Cabs I have cut

I have just started going out to my lapidary club after a break of a few years. Someone there asked me how many cabs had I cut and I had no idea.
Dug them all out and took this photo.... When I look at these I think of all the things learnt the hard way. The jasper is chipped from getting dropped. The labradorite only polished on some areas and not others. The moss agate chipped when I added the bevel. The ruby was crazy low grade and wasnt worth the time......
I now know to put more thought into the material I am cutting when selecting the shape it will be. Brittle stones and inside curves make for very anxious cutting!



PS I have cut 4 more than what are shown in this photo - All ovals and have been given away or put somewhere too random to find lol

Well they're a good start, aren't they. Good effort Karen.

Very cool ,nice work

They look great Karen, would be great to see some more as they come along in the future.

They all look great to me. Keep up the good work.

Rob.

Thanks guys. It is the same as anything.... Got to start somewhere!
Looking forward to cutting more

Well done KK,... stand out for me is the leaf shaped one, only as I can imagine a group of them hanging together from a necklace. But they all look nice from where I sit.

Are these done with a dremel ?

I like the teardrop - some kind of agate by the looks? Gives the impression of something floating in water.

Madworld: I didnt use a dremel for these ones. Just the gear out at my lapidary club. They have a great set up of diamond saws, grinders, sanders and polishing laps.
I do have a dremel which I used to carve jade (I am just learning from trial and error at home).

Silver: The leaf shape one is the most recent of the bunch. My first time trying that shape

Lefty: Yup! It is an agate! I really liked the green round the edges so didnt shape it very much as I didnt want to loose that colour.

I found a facebook group called Australian Lapidary Group and they have been running competitions. The current one is to cut a Yin Yang from two contrasting materials, glue and cab them. Really enjoying the challenge. Will post a photo of it when I am done

Carving,any pics,
Have you done any thing with sapphire?

Varts: Learning on Nephrite and havent tried sapphire yet. I saw the coolest photo of a carved sapphire platypus and it has stuck in my mind. Would love to get to that stage but long way to go yet!
So far I have cut two pieces. The first photo is a piece I found on the beach and cut for my husband. The second is a triple twist about 6cm long and 3.2cm wide.
I have just started two others. One is a leaf and one is a basic twist.

Nice work Karen, they look great.