Velvet Obsidian Fully Polished

[lapidarycentral]

Finally got a decent amount of our velvet obsidian completely finished.  Phew, with such a shine this stuff can be pretty difficult to photograph in our limited sunshine!  

One thing is certain though, it sure did turn out gorgeous!  We think you'll enjoy it as much as we do.  It took a while to work out some quirks in our polishing stages with the obsidian, but I think we finally nailed it and have good quality results.  We've brought these all the way up to 50,000 grit!  

[pebblesky]

These are beautiful!

[hummingbirdstones2]

Oh yeah, you've got it. That's really nice looking material, too. One of our favorites, for sure.

If there's anyone here who's never cut it I would rocommend giving it a go.

[vance71975]

that is awesome I gotta get me some of that!

[hummingbirdstones]

Beautiful job on those stones!

[hypodactylus]

Rotary or Vibe?

[jasoninsd]

I've tumbled and cabbed Velvet Obsidian from Lapidary Central...and I will say it's pretty amazing rough.

Y'all did a fantastic job on the tumble! Congrats!

[electrocutus]

Wow, these are amazing. The colours and shine are so beautiful!

I just ordered some to try... could not resist :-)

[rocknewb101]

Oh my goodness those look like galaxies! How very stunning. Thanks so much for sharing!!

[lapidarycentral]

Thank you guys, we appreciate the good words!

hypodactylus One week Rotary, grinding wheels to get any remaining defects out, then proceeding to the lot-o vibratory tumbler. We tried our diamond pacific minisonics on these, but even at the lowest settings we could not get near the results we got with a lot-o, and we kept getting a bruised/glazy end result in the minisonics.

[electrocutus]

Dec 1, 2022 13:52:29 GMT -5 lapidarycentral said:

Thank you guys, we appreciate the good words!

hypodactylus One week Rotary, grinding wheels to get any remaining defects out, then proceeding to the lot-o vibratory tumbler. We tried our diamond pacific minisonics on these, but even at the lowest settings we could not get near the results we got with a lot-o, and we kept getting a bruised/glazy end result in the minisonics.

I am in the process of tumbling my frst batch ever of velvet obsidian, or any obsidian really. Considering its relative softness, do you think it's possible to get a good shine with a rotary tumbler only? I've finshed a 60/90 stage and a 280 stage and I am happy with the shapes. I'm about to start a 500 stage.

I only have a rotary tumbler, I don't know if I should try a dry tumble to shine them at the end, or something else.



Thanks.

[jasoninsd]

Mar 7, 2023 17:24:21 GMT -5 electrocutus said:

Dec 1, 2022 13:52:29 GMT -5 lapidarycentral said:

Thank you guys, we appreciate the good words!

hypodactylus One week Rotary, grinding wheels to get any remaining defects out, then proceeding to the lot-o vibratory tumbler. We tried our diamond pacific minisonics on these, but even at the lowest settings we could not get near the results we got with a lot-o, and we kept getting a bruised/glazy end result in the minisonics.

I am in the process of tumbling my frst batch ever of velvet obsidian, or any obsidian really. Considering its relative softness, do you think it's possible to get a good shine with a rotary tumbler only? I've finshed a 60/90 stage and a 280 stage and I am happy with the shapes. I'm about to start a 500 stage.

I only have a rotary tumbler, I don't know if I should try a dry tumble to shine them at the end, or something else.



Thanks.

Lots of people have done them rotary only. You'll definitely want lots of cushioning to keep them from banging into each other. 

[electrocutus]

Mar 7, 2023 17:53:25 GMT -5 jasoninsd said:

Mar 7, 2023 17:24:21 GMT -5 electrocutus said:

I am in the process of tumbling my frst batch ever of velvet obsidian, or any obsidian really. Considering its relative softness, do you think it's possible to get a good shine with a rotary tumbler only? I've finshed a 60/90 stage and a 280 stage and I am happy with the shapes. I'm about to start a 500 stage.

I only have a rotary tumbler, I don't know if I should try a dry tumble to shine them at the end, or something else.



Thanks.

Lots of people have done them rotary only. You'll definitely want lots of cushioning to keep them from banging into each other. 

Thanks jasoninsd.
I'm using ceramic media in my 500 stage, but I think I'll use platic pellets in the follow-up steps to provide more cushioning.

[jasoninsd]

Mar 8, 2023 10:40:34 GMT -5 electrocutus said:

Mar 7, 2023 17:53:25 GMT -5 jasoninsd said:

Lots of people have done them rotary only. You'll definitely want lots of cushioning to keep them from banging into each other. 

Thanks jasoninsd.
I'm using ceramic media in my 500 stage, but I think I'll use platic pellets in the follow-up steps to provide more cushioning.

I haven't finished mine in a rotary...only the vibe. For what it's worth, I've always used ceramic with no issues.

[lapidarycentral]

As Jason said, tons of people swear by the rotary. I tried it once and got terrible results, but I get good results with finishing on the vibratory tumbler. I more than likely just wasn't using enough cushioning.

[kate_foundlings]

Wow these are gorgeous!! Love velvet obsidian, looks like little tiny galaxies all stuffed into a stone.