goldfinder
Cave Dweller 
Member since December 2020
Posts: 274
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Post by goldfinder on Jan 1, 2024 15:55:33 GMT -5
Happy holidays all you rockin folks! I made this chrysoprase ring for Christmas for my wife so I thought I'd share it here. It's only the second ring I've made so I'm very happy with the outcome. The stone is some Chrysoprase I picked up at Quartzsite last year. It was hard to get a good, cleanish stone from the rough chunk. There was lots of soft red matrix and black dendrites to work around. I honestly struggled a lot cutting this cab. I typically cut cabs like most of the ones you see posted here, with a gradually sloping dome and well defined girdle. But with the translucent stone, I wanted to have a high dome and minimal girdle to give it depth and a deeper color. Although it's a chalcedony, the shape made it work very differently on the wheels, I think because the smaller stone and high dome made for only a small surface area in contact with the wheels at a time. Typically all the flat spots are out after the 220 soft wheel, and absolutely after the 600 soft. But I was pulling my hair out getting flat spots on the 600. I eventually just ran it through the 1200 and 3000. Surprisingly the 3000 smoothed everything out. Super weird! I love how the color changes in the sunlight, and depending on direction, I'd have a very hard time telling it apart from gem silica.      After seeing my saw pictures being used on FB I decided to add a watermark to these pictures to hopefully deter scammers lol. Thanks again to opalpyrexia for suggesting the Eve silicone polishing attachments for the Foredom. By starting to use a Foredom and those attachments on the last few pieces I've made, it's significantly improved the quality of work and eliminated most of the laborious hand sanding. Thanks for looking! |
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Post by chris1956 on Jan 1, 2024 16:11:49 GMT -5
Amazing color and polish! Thanks for sharing.
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Post by Starguy on Jan 1, 2024 16:18:10 GMT -5
Great stone and your silver fab looks clean too. That chrysoprase really glows.
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Post by opalpyrexia on Jan 1, 2024 17:09:06 GMT -5
Beautiful ring and stone! It looks very clean and professional. Do you stamp your work?
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,980
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Post by khara on Jan 1, 2024 17:47:03 GMT -5
Gorgeous cab and setting.👍 Very nice work!
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Post by liveoak on Jan 1, 2024 17:54:23 GMT -5
Very Beautiful. I love the cut-out underneath for the light to get in. Nice polish on everything - I bet your wife was happy! Thanks for sharing it here, Patty
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Post by MsAli on Jan 1, 2024 17:55:55 GMT -5
That is gorgeous and it is almost an exact replica of my ring I got as a gift last year
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Jan 1, 2024 18:34:43 GMT -5
That is a gorgeous ring, well done! In my opinion a stone like this needs a high dome to collect the light. You pulled a beautiful cab out of what sounds like some difficult rough. Here's the ring I made for MsAli in 2022   |
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goldfinder
Cave Dweller
Member since December 2020
Posts: 274
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Post by goldfinder on Jan 1, 2024 19:36:24 GMT -5
Amazing color and polish! Thanks for sharing. Thanks Chris! Yeah the color is definitely growing on me. Great stone and your silver fab looks clean too. That chrysoprase really glows. Thanks! Yup slowly but surely my silversmithing has been getting a bit cleaner lol. Beautiful ring and stone! It looks very clean and professional. Do you stamp your work? Thanks Gary! No I definitely need to get a stamp, at least a 925 one. I've only made gifts so far, but once I start selling I'll definitely need to get a stamp figured out. |
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goldfinder
Cave Dweller
Member since December 2020
Posts: 274
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Post by goldfinder on Jan 1, 2024 19:40:40 GMT -5
Gorgeous cab and setting.👍 Very nice work! Thanks a lot Khara! Very Beautiful. I love the cut-out underneath for the light to get in. Nice polish on everything - I bet your wife was happy! Thanks for sharing it here, Patty
Thanks so much Patty! Yeah the open back worked out better than I though it would! That is gorgeous and it is almost an exact replica of my ring I got as a gift last year Thanks MsAli! Sounds like a great gift, it does look nearly identical! |
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goldfinder
Cave Dweller
Member since December 2020
Posts: 274
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Post by goldfinder on Jan 1, 2024 19:45:16 GMT -5
That is a gorgeous ring, well done! In my opinion a stone like this needs a high dome to collect the light. You pulled a beautiful cab out of what sounds like some difficult rough. Here's the ring I made for MsAli in 2022 Thanks for the kind words Nate! Holy moly that ring is super similar! Great minds think alike lol. Excellent work on that ring. I really like the apple green colored chrysoprase in that one, that nice high dome really gives it great color. Thanks for sharing! |
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Post by MsAli on Jan 1, 2024 19:54:59 GMT -5
One of my favorite stones when it comes out right. It just glows!
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rockbrain
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2022
Posts: 3,198
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Post by rockbrain on Jan 1, 2024 20:17:25 GMT -5
Wow! That's a beauty. Great job all around.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jan 1, 2024 22:06:30 GMT -5
Beautiful job on the stone and the setting! Those silicone wheels are the bee's knees for polishing metal. I love them.
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,536
Member is Online
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Post by realrockhound on Jan 1, 2024 22:24:51 GMT -5
Thats an absolute beauty. Love that color. Heres the ring I made for my gf. High dome daddy lol   |
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 1, 2024 22:32:27 GMT -5
goldfinder - What a spectacular job on the whole thing! The metalwork looks flawless to me...as does your shape and polish on that stone! *I've found some material that will NOT let the scratches out of the surface until the 1200-3000 wheels. It's usually material which has a "rubbery" feel to the material. That's the only way I can figure out how to describe it.
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goldfinder
Cave Dweller
Member since December 2020
Posts: 274
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Post by goldfinder on Jan 1, 2024 23:25:43 GMT -5
One of my favorite stones when it comes out right. It just glows! Thanks! It's definitely become one of my favorite after working with it. I'll be on the hunt for more at Quartzsite this year. Wow! That's a beauty. Great job all around. Thanks Gary! I'm definitely happy with how it turned out. Beautiful job on the stone and the setting! Those silicone wheels are the bee's knees for polishing metal. I love them. Thanks so much Robin! Yes I'm very happy I figured out about those wheels sooner than later, I did not like hand sanding lol. It really makes the whole process way faster and much more enjoyable. |
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goldfinder
Cave Dweller
Member since December 2020
Posts: 274
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Post by goldfinder on Jan 1, 2024 23:36:36 GMT -5
Thats an absolute beauty. Love that color. Heres the ring I made for my gf. High dome daddy lol Heck yeah, that's a really nice one! Super high dome. Looks like chrysoprase rings as gifts is a common theme lol. Did you do the silversmithing on that? It looks great. goldfinder - What a spectacular job on the whole thing! The metalwork looks flawless to me...as does your shape and polish on that stone! *I've found some material that will NOT let the scratches out of the surface until the 1200-3000 wheels. It's usually material which has a "rubbery" feel to the material. That's the only way I can figure out how to describe it. Thanks Jason! Yeah its supposed to have a similar hardness to agate and jasper so I was really pulling my hair out going back and forth between the 600 and 220 soft lol. At least I learned a good lesson... the hard way lol. |
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dshanpnw
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2020
Posts: 1,173
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Post by dshanpnw on Jan 2, 2024 9:06:09 GMT -5
What a beautiful ring! Superb job!
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 2, 2024 10:53:50 GMT -5
Chrysoprase is in my top 10 favorite stones. You did a real nice job with that. I think simple is best to let the stone glow.  |
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