Post by Emerald on Sept 6, 2004 19:29:49 GMT -5
[shadow=#738978,left,300]Barrel 1 - Green Adventurine[/shadow]
Just pulled out the stone for a check...and it's finally going well and it's starting to shape nicely.
I had to reload early on. I learned my lesson about letting ALL my stones wash for an afternoon before I start with the grit. Bubbles everywhere (is this normal?) and didn't seem to do anything to the stone for 24 hrs. I added Ivory Soap and another 24 hrs and still no change. (It was as if I just put the stones in there...sharp edges and all!) And talk about bubbles! I don't like bubbles! Can't see/check the stone progress! *sighs* May try dishwasher soap next time!
Third time was the charm! I rinsed the whole thing out and started over AGAIN and lo and behold I figured out my problem! I was using too much water. (Thanks to hints throughout the forums!)
I went to about 3/4 of an inch (maybe less) of water, 2 tbls. 60/90, left out the ivory soap and of course the very clean stone. I checked the barrel this afternoon and compared to before, I actually saw the stone starting to smooth!
[shadow=#738978,left,300]Barrel 2 - Green Matrix[/shadow]
I ran this stone similar to the one above but thought I'd let it run in the ivory soap & grit, since this stone was actually showing signs of smoothing.
[shadow=#738978,left,300]Barrel 3 - Quartz & Amethyst [/shadow]
After 2 days, not much change in the shape, similar to the aventurine and figured I added too much water again. Instead of wasting the grit, I let the canister sit for awhile, then took a paper towel and touched only the surface of the water. It sucked up a bunch of the water! *yar...said in a piratey sort of voice* Added 1/2 tbls of additional grit and let it go. 24 hours later, I noticed the edges were smoothing nicely...similar to the adventurine.
I'm sooo impatient...can wait to see the results!
Since 1 of the barrels no longer has ivory soap...(haven't found borax yet) I'll check and burp them all daily...(I thought my mothering days were over! NOT!
:-)
tumble....tumble....tumble....tumble...tumble....tumble....tumble....tumble....tumble...tumble...tumble....tumble....tumble....tumble....tumble...tumble...
Just pulled out the stone for a check...and it's finally going well and it's starting to shape nicely.
I had to reload early on. I learned my lesson about letting ALL my stones wash for an afternoon before I start with the grit. Bubbles everywhere (is this normal?) and didn't seem to do anything to the stone for 24 hrs. I added Ivory Soap and another 24 hrs and still no change. (It was as if I just put the stones in there...sharp edges and all!) And talk about bubbles! I don't like bubbles! Can't see/check the stone progress! *sighs* May try dishwasher soap next time!
Third time was the charm! I rinsed the whole thing out and started over AGAIN and lo and behold I figured out my problem! I was using too much water. (Thanks to hints throughout the forums!)
I went to about 3/4 of an inch (maybe less) of water, 2 tbls. 60/90, left out the ivory soap and of course the very clean stone. I checked the barrel this afternoon and compared to before, I actually saw the stone starting to smooth!
[shadow=#738978,left,300]Barrel 2 - Green Matrix[/shadow]
I ran this stone similar to the one above but thought I'd let it run in the ivory soap & grit, since this stone was actually showing signs of smoothing.
[shadow=#738978,left,300]Barrel 3 - Quartz & Amethyst [/shadow]
After 2 days, not much change in the shape, similar to the aventurine and figured I added too much water again. Instead of wasting the grit, I let the canister sit for awhile, then took a paper towel and touched only the surface of the water. It sucked up a bunch of the water! *yar...said in a piratey sort of voice* Added 1/2 tbls of additional grit and let it go. 24 hours later, I noticed the edges were smoothing nicely...similar to the adventurine.
I'm sooo impatient...can wait to see the results!
Since 1 of the barrels no longer has ivory soap...(haven't found borax yet) I'll check and burp them all daily...(I thought my mothering days were over! NOT!
:-)
tumble....tumble....tumble....tumble...tumble....tumble....tumble....tumble....tumble...tumble...tumble....tumble....tumble....tumble....tumble...tumble...