Rolling and tumbling

Rolling and Tumbling...

Here are a few pics of what I've been up to lately - will try to update them as I finish stuff.

For most of these, you can click the pic for a medium-size image (800px), or the link for a larger size (1200px or 1600px)

	First up is some topaz that I tumbled... This actually came out a bit better than I expected it would. Took a long time (topaz is Mohs 8, a hard stone), but the end result was definitely worth it! View large pic
	This is a mix of Moonstone and Sunstone. It has so far been through two grit stages, still got a ways to go yet. Shown dry in this pic. View large pic
	Same stuff, shown wet View large pic
	Closeup (dry) - the white stone is Rainbow Moonstone.
	This is some blue tiger-eye, shown dry after a couple of weeks in the coarse grind stage. View large pic
	Blue tiger-eye, shown wet. View large pic
	Same series, dry, after about a week or so. These have been moved on to the next grit stage, and they're in a slower tumbler - I think the other one was beating them up a bit too much.. View large pic
	Same as above,, shown wet. View large pic
	This is a mix of quartz, shown dry. It's been through the first two stages, still a bit chipped to move on yet. In this mix are smoky quartz, rose quartz, some light blue dumortierite, and some really small pieces of a partially clear blue quartz from Madagascar. View large pic
	Quartz mix, shown wet. View large pic
	All but one of these stones (the lighter one, top middle) are known as Royal Blue Dumortierite. They've been through coarse grind, and are shown here dry. View large pic
	Same batch, shown wet. Can't wait to see what these look like at the end, some fantastic colors here. The lighter blue stone is also a blue dumortierite (basically, a blue quartz), just not from the same area (or slab) as the Royal Blue. View large pic
	This is a select mix of all the quartz shown above, as well as some amethyst and citrine. Shown dry. This batch has now moved on to prepolish, though some of them weren't really ready for it (still lots of fractures). At this point, I'll just let 'em take their chances and see how they turn out. View large pic
	Same as above, shown wet. View large pic
	This is a bit of Labradorite that is in fine stage right now. This is a difficult stone to photograph, because the iridescent hues rarely show up well in pictures. This is a very plain-looking stone when you aren't catching the 'flash' of it. When it's not oriented the right way to see the color, it's definitely not a stone that would catch the eye. View large pic
	Same batch, shown wet.
	This is what Labradorite looks like when rough. View large pic
	Snowflake Obsidian (rough, shown wet) View large pic
	Rainforest Jasper (rough, shown wet). This stone isn't actually a variant of jasper, it is rhyolite. View large pic
	Rainforest Jasper, after a couple of weeks in the tumbler. Shown dry.. View large pic
	Same as above, shown wet. View large pic
	Tree Moss Agate (rough, shown wet). Should make for some interesting tumbled stones, but this one took its price in blood. Either that, or it decided that I'd cut it enough for one day, so it was going to return the favor. You could definitely make surgical scalpels out of this stuff! View large pic
	This is a variant of Ocean Jasper (rough, shown wet). The most desirable Ocean Jasper is multicolored, with orblike inclusions - these pieces I have are far from what is normally considered desirable. But I liked this slab all the same. Ocean Jasper is only found in one place - the Madagascar coast, underwater. It can only be mined at low tide, and according to the regular suppliers, the mineral vein this was being mined from is tapped out. View large pic
	Rough aquamarine. View large pic
	Same batch, shown wet. View large pic
	This is rough emerald. Not gem-quality of course, but still makes for an interesting tumbled rock. I have some other emerald and aquamarine that I've taken through fine grind, and when these catch up I'll be able to have a full load to take on to polish. Shown dry. View large pic
	Same batch, shown wet. View large pic
	Some of the same emeralds and aquamarine as shown above - after a week in coarse grind.. View large pic
	Same as above, shown wet. View large pic
	Doesn't look like much, does it? Actually, this is a mix of rough corundum - better known as sapphires and rubies. Sapphires and rubies are actually the same thing - the only thing that makes a stone a 'ruby' rather than a sapphire is the color. Corundum actually comes in just about every color, but the stones will all be called sapphires unless they are red (in which case they'll be called rubies). Shown mostly dry here. View large pic
	Same batch, shown wet. View large pic
	This is a combination of the rough corundum shown above, and the previously-tumbled shown below (I combined them in coarse grind, since the previously-tumbled still needed a bit of coarse-grind time as well). Shown dry.. View large pic
	Same as above, shown wet. I've moved these on into medium-grind (220 ungraded silicon carbide grit), will see how they do. View large pic
	This is some sapphire/ruby (corundum) that I had previously tumbled, only in the coarse stage. I can't remember for sure how long these were in, I'm thinking about six weeks. They are now back in coarse grind with the corundum rough shown above - as hard as corundum is, it's certainly not going to hurt these to go through another six weeks or so of coarse grind.
	Same batch, shown wet. These were tumbled in a regular rotary tumbler, with ungraded 60/90 silicon carbide grit. I recharged the grit about once a week or so.
More to come as more is done!