*~ FINISHED ~* Cab Contest, Dec 2022 Theme: Circles, Winter

[pebblesky]

This is beautiful and a unique choice for winter. My winter color of California is also brown - need to clean up so many fallen leaves.

[khara]

Bravura Cabochon Designs Well what a cute little cab! I’m impressed by the handmade small size and the color is gorgeous!👍

[MsAli]

That is a gorgeous cab!

[liveoak]

Bravura Cabochon Designs, that's a beauty.

I have a question on polishing the jade - any special techniques you used ?

My only experience is with Washington State River Jade & it's a bear to get a polish on.

So I was wondering if all jade is the same ?

Thanks for any tips,

Patty

[Rockoonz]

liveoak no it's not all the same. WA and Canada nephrite are harder to polish than Wyoming due to different amounts of silica.
A set of belts in SiC on an expando wheel will go far to eliminate orange peel, and Chromium for polish instead of cerium. In their absence, a light touch and lots of time at the 600 stage can help, get rid of all the flat spots on the hard diamond wheels.

[liveoak]

Dec 10, 2022 9:12:42 GMT -5 Rockoonz said:

liveoak no it's not all the same. WA and Canada nephrite are harder to polish than Wyoming due to different amounts of silica.
A set of belts in SiC on an expando wheel will go far to eliminate orange peel, and Chromium for polish instead of cerium. In their absence, a light touch and lots of time at the 600 stage can help, get rid of all the flat spots on the hard diamond wheels.

Thanks Lee,

I have found the SiC sanding belts I have, the most promising.

Truth be told, I haven't touched the stuff in a while, as it was a major frustration.

Maybe a New Year's project.

Thanks for your input-

Patty

[rockbrain]

Here's my entry. Stinking water plume agate.  First picture is the the rough slab. Second third picture for the competition

[liveoak]

Makes me think of a jellyfish rockbrain  

Patty

[MsAli]

Beautiful Cab rockbrain! Love the edge on that.

[fernwood]

Nice natural edge cab rockbrain
Reminds me of what small bodies of water look like here after it snows.

[khara]

rockbrain Oh this is so interesting… I was going through slabs last night and also marked a raw edge one! Great minds think alike?? 🤔 Don’t know yet what I’ll end up with. I pulled out 4 slabs to play with. Love the creamy white plume in yours.👍

[opalpyrexia]

Dec 11, 2022 18:48:39 GMT -5 rockbrain said:

Here's my entry. Stinking water plume agate.  ...

Clever cut! Looks like drops of water that are beginning to create icicles.

[rockbrain]

Thanks all, at least it's a lot closer to the parameters then last month's. I was seeing kind of a snowy, icycley, stalagmite type of thing. My wife said it looks like a squid.

[khara]

Every time I open this I see something different. Jellyfish, icicles, squid… Now I’m seeing the PAC-Man ghost. 🤓

[miket]

Here's my entry, a freeformed circle- like usual I don't know what the stone is.
😁

[hummingbirdstones]

Pretty, miket!  You got a killer shine on that cab!  

[opalpyrexia]

This slab of Silver Lace Agate** struck me as having winter-like patterns. It appeared to have patterns that resembled foliage that had lost its leaves and colors, with some of it covered in frost. The lighter gray patterns in the upper half of the cab look to me like distant trees that are partially obscured perhaps by falling snow.

The cab almost didn't happen. Working on the 220-soft wheel I must have momentarily daydreamed because the dop was suddenly wrenched out of may hands. It hit the tray with a bang and saw the empty dop floating in the water. Where's the cab?!?! I found it behind my Genie and now it had a nice gouge in the right side of the dome from the edge of the 220-hard wheel. Fortunately, I managed to recut the dome.

** Cactus Lace Agate. The seller had called it silver lace.

[jasoninsd]

opalpyrexia - Gary, you probably dropped the dop because your fingers were numb from that frozen tundra you were cabbing!

Gorgeous cab...and nice recovery from the "slip and fall"!

[opalpyrexia]

Dec 22, 2022 12:53:42 GMT -5 jasoninsd said:

opalpyrexia - Gary, you probably dropped the dop because your fingers were numb from that frozen tundra you were cabbing!

Gorgeous cab...and nice recovery from the "slip and fall"!

Thank you, Jason. "Frozen tundra" — well, it was 16 degrees this morning, but quite a bit warmer than the winters I remember from Wisconsin and northern Illinois. That's more like a shorts and t-shirt day for you in SD, no?

[liveoak]

Nice winter entry opalpyrexia I really like the

wintry scene (makes me glad I'm not there !)

Patty...... spending the day tucking & covering plants before the temp drop.....