Topic: Outrageous Cab Contest September 2016 (Read 4240 times)

hummingbirdstones · « **on:** September 01, 2016, 08:37:22 AM »

Rules:
1) Cab must be made by you.
2) Cab must be made within the time period of this contest. Contest begins on the first of the month and ends on 11:59 p.m. on the last day of the month. NO pulling old cabs from your storage baskets!
3) As long as the basic shape is considered a cab it's golden. You can enter intarsias and carved top cabs such as cameos etc. After all, this is the OUTRAGEOUS cab contest! We love free form cabs! Pull out the stops and give us the best you have!
4) One entry per person please!
5) Please show photos of your slabs and preforms if you can so we can see your thought process and how you did things.
6) No finished jewelry pieces. Just the cab.
7) Cab sets are OK.
8) This is only for bragging rights and your cabochon photo posted up top in the forums unless someone posts a lapidary related prize and wants to ship it to the winner of the contest.

Let the games begin!!!

Sandsave · « **Reply #1 on:** September 10, 2016, 06:30:50 AM »

Here we go! Nephi Palm, a lot of discussion in other areas of this forum about the Nephi Area. I collected this earlier this summer, this is why we dig for hours. I tried to keep the one side a 50/50 but the rock said no. Polished both sides. Mother Nature does great work!!!

auscarver · « **Reply #2 on:** September 14, 2016, 02:17:31 AM »

Great cab Sandsave, I removed my jade carving as I think its outside the rules, I made it to be worn as jewellery, I do have a cab I may enter later.

Enchantra · « **Reply #3 on:** September 14, 2016, 11:16:22 AM »

Quote from: auscarver on September 14, 2016, 02:17:31 AM

Great cab Sandsave, I removed my jade carving as I think its outside the rules, I made it to be worn as jewellery, I do have a cab I may enter later.

As long as it wasn't already strung on a cord for wearing, it was legal. In fact I just went and looked at the entry you deleted. It was fine, perfectly legal for the competition.

Sandsave · « **Reply #4 on:** September 24, 2016, 06:25:50 AM »

Here! Here! I agree, repost. It's a awesome piece!

irockhound · « **Reply #5 on:** September 25, 2016, 12:19:02 PM »

Hi all, been busy and have been off the forum for a couple weeks but wanted to get this months entry in. I had some Blue Biggs and sketched out a design that worked around a great scene in the stone. I hoped that the Orb was deep enough that it stayed in position as I cut since it looks like a planet or moon rising over the landscape. After I finished it the only name that came to me was the Mountains of Mars. I love cutting Picture Jasper because every one is wildly different. Because I am shooting close with a macro setting the stone looks distorted but the edges are square, Radius on top of course.

Orrum · « **Reply #6 on:** September 25, 2016, 03:33:42 PM »

Indeed that pic jasper is awesome !

gemfeller · « **Reply #7 on:** September 25, 2016, 06:01:39 PM »

Killer entries so far this month! Hope more participate.

My offering is a new (to me) material from South Africa called Koi Jasper. I doubt it's really a jasper because it's a bit softer than most of the jasper I cut but it's hard enough to take a great polish. I like the contrast of the white quartz veining against the reddish background. Maybe I can use the leftover red bits as substitutes for coral in SW-style jewelry.

ileney · « **Reply #8 on:** September 30, 2016, 09:40:38 AM »

I could swear I took pictures of the rough Coober Pedy Australian opal stone before rough grinding, but now I can't find it. It was pretty much all sand with a few big spots of bright color showing through in two big chipped areas on the sides. After grinding off the sand on the sides, I found the fire line went all the way through and there was a slope to it. I ground down to it and was happy with the uniformly bright pinpoint color, but there were still big spots of sand on top, a couple right in the middle of the stone. After getting perilously close to the brown matrix on bottom, I managed to get rid of most of the sand on top with the exception of a pinpoint on the upper left (it is the bottom right in these photos-you can see the bright red area, where I tried to grind out the sand and got very close to the brown matrix. That area is now brighter, but also more directional than the rest of the stone, dictating it will be set as a pendant. It would be too large for a ring anyway). I decided not to cut out the small remaining sandspot and to just make the stone a rough oval rather than a calibrated stone in order to maximize the face. It's now roughly 24 x 17 x 3.5 mm and just over 12.1 carats with a mix of the brown matrix and sandstone on bottom. Due to the slope of the fireline, were I to grind off all the sandstone on the bottom of the stone, leaving just the brown common opal showing, the stone would become far too thin on one side. Two sides are well sloped for a bezel; the other two sides are also sloped enough on top to be fine for a bezel, though the bottom of one side is undermined with the largest chip. Due to the amount of sand, it will have to be set with either a closed back or possibly a partially closed back, with a cutout to show just the brown matrix, so it is clear it is a solid rather than a doublet opal. I can minimize the effect of any flaws with the setting.