Post by LCARS on Apr 9, 2007 2:40:13 GMT -5
Yep, my very first 100% diamond wheel cut rough cab preform.
As some of you may know, this is actually a fairly big deal for me.
All I have to work with is a Dremel with a flex shaft and a 1.5" 180 grit diamond wheel.
I have to rely mostly on rough tumbled rocks that already have good potential as preforms requiring minimal shaping. I have been hording away some candidate slabbies and rough freeforms to practice on for some time.
This particular piece of crazy lace came from what Stefan sent me as my prize for the What's in your pocket? contest a while ago.
There are two nice transparent crystal bands and the symmetry is pretty good between the two sides. This was photographed wet to show the color better and I didn't bother to tweak the image this time since I used B/W reference cards to meter the shot on.
I plan to make a double sided pendant out of it. The teardrop shape seemed the most appropriate to me to bring out the natural features of the bands. I will be doming both sides obviously so I will now have to figure out how to properly dop it so I can get it smooth and even on both sides.
After I am happy with the overall shape I will have to tumble it from 120/200 through to polish with another batch of stones I am ready to take out of coarse grit since I have no other suitable form of finishing it at this time. Anyone with an extra pixie lying around is welcome to donate it to my cause. ;D
I wanetd to drill a hole but I won't have any diamond points until May due to a shipping glitch at House of Tools. There is no where else to get them cheap here so I will just wait. If I still can't get one by the time this goes into prepolish though I will just put a two leaf bail on it and jump ring it to a chain when it's it's done. I didn't want it to hide too much of the top part f but I will see how it looks before deciding. Either way, I have a feeling that the same lady who bought my first preform Muggle Stone pendant would just DIE for something like this!
I have done two other preforms since this one that I haven't got around to taking pics of to post yet but I will try to get those up soon as well if I get time...
Thanks for looking!
Your comments, critiques & advice are welcome as always.
Rob
As some of you may know, this is actually a fairly big deal for me.
All I have to work with is a Dremel with a flex shaft and a 1.5" 180 grit diamond wheel.
I have to rely mostly on rough tumbled rocks that already have good potential as preforms requiring minimal shaping. I have been hording away some candidate slabbies and rough freeforms to practice on for some time.
This particular piece of crazy lace came from what Stefan sent me as my prize for the What's in your pocket? contest a while ago.
There are two nice transparent crystal bands and the symmetry is pretty good between the two sides. This was photographed wet to show the color better and I didn't bother to tweak the image this time since I used B/W reference cards to meter the shot on.
I plan to make a double sided pendant out of it. The teardrop shape seemed the most appropriate to me to bring out the natural features of the bands. I will be doming both sides obviously so I will now have to figure out how to properly dop it so I can get it smooth and even on both sides.
After I am happy with the overall shape I will have to tumble it from 120/200 through to polish with another batch of stones I am ready to take out of coarse grit since I have no other suitable form of finishing it at this time. Anyone with an extra pixie lying around is welcome to donate it to my cause. ;D
I wanetd to drill a hole but I won't have any diamond points until May due to a shipping glitch at House of Tools. There is no where else to get them cheap here so I will just wait. If I still can't get one by the time this goes into prepolish though I will just put a two leaf bail on it and jump ring it to a chain when it's it's done. I didn't want it to hide too much of the top part f but I will see how it looks before deciding. Either way, I have a feeling that the same lady who bought my first preform Muggle Stone pendant would just DIE for something like this!
I have done two other preforms since this one that I haven't got around to taking pics of to post yet but I will try to get those up soon as well if I get time...
Thanks for looking!
Your comments, critiques & advice are welcome as always.
Rob