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[55fossil]

     Here are pictures of 3 new plume agate (doublet) cabochons I recently made. The rough was cut specifically for doublets to show the 3D to show off these pieces. Two were cut across the plumes (horizontal) and one the normal diagonal cut parallel to the plume. There is a huge amount of rough lost when you cut across the plume but the few pieces that you get can be mind blowing.
    The red and white cab is a repeat of an earlier post but I included it here as it is one of my better doublets with black basanite behind the agate. I have also used things like Paua Shell as a backing but never use anything but natural materials for doublets.

[DavidRichter]

[mention]55fossil [/mention]

That is absolutely gorgeous material! I’m pretty new to the lapidary world so forgive the ignorant question of, what are doublets? Are you putting two stones of different types/materials together? Thanks


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[55fossil]

    My doublets are normally a 1 mm piece of black basanite with a 3 to 4 mm piece of Plume agate glued to the top. Do a little searching here and on google for more info.....  You can use many different combinations of material to get great effects. Different colors of backing give different effects. Or you can put clear quartz over opals or Paua shell backings for a really wild effect. I prefer basanite as it still shows that actual looks of the plume agate. I never use foils or paint, only other natural rock and shells.

[R.U. Sirius]

To take advantage of the translucency of the agate, it ought to be thin (3-4mm, as you pointed out). This means very low dome or an almost flat top, quite challenging for me to do it right.

Have you tried just bevelling all the way through the part of the backing, to create a frame of sorts? I know conventional wisdom is that you don't want backing to show, and girdle should even be sloping outwards, but I did try bevelling all the way through once, and liked the effect... looked like a 1960's TV.