julieooly
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721 
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Post by julieooly on Jan 29, 2022 16:09:12 GMT -5
  Hi everyone! It's been so long since I posted here! Check out these awesome cabs I'm making with material from jamesp a few years back. I've been saving this gorgeous glass for a few years and finally got around to working with it. There's been a really big learning curve for me working with glass, until now I just never could get it right. I used silicon carbide belts/discs up to 1,200 then polished with optical cerium oxide on felt. It is a long process but the results are fabulous. I have just a bit more work on the girdles and I need to soak out the bits of polish embedded in the surface bubbles then they'll be all finished. Well, this first half anyway. So over the last couple of years I spent a bit of time learning my way around Instagram but finally settled into some selling in Facebook Groups. My Etsy shop had been doing splendidly then pretty much died when Etsy changed the advertising to include Google ads. It perked up a bit when they added the option to include a video in the listings but after the extra promotion for using video seemingly ended my sales died back down again.  We've been fortunate that none of us has come down with Covid and we're all fully vaccinated but still staying in most of the time and always masking in public. My long trips out of town have come to an end and both of our girls live super close now, we see each other almost every day. Tends to be around dinnertime for some reason.... So how's everyone else been? |
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Post by opalpyrexia on Jan 29, 2022 16:20:10 GMT -5
Hi, Julie. Those certainly are beauties! Happy to hear that you and your family are healthy. We're doing fine, too.
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julieooly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721
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Post by julieooly on Jan 29, 2022 16:57:54 GMT -5
Hey Gary! You haven't aged a day! Lol
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 29, 2022 18:52:16 GMT -5
Hey Julie! Good to see you and your candy colored cabs. I recognized Jim's glass right away.
I have avoided the covid. DH got it early on, but we're all doing well now.
You're not the first person to complain that etsy dropped off. How is FB doing for you??
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 29, 2022 18:53:03 GMT -5
Those are pretty cool.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 29, 2022 20:21:10 GMT -5
Welcome back Julie...and what a fantastic way to announce your return!  Did you find the glass worked similar to obsidian? |
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,512
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Post by Brian on Jan 29, 2022 22:11:54 GMT -5
Those are beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jan 29, 2022 22:30:01 GMT -5
Good to see you back, Julie! Lovely glass.
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julieooly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721
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Post by julieooly on Jan 29, 2022 22:34:38 GMT -5
Hey Julie! Good to see you and your candy colored cabs. I recognized Jim's glass right away.
I have avoided the covid. DH got it early on, but we're all doing well now.
You're not the first person to complain that etsy dropped off. How is FB doing for you??
Glad to hear you haven't been sick Tela. FB groups can be hit or miss and tend to be a mix of talent levels, junk material to nice stuff, great photography and the opposite. Most sellers use one face shot and nothing of the side and no video. I use all three and I do all my listings BIN, auctioning just isn't my style and I don't like buying slabs that way either. I suppose it's just like Etsy but we're all mixed together in one spot. There are a few people who purchase LOTS of cabs, which is great when they're buying but when they're not selling drops dramatically for lots of us. Most of my stuff is priced $25-35 plus shipping. I have a few customers who keep an "open box". There are LOTS of low prices, but the groups tend to keep the overseas sellers blocked. I added a 10" HP to my workshop even though I swore I'd never get anything that large or cut with oil. I am also setting up a Covington Vibra Lap. It's in the garage and it's just too cold for cleaning the pans with the hose so it's on hold until the next warm spell. I wish I had more time for the Forum I love watching everyone's progress here. J |
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julieooly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721
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Post by julieooly on Jan 29, 2022 22:36:45 GMT -5
Welcome back Julie...and what a fantastic way to announce your return!  Did you find the glass worked similar to obsidian? Pretty much, I tend to have had trouble with obsidian in the past as well as goldstone. I'll be doing a few with the new process and I think they'll turn out nicely. I'm hoping I can master jade also with something different for the final polish most likely. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 29, 2022 22:46:47 GMT -5
Welcome back Julie...and what a fantastic way to announce your return! Did you find the glass worked similar to obsidian? Pretty much, I tend to have had trouble with obsidian in the past as well as goldstone. I'll be doing a few with the new process and I think they'll turn out nicely. I'm hoping I can master jade also with something different for the final polish most likely. Interesting you mentioned Goldstone! I just picked up four slabs of that today. I had never seen it, and thought it was obsidian at first. LOL - I'm kind of stoked to work it. After seeing the beautiful work you did with the glass, it's now on my "to get" list too! |
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 30, 2022 7:51:09 GMT -5
Welcome back Julie...and what a fantastic way to announce your return! Did you find the glass worked similar to obsidian? Pretty much, I tend to have had trouble with obsidian in the past as well as goldstone. I'll be doing a few with the new process and I think they'll turn out nicely. I'm hoping I can master jade also with something different for the final polish most likely. Curious as to what kind of problems with the goldstone. Just picked some up, including the blue, but have never worked with it. |
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Post by fernwood on Jan 30, 2022 8:00:00 GMT -5
Nice glass cabs. I have done a little with Jamesp's glass. Cool stuff.
Glad to hear you and yours are doing well. I was missing your posts.
I have some goldstone slabs that I want to work this summer. I will treat it like a combo of glass, obsidian and bowlerite. Bowlerite is broken up bowling balls.
I was sick with COVID and the flu at the same time recently. Still not back to work, as employer is being cautious. I am working this upcoming Saturday for a short shift. After that they will determine if I can work more shifts.
The bonus, was everything I was able to do while off work the 2 weeks after I was feeling fine.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,608
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Post by jamesp on Jan 30, 2022 8:10:48 GMT -5
Welcome back Julie. Good to see you make a stab at the carnavalistic glass(new word ). We dodged Covid too and were fortunate to not lose anyone we knew. Geez, what a terrible thing to have to mention but that is a nasty virus that effected so many. I'm not sure how the cab polish process works. Perhaps a buffer ? I can speak for tumble polishing. To avoid getting polish packed in those micro bubbles I use a syrup consistency of sugar/polish mix slurry at a rate of 4 parts sugar to 1 part alum ox polish(and for the alum ox 220 step). With the high sugar content warm water dissolves the sugar and therefore releases the trapped polish much easier. Using sugar on a wheel seems like a bad idea though lol. And may not work well anyway. No fun having sugar slinging off your wheels ! Perhaps a different dissolvable additive may be more user friendly. If tumble finishing darker Rio Grande agates I add rust(iron oxide) in with the bright white polish to color mask any that does not get cleaned out. But it is messy in it's own way too. Please post some finished product. Good to hear the cab business is doing you well. |
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julieooly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721
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Post by julieooly on Jan 30, 2022 14:51:14 GMT -5
Pretty much, I tend to have had trouble with obsidian in the past as well as goldstone. I'll be doing a few with the new process and I think they'll turn out nicely. I'm hoping I can master jade also with something different for the final polish most likely. Interesting you mentioned Goldstone! I just picked up four slabs of that today. I had never seen it, and thought it was obsidian at first. LOL - I'm kind of stoked to work it. After seeing the beautiful work you did with the glass, it's now on my "to get" list too! I was very successful with the blue goldstone, the green gave me fits and ended up quarantined in the swear jar for a while then I'm not sure where I stuck it. I should get it back out and try again, it was gorgeous wet. There are two types of goldstone, the original from Italy and the cheap Chinese one. I'm wondering if I had one of each maybe. |
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julieooly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721
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Post by julieooly on Jan 30, 2022 14:53:30 GMT -5
Pretty much, I tend to have had trouble with obsidian in the past as well as goldstone. I'll be doing a few with the new process and I think they'll turn out nicely. I'm hoping I can master jade also with something different for the final polish most likely. Curious as to what kind of problems with the goldstone. Just picked some up, including the blue, but have never worked with it. I was successful with the blue but the green was a whole new animal. Using the exact same steps I ended up with a surface that looked like very faint little snowflakes. I've never seen anything like it, it just wouldn't polish. I'll find it and try again. |
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julieooly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721
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Post by julieooly on Jan 30, 2022 14:54:32 GMT -5
Nice glass cabs. I have done a little with Jamesp's glass. Cool stuff. Glad to hear you and yours are doing well. I was missing your posts. I have some goldstone slabs that I want to work this summer. I will treat it like a combo of glass, obsidian and bowlerite. Bowlerite is broken up bowling balls. I was sick with COVID and the flu at the same time recently. Still not back to work, as employer is being cautious. I am working this upcoming Saturday for a short shift. After that they will determine if I can work more shifts. The bonus, was everything I was able to do while off work the 2 weeks after I was feeling fine. Glad you're feeling better! Be sure to post pics when you finish some! |
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julieooly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721
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Post by julieooly on Jan 30, 2022 14:57:28 GMT -5
Welcome back Julie. Good to see you make a stab at the carnavalistic glass(new word ). We dodged Covid too and were fortunate to not lose anyone we knew. Geez, what a terrible thing to have to mention but that is a nasty virus that effected so many. I'm not sure how the cab polish process works. Perhaps a buffer ? I can speak for tumble polishing. To avoid getting polish packed in those micro bubbles I use a syrup consistency of sugar/polish mix slurry at a rate of 4 parts sugar to 1 part alum ox polish(and for the alum ox 220 step). With the high sugar content warm water dissolves the sugar and therefore releases the trapped polish much easier. Using sugar on a wheel seems like a bad idea though lol. And may not work well anyway. No fun having sugar slinging off your wheels ! Perhaps a different dissolvable additive may be more user friendly. If tumble finishing darker Rio Grande agates I add rust(iron oxide) in with the bright white polish to color mask any that does not get cleaned out. But it is messy in it's own way too. Please post some finished product. Good to hear the cab business is doing you well. I got it all worked out, as always you go back a few steps and either press harder or lighten up, you never know until you try it all different ways. The Optical Cerium Oxide on felt is the way to go for cabbing/polishing. I'll post some pics when the whole group is done. |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,608
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Post by jamesp on Jan 31, 2022 6:43:25 GMT -5
Glass has many compositions and therefore hardnesses(densities) julieooly and react differently to abrasives. Typically the harder it is the easier it is to polish. Most Pyrex is a hard glass. Even the fusing schedule or remelting can alter it's physical properties like it's Mohs hardness. The Mohs hardness test has it's shortcomings when it is used on super brittle materials like glass. The Knoop hardness test is used on glass for best success. When tumble finishing alum ox works great but I believe glass blowers use cerium oxide and other softer abrasives like pumice when they use wheels to finish it. And if tumbling it with alum ox it is best to mix 30 to 50% harder rocks like quartz in the batch to break down and dull the much harder alum ox.(aluminum oxide powder can be purchased where each particle has been milled or processed into round balls instead of sharp particles at a higher cost). Tumbling with silicon carbide(very sharp abrasive) or grinding it with diamond wheels that have sharp diamonds are notorious for leaving deep scratch marks in glass. High grinding pressures should be avoided and more abrasive steps help. Glass is extremely brittle and can send micro fractures out in all directions from a scratch mark. Consider how a glass cutter actually leaves a deep rough gouge in glass and little chips fly out as the cutter rolls forward. The exact opposite effect with a tough material like steel. Glass extremely brittle, steel extremely tough. An example of a tough stone would be rhyolite and many agates. Agates tougher than quartz crystal for instance. Obsidian is typically a softer more brittle glass but it varies greatly in hardness and brittleness. Most mahogany obsidians are harder and less brittle than other obsidians. No need to understand the data below but notice different glass is rated by it's 'grindability class'. Link to info: www.pmoptics.com/glass_mechanical_property.html Grindability Class HG1 HG2 HG3 HG4 HG5 HG6 Grindability Limit Value ≤30 >30 ≤60 >60 ≤90 >90 ≤120 >120 ≤150 >150 Table 1: Grindability classification. |
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julieooly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721
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Post by julieooly on Feb 6, 2022 11:11:46 GMT -5
That's good info. It's funny I have been working mostly with agates for months decided to do the glass because I thought the softer material would be a good break. Boy was I wrong. I'm doing most of my cutting with silicon carbide but I'm wondering if I got some aluminum oxide (for the flat discs) if that may work up easier than the SC.
The batch is almost finished now. I'll probably try the AO before too long.
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