What you can do with your GEMSTONES

Some of the Pendants that Liz wire wrapped from the gemstones we have found on our trips.

The faceting and setting of your own gemstones can be as rewarding as finding that really big hunk of gold. In some areas, when the gold gets tough, gemstones can be a rewarding compensation.

GIVE IT A GO GUYS!!!....Cheers, Wal

Your a lucky man and she is a clever woman

Yeh Duck .....lucky that she really loves to get in amongst the dirt and fossick. Don't really need to get a leave pass as she's usually the one to drag me out to the gold /gem fields.

Some good finds guys. The youtube clips are very helpful. The top row right handside is fantastic.

There absolutely beautiful, you should be proud to have such a talented wife.

Thanks Jenny....she has a creative passion with gemstones ....I've been trying to get her more involved with the gold side of things but she doesn't like the fact that ...gold ...looks like...gold. She thinks that gold doesn't have enough colours....weird....I think "gold " is a nice colour...Cheers Wal.

Lol cos gold is one colour YELLOW !

funtastic and very creative there Liz, must take a lot of patience to wind the wire about into something that looks great

Do you do your own cutting and shaping of the gemstones?

Adam

yep i do when i got the time m8

Hi Adam...we facet all our own stones that cut over 1 ct...anything smaller we send over to Bangkok to be cut. All the cabs and tumbled stones we process in house....Cheers Wal

Liz has done some nice wirewrapping

They look great Wally. I love your youtube vids. I have watched them all and some a couple of times. After I saw your highbanker video I decided to scrap my big old heavy unit and make a light weight one like yours. Maybe you could do a vid on how to cut and shape gem stones. This is something I really want to get into. I have started melting my gold, the next step is to craft it into something. Being a panel beater I have a love for metal work and there is no better metal than the yellow stuff. Keep up the good work.
Luke

Thanks for the comment Luke....Takes about 4 hours to facet a sapphire and if i did a vid on that i would probably lose you after 5 mins. through boredom. If you want any info or hints on cutting stones just PM me and i can try to explain how its done without making you go to sleep. Sounds like with your passion for metal you would be great at crafting some pretty expressive jewellery. Good luck on building your new hi-banker and I'd love to see a pic of the new creation....Cheers Wal.

Beautiful wrapping work! Very talented.

Though I have done cabs and free style faceting, I specialise in ceremonial stone knives when working stone or did when I had all my gear. Sold it all now so I can do the road trip. I figure if I want to do any cutting, there are enough lapidary clubs around Australia that I can go to, to do the odd job that I want to do.
Greg.

stunning work - wal you have a wonderfully artistic wife and as i have seen in the video's,she loves the outdoors as much as finding gems lol i could watch your vids over and over just to hear the excitement in her voice when she finds something of beauty

Stunning! Your wife is very clever

Beautiful stones and jewellery, very talented. I'm interested in who you use to cut stones in Bangkok, would you mind sending me the details so I can get some quotes. I have thought about it but trust was always an issue. If you've been happy I wouldn't mind sending a few bits ver to see what happens.

Thanks heaps

Hey Cooper...the address and info is in a post by Dughug in the Lapidary section under Col & Lee (min stone size). We only send stones that cut under a ct. Anything that cuts over a ct we cut ourselves as these are the stones of "real" value and need to be cut accurately. Bangkok cut stones look great to the eye but under a loupe you can see that not all the facets line up. We have sent quite a few parcels over and have yet to have a problem..Cheers Wal.