FLrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2014
Posts: 343
|
Post by FLrockhound on Jan 3, 2015 22:57:35 GMT -5
FLrocker, what you have are chalcedony roses which are often found as part of the fire agate itself. The white chalcedony must be removed as waste in order to get down to the brown to black sard where the "fire" layers are located. If this material was sold to you as fire agate it was misrepresented. But many folks collect the "roses" for their unique and attractive forms. I'm attaching an image that shows a little of the white chalcedony on a rough fire agate. This particular rough has amazing play of color just below the thin layer of quartz in the center. Unfortunately it doesn't show well in the image but I assure you it will cut top quality gem. Fire layers are always found in the sard, not in the white chalcedony. Thank you for clearing that up. I knew by just looking at it, it wasn't full of color and wasn't expecting much fire from what I saw originally. Needless to say I knew I wasn't getting quality F/A but wanted to see what I could do with it as experimental purpose so when i finally decide to bite the bullet I would have some hands on experience with it (sort of). Although its not full of fire I did see a couple small areas to work with an practice.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Jan 4, 2015 6:51:50 GMT -5
Lots of people snob the chalcedony associated with Fire Agate. I for one love incorporating sard as well as chalcedony whenever viable. There are fantastic colour-variations that make for fascinating pieces and colour-play. So you see, regardless if you find Fire (personally I don't think so), the colour variations that you got in your pieces is attractive and can be worked into wonderful things.
|
|
Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,709
|
Post by Fossilman on Jan 4, 2015 10:49:16 GMT -5
Wonderful F/A's!!!!!!!
|
|
|
Post by roy on Jan 4, 2015 11:49:12 GMT -5
good stuff guys! if you have fear of ruining the fire agate you will never get started your going to ruin a few along the way thats how you learn how to do it !
|
|
FLrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2014
Posts: 343
|
Post by FLrockhound on Jan 4, 2015 12:46:38 GMT -5
I agree with you roy Everybody makes mistakes but the one's who gain from the mistakes are the ones who learn from their mistakes. kk that is some pretty amazing carving. One thing Im pretty curious about is the tools used and the different bits for different angles and shapes.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Jan 4, 2015 16:59:49 GMT -5
One thing Im pretty curious about is the tools used and the different bits for different angles and shapes. Absolutely, mistakes while annoying like hell, are always the best teachers. As for tools, that's hard to explain simply because you use them according to feel (at least I do). Burrs are self-explanatory, but their effective use will be entirely different from person to person.
|
|
|
Post by Rockoonz on Jan 4, 2015 19:08:44 GMT -5
My carving teacher suggested starting with cheap plated burrs in the plastic box, and flag the shapes you like. Then go shopping for those shapes in the spendy sintered bits.
|
|