Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Feb 27, 2021 20:05:32 GMT -5
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Post by Pat on Feb 27, 2021 21:32:04 GMT -5
What a lovely batch!! Those close ups are terrific. I could look at them for a long time. Thanks. They sure picked some beauties!
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Post by jasoninsd on Feb 27, 2021 21:33:10 GMT -5
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standles
spending too much on rocks
Well all I got was a rock ... Cool!
Member since February 2021
Posts: 325
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Post by standles on Feb 27, 2021 21:56:46 GMT -5
Excellent work. First batch success indeed. Patience pays off in the end and I hope they continue in the hobby. That was quite an eclectic mix of stones. Real beauties in there and the camera work is superb as well. Now that the kids are hooked (hopefully) what bigger tumbler are you getting next.
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saxplayer
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2018
Posts: 1,327
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Post by saxplayer on Feb 27, 2021 22:29:04 GMT -5
Brian, the last macro photo is awesome!
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Feb 27, 2021 23:20:49 GMT -5
You and your kids did a wonderful job on that first batch! I bet you're pretty dang proud of how they held out for 9 weeks to tumble those stones. Kudos to the kiddies!
Love the photos. Is this the new little point and shoot that you bought? Great shots, especially that last one.
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Post by miket on Feb 28, 2021 8:12:59 GMT -5
Great job, Brian! It's awesome that your kids are interested, too.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Feb 28, 2021 15:49:04 GMT -5
What a lovely batch!! Those close ups are terrific. I could look at them for a long time. Thanks. They sure picked some beauties! Thanks, Pat! They had a lot of fun picking out the rocks they wanted to tumble. It's fun to watch how serious they were with their selections. I believe there was also some trading back and forth going on at one point. I know what you mean about looking at the photos. It's amazing to see how the rocks come alive when you can get in close.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Feb 28, 2021 15:51:42 GMT -5
Way to go guys!!!! Please let your kids know they did a top-notch job on their first tumble and these stones look absolutely AMAZING! Their dad took some pretty darn stellar macro shots too! Great job on their part for keeping their patience and sticking to (and attaining) their goal! I look forward to seeing their next batch. Thanks, Jason! They were certainly proud of their work (and I was, too). This morning, my son (the 6-year old) asked if the rocks were still wet because they looked so shiny. We are all looking forward to the next batch! Those prairie agates already looked good, so I can't wait to see what they look like all polished up.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Feb 28, 2021 15:57:17 GMT -5
Excellent work. First batch success indeed. Patience pays off in the end and I hope they continue in the hobby. That was quite an eclectic mix of stones. Real beauties in there and the camera work is superb as well. Now that the kids are hooked (hopefully) what bigger tumbler are you getting next. Thank you, Steven! I certainly hope they keep their interest in the hobby, although it is a catch-22. The more interested they are in it, the less I get to play on my own! I'll gladly make that sacrifice if they are having fun. Plus, I have already sketched out a few ideas for building a bigger tumbler. It is always a challenge keeping kids' attention in anything. In between clean-outs, we have been doing some other rock related activities including geode cracking and IDing random rocks using our books.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Feb 28, 2021 16:04:23 GMT -5
Thanks, saxplayer! I was a little surprised when I saw that one. When I get the time, I need to get the other camera gear out so I can take some better pictures with improved lighting. Those shots were all taken last night under the kitchen lights. I took a few more today using my phone's flashlight to help. Here are some of the better ones.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Feb 28, 2021 16:11:29 GMT -5
Thanks, hummingbirdstones! I told the kiddos that their rocks have received a lot of positive comments. They were so proud of themselves for making something so pretty! Those pictures were taken with a camera I've had for several years, but I did recently recommend it to Bob in one of his threads. It's a waterproof point-and-shoot, but it has great macro capabilities that are a lot of fun to use. Just for fun, here are some shots that show the scale a little better.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Feb 28, 2021 16:13:24 GMT -5
Great job, Brian! It's awesome that your kids are interested, too. Thank you, Mike! My kids have been picking up rocks since they starting walking. I joke that our first rock tumble was our washing machine because they would always fill their pockets up with interesting rocks. If we weren't careful to empty their pockets, we would always end up with a washerful of rocks tumbling around.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Feb 28, 2021 16:35:14 GMT -5
Here's another shot just for fun.
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saxplayer
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2018
Posts: 1,327
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Post by saxplayer on Feb 28, 2021 17:33:36 GMT -5
Here's another shot just for fun. Nice work! Why don't we create group macro thread that we can all post to? I'll start one
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Feb 28, 2021 17:35:18 GMT -5
Here's another shot just for fun. Nice work! Why don't we create group macro thread that we can all post to? I'll start one Great idea! I’d love to look through a thread like that. And share what I can.
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Post by Garage Rocker on Feb 28, 2021 22:51:46 GMT -5
I looked at this a couple times on my phone, but wanted to circle back and take a look on the computer screen. It is as I saw it; that is one nice batch of tumbles. I would guess this will motivate them to continue, seeing as they seem to be naturals at it. I hope they do, I look forward to seeing more of their tumbles. Thanks for sharing!
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Mar 1, 2021 6:34:49 GMT -5
I looked at this a couple times on my phone, but wanted to circle back and take a look on the computer screen. It is as I saw it; that is one nice batch of tumbles. I would guess this will motivate them to continue, seeing as they seem to be naturals at it. I hope they do, I look forward to seeing more of their tumbles. Thanks for sharing! Thanks! I certainly hope they keep it up, too. They both had a lot of fun with it and I’ve been doing everything I can to keep them motivated. My daughter already has a bag full of rocks she wants to show her science teacher and the little guy loves going through the rough to look for rocks with cool patterns, so I think they may be hooked.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Mar 1, 2021 9:02:26 GMT -5
I looked at this a couple times on my phone, but wanted to circle back and take a look on the computer screen. It is as I saw it; that is one nice batch of tumbles. I would guess this will motivate them to continue, seeing as they seem to be naturals at it. I hope they do, I look forward to seeing more of their tumbles. Thanks for sharing! Thanks! I certainly hope they keep it up, too. They both had a lot of fun with it and I’ve been doing everything I can to keep them motivated. My daughter already has a bag full of rocks she wants to show her science teacher and the little guy loves going through the rough to look for rocks with cool patterns, so I think they may be hooked. I think it really helps that you're also involved in it with them. If the kiddos were doing it by themselves, they'd probably lose interest in no time. Knowing dad is also interested helps. Kiddos like to emulate their parents. The fact that you're taking it past just tumbling and doing rock identification and geode cracking with them keeps them learning and interested.
Have you showed them the macro pictures of their tumbles? When I was a kid that would have blown my mind that the rock I had in my hand looked so different and beautiful than I could see with my eyes alone.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Mar 1, 2021 9:32:44 GMT -5
Thanks! I certainly hope they keep it up, too. They both had a lot of fun with it and I’ve been doing everything I can to keep them motivated. My daughter already has a bag full of rocks she wants to show her science teacher and the little guy loves going through the rough to look for rocks with cool patterns, so I think they may be hooked. I think it really helps that you're also involved in it with them. If the kiddos were doing it by themselves, they'd probably lose interest in no time. Knowing dad is also interested helps. Kiddos like to emulate their parents. The fact that you're taking it past just tumbling and doing rock identification and geode cracking with them keeps them learning and interested.
Have you showed them the macro pictures of their tumbles? When I was a kid that would have blown my mind that the rock I had in my hand looked so different and beautiful than I could see with my eyes alone.
They were blown away when they saw the photos, Robin! I put the pictures on our big TV screen and they couldn’t believe they were the rocks they tumbled. They kept grabbing the rocks to compare with the pictures. My daughter even had me take more pictures of her favorite rock for her, which included that last picture I posted that has the peach-ish looking layers. I’m going to teach her how to use that camera next weekend so she can take her own photos. We are also busy thinking about all of the cool things we can do with the rocks. My daughter was asking about making jewelry with them, so I showed her a lot of different pictures of wire-wrapping and silver smithing that have been posted here. Drummond Island Rocks had a great post recently with four different settings/wraps for cabs that she really liked. I also showed her@saxplayer’s lamp which she also loved. The next step will be to take them to places where they can collect some of these amazing rocks in person. We’ve been wanting to take a big trip out west for some time now, and I would love to show them some of the places I visited. Seeing petrified wood in nature as a kid was one of the things that got me interested in the hobby.
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