Post by ejs on Mar 8, 2009 15:28:03 GMT -5
Howdy hey. Here are some photos from the latest batch to come out of my tumbler. It is a batch of mixed jasper containing black, red, and noreena. I started this batch several months ago following my usual protocol: many 5-day rounds of 60/90 SC coarse, one 7 day medium tumble on 120/200 SC, 10 days in 500 SC, 10 days in 1000 AO, and then a final 2.5 week polish in cerium oxide. I rinsed in borax after each of the later stages and ran a 3 hour burnish in borax at the end. I used some ceramic pellets in the coarse and medium stages, and then a good dose of plastic pellets in pre-polish and polish (and burnish).
The results came out as expected: the red and black jaspers are very smooth and have a great glassy shine. The noreena is a tougher rock to handle. I haven't quite figured it out yet!
Here are a bunch of photos. I am not as good a photographer as many here, but I did my best snapping pics outside on a relatively sunny day (for NH in March!).
Here is the whole batch:
pic1:
pic2:
Focusing on the black jasper:
pic3:
pic4:
Say cheese!
pic5:
Focusing on the red jasper:
pic6:
pic7:
I think of this as "paprika jasper" due the black flecks in the red.
pic8:
pic9:
And here is the Noreena jasper. You can see that it gets cracks/pits where the softer material runs through. It looks like there is some polish in some of those cracks (which was not evident to the naked eye). I have some noreena from another batch and I might combine with these to try another polish, possibly in AO instead of CE. It's tempting to burnish them again, but I'm afraid they'll just crack/pit more. I think that noreena is just one of those stones that has amazing patterns but will always get (at best) a matte finish, never a glassy shine. At least not in my hands!
pic10:
pic11:
Thanks for looking! Any and all comments appreciated, especially advice on how to better finish off the noreena.
The results came out as expected: the red and black jaspers are very smooth and have a great glassy shine. The noreena is a tougher rock to handle. I haven't quite figured it out yet!
Here are a bunch of photos. I am not as good a photographer as many here, but I did my best snapping pics outside on a relatively sunny day (for NH in March!).
Here is the whole batch:
pic1:
pic2:
Focusing on the black jasper:
pic3:
pic4:
Say cheese!
pic5:
Focusing on the red jasper:
pic6:
pic7:
I think of this as "paprika jasper" due the black flecks in the red.
pic8:
pic9:
And here is the Noreena jasper. You can see that it gets cracks/pits where the softer material runs through. It looks like there is some polish in some of those cracks (which was not evident to the naked eye). I have some noreena from another batch and I might combine with these to try another polish, possibly in AO instead of CE. It's tempting to burnish them again, but I'm afraid they'll just crack/pit more. I think that noreena is just one of those stones that has amazing patterns but will always get (at best) a matte finish, never a glassy shine. At least not in my hands!
pic10:
pic11:
Thanks for looking! Any and all comments appreciated, especially advice on how to better finish off the noreena.