The goal of this experiment was to make a piece of jewelry from a mineral. Over the course of a week I learned how to do this and then put my new skill to use and made a jewel out of an amethyst rock
Looking Back
My task of making a jewel out of a rock went very smoothly. After working with a couple of different rocks and seeing how they reacted to the tools, I chose to work with amethyst. I did so because amethyst has a pretty color and is not as brittle as some other rocks. There were two main things that I had to do to be able to shape the jewel the way I wanted to. The first step was to roughly shape it with the table saw/grinder. The blade on the saw is diamond stunned and therefore very hard and cuts rocks easily. The machine needs to be lubricated with large amounts of water so that the blade does not wear down very quickly. To cut the rock, you have to press it onto the blade and then push it in a straight line to achieve the cut that you want to. After this process I moved to faceting on the lapidary machine. The lapidary machine is a flat wheel that rotates and is used as a grinding surface to take off excess material. I got my stone down to the shape I wanted it to be on the lapidary and then also polished it using the lapidary. To polish a stone on the lapidary, you simply change the wheel to a finer grit and use it normally. My experiment went very smoothly and I was able to make the jewel without any mishaps or problems
Looking Inward
After finishing this project, I am very happy to say that I got desirable results. The jewel turned out practically flawless and glistens in the sun like a jewel you would buy at a store. This however did not come easily. I took hours of bending over the grinding wheel to do this and I think I preformed well while doing this project.
Looking Outward
I did this project by myself, however I did have people help me along the way. Jiapsi instructed me on the use of the tools that are used to shape the rocks. His help was valuable and I would not have been able to finish my project without it. I enjoyed working alone but it was also a little bit harder to complete tasks without help from another person.
Looking Forward
I think that if I were to do this project again I would not have done much differently. The one thing that I would do differently is take a little bit more time on the rough shaping with the saw so that I would not have to grind away so much material on the lapidary. I would also take my time while grinding the stone down so that I could make sure the angles were as crisp as I wanted them to be. Allin all, this experiment was a valuable learning experience for me. I learned how to use new tools and I also learned about the properties of different rocks and how to work with each individual one. If I were to continue with this project, I would make more jewels of the same color so that they could all be mounted on a piece of jewelry together.
Looking Back
My task of making a jewel out of a rock went very smoothly. After working with a couple of different rocks and seeing how they reacted to the tools, I chose to work with amethyst. I did so because amethyst has a pretty color and is not as brittle as some other rocks. There were two main things that I had to do to be able to shape the jewel the way I wanted to. The first step was to roughly shape it with the table saw/grinder. The blade on the saw is diamond stunned and therefore very hard and cuts rocks easily. The machine needs to be lubricated with large amounts of water so that the blade does not wear down very quickly. To cut the rock, you have to press it onto the blade and then push it in a straight line to achieve the cut that you want to. After this process I moved to faceting on the lapidary machine. The lapidary machine is a flat wheel that rotates and is used as a grinding surface to take off excess material. I got my stone down to the shape I wanted it to be on the lapidary and then also polished it using the lapidary. To polish a stone on the lapidary, you simply change the wheel to a finer grit and use it normally. My experiment went very smoothly and I was able to make the jewel without any mishaps or problems
Looking Inward
After finishing this project, I am very happy to say that I got desirable results. The jewel turned out practically flawless and glistens in the sun like a jewel you would buy at a store. This however did not come easily. I took hours of bending over the grinding wheel to do this and I think I preformed well while doing this project.
Looking Outward
I did this project by myself, however I did have people help me along the way. Jiapsi instructed me on the use of the tools that are used to shape the rocks. His help was valuable and I would not have been able to finish my project without it. I enjoyed working alone but it was also a little bit harder to complete tasks without help from another person.
Looking Forward
I think that if I were to do this project again I would not have done much differently. The one thing that I would do differently is take a little bit more time on the rough shaping with the saw so that I would not have to grind away so much material on the lapidary. I would also take my time while grinding the stone down so that I could make sure the angles were as crisp as I wanted them to be. Allin all, this experiment was a valuable learning experience for me. I learned how to use new tools and I also learned about the properties of different rocks and how to work with each individual one. If I were to continue with this project, I would make more jewels of the same color so that they could all be mounted on a piece of jewelry together.