Radical Rocks

  Rock Tumbling Tips Hi Rockhounds, Imagine opening your tumbler for the big reveal and finding that your stones looked better three days ago. That’s what one hobbyist reported this week after moving a batch of banded calcite into its final polish. If you’ve ever pulled out a favorite piece and spotted a frosty patch on the edge, you know the feeling. From the community — when polish makes things look worse On November 10, a member of r/RockTumbling reported that their banded calcite had lost ground during the final polish, even though they’d cleaned the barrel and already had ceramic media in the load. One commenter wondered whether there were enough small ceramic pieces around the stones. That’s one possibility based on the photos, and the exact cause is still open. In a separate October thread, a collector reported that some Wisconsin quartzite pieces polished well while others bruised in the same batch. Read the calcite discussion · Read the quartzite discussion What a frosty ...

  An Introduction to Lapidary Arts, Cabochon Shaping & Carving   Amethyst   The art of working with stones is called lapidary. However, it generally refers to small objects that were created using gem materials. So bigger ornaments or life-sized statues that were created with stones would not come under the wing of lapidary arts. Lapidary art is divided into four basic types: ·          Tumbling ·          Cabbing ·          Faceting ·          Carving However, lapidaries can be further divided into many other kinds. Some gem cutters treat it as a hobby, and are content with making basic ornaments as birthday and holiday presents for their friends and families, while others like to indulge in creating more intricate cuts and designs. Some people like to work only with the stones that they’ve...

                                      Identifying Gemstones                                                     Close-up of Pink Crystals Gemstone identification can be tricky. Especially if you are a novice in this area, you will have a hard time figuring out what gemstone you are looking at without relying on some help. However, if you are really passionate about your gemstones then there are ways that you can learn to identify gemstones. It will take a lot of practice and some serious mental training, and the truth is that with so many different gemstones out there, the learning process never really ends. So how is it that some people learn how to identify gemstones just by looking at them? Close-up of the Amethyst Stone     ...

                                   What Is Lapidary Art?                                                                       Lapidary Art   Items on Display in a Lapidary Museum In simple terms, lapidary is an art that requires working with stones. It is the cutting and polishing of stones to create beautiful ornaments. The roots of lapidary art can be traced back to prehistoric times, since as early as human beings started fashioning tools and weapons out of stones. Soon, people started using the same techniques to create items for person...

California Rocks gems and minerals There are so many great rocks gems and minerals and many areas to collect rocks, gems, and minerals in California that we could probably write a book on it. Instead of writing a book we will cover some of the main rocks, gems and minerals with some details to get you started, and we will have links to references and guidebooks as well as all our links below. If you want to collect in the winter there is the beaches and deserts, you want to collect in the dead of summer, California has the mountains and the beaches, you can’t lose. The history of rocks gems and minerals goes back to the Native Americans, that dug up and used many of California’s beautiful, gemstones. Then in 1849 the gold miners came looking for gold and many other finds of gems and minerals continued for over a hundred years, with a few small discovery’s the last few years interesting rocks and some agates. Please remember to check status of areas and rules before collection on...