Post by Sabre52 on Jun 21, 2006 14:53:42 GMT -5
Howdy folks,
When cabbing nodules I often get a lot of left over heels and have been experimenting a bit with cutting freeform cabs from these heels by working off the crust from the outside in. This is especially cool when working Texas Plume agate as often the best plumes are just inside and parallel to the crust. It's a lot of work as all the pitting has to be ground out too but here's a couple of fiished pieces to show you how they come out. From now on I'm saving all of these as this is really fun because you never know what the final results will be. Sorry about all the shine, bright day today and I can't seem to eliminate the reflection. Both these are about 40 x 30's. Thanks for lookin....mel
This first cab is from the heel of a finely banded Coyamito Agate from Chihuahua, Mexico. I used to correspond with a dentist who would go down to Chihuahua and work on the natives and get agate which he would then sell some of to me at, if you can believe it $1.00 per pound, so I got a bunch. Grinding through the crust was like parting veils and orbs of pink. The pic looks a bit blurry but that's actually in the agate as these exterior lines and veins are very difuse and fuzzy looking.
This was a tough one! Woodward Ranch Plume from south of Alpine, Texas is unfortunately pretty pitted on the outside. This one started way larger but shrunk a lot as I was grinding away all the pits. Fortunately, the incredible plumes followed the contours of the nodule so they weren't ground away with the outer crust. To conserve the plumes this is a very high domed cab.
When cabbing nodules I often get a lot of left over heels and have been experimenting a bit with cutting freeform cabs from these heels by working off the crust from the outside in. This is especially cool when working Texas Plume agate as often the best plumes are just inside and parallel to the crust. It's a lot of work as all the pitting has to be ground out too but here's a couple of fiished pieces to show you how they come out. From now on I'm saving all of these as this is really fun because you never know what the final results will be. Sorry about all the shine, bright day today and I can't seem to eliminate the reflection. Both these are about 40 x 30's. Thanks for lookin....mel
This first cab is from the heel of a finely banded Coyamito Agate from Chihuahua, Mexico. I used to correspond with a dentist who would go down to Chihuahua and work on the natives and get agate which he would then sell some of to me at, if you can believe it $1.00 per pound, so I got a bunch. Grinding through the crust was like parting veils and orbs of pink. The pic looks a bit blurry but that's actually in the agate as these exterior lines and veins are very difuse and fuzzy looking.
This was a tough one! Woodward Ranch Plume from south of Alpine, Texas is unfortunately pretty pitted on the outside. This one started way larger but shrunk a lot as I was grinding away all the pits. Fortunately, the incredible plumes followed the contours of the nodule so they weren't ground away with the outer crust. To conserve the plumes this is a very high domed cab.
