMG_20200607_193502.jpg
*IMG_20200607_193502.jpg (71.04 kB . 680x522 - viewed 272 times). Enjoy the hobby.
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R.U. Sirius

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2020, 03:04:04 PM »

Welcome. We'd love to see your work. Do you have any specific questions about the stones you're interested in working with? Since you are interested in magnesite, here's a picture of some pinolith cabs I recently made.  [ Invalid Attachment ] . Enjoy the hobby.

Thank you! Magnesite, howlite, turquoise, opal, etc. are of interest to me as they tend to be porous. I practice an old photographic technique called platinotype (or platinum printing), but instead of traditional paper, I make prints in stones. This requires stones that can absorb photosensitive chemicals used in the process. Here are two early examples on turquoise and magnesite. Making it all work on well-behaved paper is difficult (and expensive) enough, but stones are even more challenging, as some are chemically incompatible with the process, some show patches of porous and non-porous nature, etc.

Other than that, I enjoy cabbing. Attached is a picture of a simple rhodonite oval in a prefabricated silver setting, and a small cab of something that was labelled as 'ID wood' when I purchased it as a slab. I am particularly interested in learning how to improve my technique at the wheels (cabs often suffer from flat spots, and I am never quite sure what I did right when they vanish). Once I am happy with the basics, I want to explore intarsia techniques.

I will be browsing the forum, as I am sure many of my questions have been answered many times...
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Felicia

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2020, 04:37:38 PM »

Wow. That's so cool, that platinotype on stone. Never thought of stone for photosensitive chemicals. Nice cabochons. To prevent flat spots, keep moving the stone in a curving pattern, in varying directions. Be sure to turn it in your hand frequently.
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lithicbeads

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2020, 04:52:27 PM »

Pads and wheels used in lapidary have drape , they deform on the uphill edge a bit then make less contact behind the edge. Even hard sanding pads drape  a bit. With some techniques , dry sanding jade in particular , the drape is very evident. Water in too great amount cuts the contact of the pad or wheel as well. I used to cut huge amounts of opal from opal butte Oregon. The hydrophane opal could be made to absorb and lose 17% of it's weight by soaking and drying. Some feldspars  from Alaska take up large amounts of pore water during cutting and look wonderful until a few days later when they have lost the water and are again opaque. Meta quartzites are often very porous but have too much iron to make a good canvas. We have lots of white quartzite in Washington ( originated in Alberta , delivered by glacier) and it has a consistency that makes me wonder if it may work well for you.
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R.U. Sirius

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2020, 09:36:05 PM »

Pads and wheels used in lapidary have drape , they deform on the uphill edge a bit then make less contact behind the edge. Even hard sanding pads drape  a bit. With some techniques , dry sanding jade in particular , the drape is very evident. Water in too great amount cuts the contact of the pad or wheel as well. I used to cut huge amounts of opal from opal butte Oregon. The hydrophane opal could be made to absorb and lose 17% of it's weight by soaking and drying. Some feldspars  from Alaska take up large amounts of pore water during cutting and look wonderful until a few days later when they have lost the water and are again opaque. Meta quartzites are often very porous but have too much iron to make a good canvas. We have lots of white quartzite in Washington ( originated in Alberta , delivered by glacier) and it has a consistency that makes me wonder if it may work well for you.

All excellent points, thank you!
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lithicbeads

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2020, 09:55:04 AM »

 Happy Canada Day.
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VegasJames

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2020, 07:42:19 PM »

Welcome to the forum.
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hummingbirdstones

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2020, 09:07:51 PM »

Welcome to the forum from Northern Arizona!

The platinotypes on stone are amazing!  Thank you for sharing those.

Once you've perused the archives here, take a look at our old board archives (before we changed hosting services).  There is tons more information on those archives.  Here's the link:  your website link was blocked. George the thief gets no traffic from here.
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Robin

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2020, 10:26:02 AM »

Here's the link:  your website link was blocked. George the thief gets no traffic from here.

 :grin: I see there is some interesting history here that I don't know about... feels like I am already part of the family!

Jokes aside, I am happy to be here, and I look forward to learning and sharing lapidary-related insights. Thank you all for the warm welcome!
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KCorcoran

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #11 on: July 22, 2020, 12:51:56 PM »

From which part of Canada do you hail? It's kinda big.
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hummingbirdstones

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #12 on: July 22, 2020, 07:30:58 PM »

Crap, copied the wrong link, I think.   :laughing6:

Try this one:  http://lapidaryforum.net/gemstone/index.php?board=51.0
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Robin

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Re: Hello from Canada!
« Reply #13 on: July 25, 2020, 09:51:35 PM »

Welcome from Sunny and hot Arizona!
I'm married to a Canadian.  Always nice to meet more Canadians!   :icon_sunny:
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