I made a cabochon!

Great job! You should be pretty proud of that!

That's a beauty, well done!

lunker I'm a sucker for homemade equipment, how about a picture of the lap you built?

Yay, lunker!  Very nice and congrats on your first cab. 

Congratulations! Very nice cabs. 👍🏻

Another "Way to Go!" Lunk!

Really sweet work on your second ever cab!

This is not me dogging you or the cab...just adding some things to think about. Can you see the flat spot on the top of the Bloodstone? All you need to do is work the angle of the edges a bit, so they eliminate that flat spot. Basically, a "steeper" angle going toward the center of the cab...that way you get an even semicircular dome, rather than a flat spot.

Sometimes when I get a flat spot, it's easier for me to work from the center of the flat spot and work the cab in tiny circles - working from the center outward and then down toward the girdle line in order to eliminate the flat spot. This works for me when the flat spot is small...

Nice cabs and equipment.

Good dome on your first cab. It took me 50 to get that good of a dome, and I still end up with flat spots unless I pay close attention. The best advice I learned about making cabs -- from a number of people on RTH -- is that a well shaped dome is the most important part. I agree. A good dome + a good polish makes almost any rock look like a gem.

You and I both had quite a bit of experience tumbling rocks before trying to make cabs. And from your tumbling results, you are obviously attentive to the process. In my experience, that flattened the cabbing learning curve a little bit, although I still have a long way to go.

Keep sharing your progress!

Good job lunker! You're off to a great start.

Where there is a will; there is a way. Good for you! Those look very good for your first two. Bloodstone is a bloody hard stone and slow to work.