Post by washingtonrocks on Jan 28, 2014 18:18:39 GMT -5
This is my first completed tumble in a Long time. For various reasons I haven't been able to dedicate the time to it until now. New job, moving house, etc...Along with an extended period of no tumbling activity comes a little bit of rust that needs to be shaken off. lol. This also includes not always having the necessary materials and media at hand to do a proper job. In this case, it was not having the ceramic media I *know* I need to be using for the later stages. I just couldn't find them. Lost in the move I guess...I decided I would give it a whirl anyway and use a bunch of smaller, pre-tumbled agates and jaspers in place of the ceramic media...to mixed results...I figured I probably lost about 25% of my batch to chiping and cracks, but all-in-all, considering what I had, or didn't have, things didn't turn out too horrifyingly terrible. I even got a decent low-gloss shine on some jade!
All of the material I've tumbled is self-collected and is found either in my yard or in the forested trails behind my house. All within a 10 minute walk. I've always found it to be more gratifying to work with rocks I've collected myself. Okay, preface over.
Carnelian: As can be spotted on the larger middle stone, a little bit of impact damage was incurred. Beautiful specimens, nonetheless. The same stone with the fractures has an amazing luster, almost a glow, that the camera just couldn't do justice to.
Backside:
Some type of Fancy Jasper:
Washington variety of Thulite:
Nephrite Jade: Again, the camera just can't do justice to these stones. Some of them have what seems to be an inner glow. The blue spots mixed with the green is a fairly common trait of the local jade.
Quartzite pendant:
Hydrogrossular Garnet/Idocrase mixture:
Jade pendant with a heartbreaking fracture:
Pet Wood -- Douglas Fir variety on the pieces with a herringbone design:
That's all for now, folks. Thanks for taking the time to look!
All of the material I've tumbled is self-collected and is found either in my yard or in the forested trails behind my house. All within a 10 minute walk. I've always found it to be more gratifying to work with rocks I've collected myself. Okay, preface over.
Carnelian: As can be spotted on the larger middle stone, a little bit of impact damage was incurred. Beautiful specimens, nonetheless. The same stone with the fractures has an amazing luster, almost a glow, that the camera just couldn't do justice to.
Backside:
Some type of Fancy Jasper:
Washington variety of Thulite:
Nephrite Jade: Again, the camera just can't do justice to these stones. Some of them have what seems to be an inner glow. The blue spots mixed with the green is a fairly common trait of the local jade.
Quartzite pendant:
Hydrogrossular Garnet/Idocrase mixture:
Jade pendant with a heartbreaking fracture:
Pet Wood -- Douglas Fir variety on the pieces with a herringbone design:
That's all for now, folks. Thanks for taking the time to look!