|
|
Post by kk on Sept 11, 2017 22:41:02 GMT -5
OK, Orrum. Will do so. Thank you soooo much. Here we go...... Midday Sun, outddoors....... One for measurement:  Finnland Spectrolite by Kainzer Kurt, on Flickr And one for the contest:  Finnland Spectrolite by Kainzer Kurt, on Flickr Left some vegetation in the picture to get a comparative feel for colours and to show that the colours have not been tempered with. I'm still not hundred percent happy with it. At hand it feels like the finish could still be better. Have tried all sorts of things all morning, but can't yet get a better glassy finish. But that is something that will not influence the quality for pictures, so, the above will be for my entry. |
|
Don
Cave Dweller 
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
|
Post by Don on Sept 25, 2017 10:53:13 GMT -5
Variegated Tiger eye.  |
|
|
|
Post by orrum on Sept 25, 2017 11:25:54 GMT -5
Don that is nice!!!
|
|
Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
|
Post by Don on Sept 25, 2017 16:39:20 GMT -5
Thanks, I forgot what pain tiger eye can be to cab up. all those little fibers wanting to do funny things to your polish surface... |
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Sept 25, 2017 18:13:38 GMT -5
Lots of pretties here. CAnnot wait for th contest to begin.
|
|
|
|
Post by kk on Sept 25, 2017 23:08:16 GMT -5
Thanks, I forgot what pain tiger eye can be to cab up. all those little fibers wanting to do funny things to your polish surface... Love that variety of Tigereye. Excellent workmanship you got there Don. Will try a 1cm frog later this week, so will get to enjoy the pain of polishing this thing.....  |
|
Tommy
Administrator 
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,989
|
Post by Tommy on Sept 26, 2017 10:53:15 GMT -5
My pietersite plan did not work out well - the material I have left doesn't have much flash at all. I'll dig around and try to come up with something... icon_think
|
|
Luminin
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2017
Posts: 400 
|
Post by Luminin on Sept 27, 2017 12:57:23 GMT -5
I'm excited to see the entries, very good choice for the theme!
|
|
gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 4,059
|
Post by gemfeller on Sept 27, 2017 15:52:25 GMT -5
Wow, great entries folks! I just returned from a 3,500-mile road trip so there isn't much time left in the month for entering. Still, I'll give it a try if either of these Ethiopian opal roughs turns out. The largest is 15.34 ct. but I think most of the weight is matrix. The opal itself is an odd shape underneath all that volcanic ash so it's a gamble. The other weighs 11.03 ct. and it may be the best bet since there's less matrix and the shape seems better. We'll see. I'm going to try to cut these with minimal water to retain color in order to make the contest deadline. Again, we'll see. Now, to the cutting...  |
|
gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 4,059
|
Post by gemfeller on Sept 27, 2017 16:40:25 GMT -5
Well, those opals didn't work out at all. The largest, as predicted, has a weird shape; the other, while very bright and pretty, has some serious fractures. I'll get stones out of both pieces but they'll be small and not suitable for the contest. So I'll try again with this 9.8 ct. Welo rough that appears to have fewer problems. If it doesn't work out I'll have to delay a cab entry until the October competition unless I can think of another possibility.  |
|
|
|
Post by glennz01 on Sept 28, 2017 11:08:23 GMT -5
Thanks, I forgot what pain tiger eye can be to cab up. all those little fibers wanting to do funny things to your polish surface... thats my problem  |
|
|
|
Post by glennz01 on Sept 30, 2017 0:50:48 GMT -5
Thanks, I forgot what pain tiger eye can be to cab up. all those little fibers wanting to do funny things to your polish surface... thats my problem Well just finished mine up today, kept on looking at it waiting for it to dry then i realized the spots i thought were wet was the cleaned polished part and the bits that looked dry was the alo coated surface i'll get pics tomorrow though |
|
gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 4,059
|
Post by gemfeller on Sept 30, 2017 12:40:16 GMT -5
Well folks, I've learned that sometimes in this football game of life you have to punt. I've also learned that with a short contest deadline you shouldn't try to cut Welo opal. That's because it takes more than a couple of days to dry out and show its best color after cutting. So my intended entry is still drying out and hopefully the lovely red/green colors will come back eventually. The punt: I had a slab of Australian tiger-iron I'd been meaning to cab and since it met the criteria for this month's competition I decided to substitute it for my intended opal entry. It isn't too showy in the images below but in the hand it has wonderful chatoyance as it moves in the light. The hematite has an interesting visual effect as well. Rough Slab:  Preform sanded to 280:  Finished Cab:  |
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Sept 30, 2017 18:38:54 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Sept 30, 2017 18:46:58 GMT -5
rockjunquie I love the shape of this. I imagine in hand, the flash draws ones eyes from the point to the top.
|
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Sept 30, 2017 18:49:32 GMT -5
rockjunquie I love the shape of this. I imagine in hand, the flash draws ones eyes from the point to the top. Yeah, it's really great material. You can hardly go wrong with it. I was gonna do a mp4 of it and totally forgot. |
|
|
|
Post by kk on Sept 30, 2017 19:28:22 GMT -5
Yeah, it's really great material. You can hardly go wrong with it. I was gonna do a mp4 of it and totally forgot. Looks great from the pictures. Because its so soft, I never gave that material a shot... Trying to work with Variegated Tiger eye right now, and have huge problems doing anything close to a mm or sub-mm. Those things break just so easily. Your material would be even harder. And by the way: while there are not many entries, its far from a "one horse" race. There are many fabolous pieces here this month. In my opinion, one of the best qualitative and attractive challenges we had in a long while. The punt: I had a slab of Australian tiger-iron I'd been meaning to cab and since it met the criteria for this month's competition I decided to substitute it for my intended opal entry. It isn't too showy in the images below but in the hand it has wonderful chatoyance as it moves in the light. The hematite has an interesting visual effect as well. Not done much with this material, but the ones I tried are always looking fabolous at hand. So I know how good your piece looks. |
|
meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474 
|
Post by meviva on Sept 30, 2017 20:36:10 GMT -5
I finally made a cab that fits the theme. Here is my entry: Tiger Eye. Preform  For size   For voting  |
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Sept 30, 2017 20:46:57 GMT -5
WOW, Andrea- that is SWEET!
|
|
|
|
Post by glennz01 on Sept 30, 2017 22:27:32 GMT -5
old stock tiger eye preform in group, still have yet to finish any others apart from the 1 for last month Once winter comes i'll do more.  Heres finished, photo can't do justice to what i actually see.  |
|
