Wrapped morrisonite

Here is the first cab I made, wrapped in sterling silver. I think I'll keep this one for myself, to look back at my ever first :)














Also made a new small cab, a variegated jasper, cute and small. Really neat colors in it, red with blue and some bits of silvery at the top. Wondering how I'm going to wrap this one...

First cab reworked and a new one, serpentine

I reworked the first cab as there was a crack on it, so I had to grind away at the rock until the crack. Now it's a bit smaller and actually I like it better too.




Here is a second cab I made today. It's a brown serpentine from Cyprus, which is so abundantly found here on the island. It is quite a nice one, light brown with dark spots on it. Can't wait to wrap it and see the final result :)

My first cab

Finally I got the Ameritool cabbing machine today, it was released from being hostage at the post office after I paid 80 Euros fees. Couldn't wait to come home from work and start playing with it. I've set it up, took a piece of morrisonite that Amy sent me a while ago in box with other rocks, and started grinding away at it.
First of all, I have to say that working on the machine is extremely relaxing, very quiet actually and really rewarding when you see the piece of rock starting to shape and smoothen up. So now the last doubt about buying the machine is gone as well, as I truly enjoyed polishing up this stone.
The result is not something spectacular, but it's special to me, as it's my first cab :)

Results of the second stage tumbling

After over 2 months since I started tumbling rocks, they went through 6 weeks of stage 1 and 2-3 weeks of stage 2. Here are a few pictures. The rocks are not very clean, I'll clean them up well when I have enough for stage 3, the pre-polishing stage.

Some citrine, amethyst, red jasper, a few tiger eye,rose quartz and at the right top corner of the first pic there are some serpentine, with nice green and black dots on them. Cyprus apparently is relatively abundant in serpentine, and I had no troubles finding these pieces on the beaches here.

Reading a good thriller

For me reading a good thriller, mystery is like immersing my soul into another dimension, losing myself and becoming totally captivated in another world.
This is what happened when I read No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay, a thriller which starts with...
You wake up, your house is empty, your family has disappeared...
And then the story builds up from this strong premise. The idea is pretty scary, if you think about it, and I thought about it quite a lot these days while I was reading the book. Couldn't wait to get home from work to get the book in my hands. The ending didn't disappoint, I even shed a single tear (call me sentimental). I don't want to give away the plot, so I'll only say that if you like thrillers by Nicci French, Harlan Coben and the like, I'm sure you will love this one as well.

Sunstone silver necklace

49 Euros

Here is a new pendant I made during the week. The stone is a gorgeous sunstone. I didn't really know what that is, so I had to look it up. I knew of moonstone and goldstone, but sunstone? It seems it's a very nice stone favoured for jewelry making. When you hold it up against the light, it's really nice translucent and shiny. Really cool.
I have incorporated at least three different techniques: border wrapping for attaching the stone, basket weaving (used in rainbow wrapping), and wire sculpture (for the finishing effects).

A whole lot of 1mm and 0.4mm sterling silver went in the piece. The pendant measures at the widest points 6x3 cm.

It comes on a 45 cm silver chain, and as usual, free shipping for this piece, and included there is a piece of silver polish cloth for maintaining your jewelry at top shine.

So about buying rocks for tumbling online

I got a paper yesterday from the post office that a box arrived, and I knew it's some rocks for tumbling from an Ebay seller. Based on the value given, I knew I should be paying taxes on it

So hubby goes today to the PO to pick up my parcel and then he calls me. I ask how much did he pay, and he said 'nothing'. I ask 'how come'. Well, he says, when they asked what's in the box, he said it's rocks. They like 'what?? '. To cut a long story short, they were going back and forth with hubby as they didn't believe him, as in 'say again, what's in the box'?? Then they said they will open the box to check, so hubby said to 'go ahead'. When they opened the box and saw that there WERE rocks in it (and some grit, ok), they were on the floor laughing. Hubby tried to maintain what dignity he could, and he left from there graciously after they told him he doesn't need to pay for the package...