Latest From The Lap of Lapidary

 While we have had more visitors recently, I've still had time to get out to the shop and do some cutting. Here are some recent efforts.

The first is a beautiful piece of our local moss (some call it plume) agate.

This one had some nice colour and patterning and the inside sure didn't disappoint!

It shows the typical gorgeous golden plumes and some beautiful blue/grey pockets of fortification agate.

The next one was a real surprise. Quite frankly, this one had me stumped on the surface.

It had some nice yellow colour that always suggests sagenite but not much in the way of patterning. But inside...

This one has everything including the kitchen sink. There is definitely sagenite but also fortification agate and deep chocolate areas of what I suspect to be haematite. If I can get this to polish, I'll get some amazing cabochons! And to that end, I've already cut some additional slices.

By the way, these rocks are both local from Digby Neck. Stay tuned!

Latest Pieces from The Lap of Lapidary

Well, it certainly has been a "different" summer- in many ways.

First, there has been the weather- definitely not the year for "fun in the sun" as we have had very few nice days to date.

And then there's "the Virus".

Although there are tourists from other parts of our "Atlantic Bubble" in town, we decided not to open the gift shop because of its small size and will look to establish a significant web presence in the fall. That has meant that it is really quiet around here and while we miss meeting all the interesting people who stop by, it has given us more time to "create". Vickie has been doing some very interesting artwork which is nearing completion and when finished, I'll do a post on it.

It's been fun playing with my new toy- the 8 inch Cab King and a new old (50+ years) toy- my 10 inch Mercury oil saw that daughter Sandra updated with a new and more powerful motor.

I am in the midst of a massive project to create pendants, ear rings and rings from the beautiful petrified wood slabs gifted to me by Glenn Cooke (miss you guys!) but have taken some time to finish a few pieces of local stone that are now ready for wrapping.

The first one is a perfect Digby Neck pendant.

It is shaped just like The Neck- right down to Brier Island- with little druzy pockets in each segment and is made up of the basic rock that makes up The neck- basalt and agate.

The next piece comes from Brier Island- a beautiful piece of dark green brecciated (broken) jasper

I plan on cutting a groove around the edge and wrapping it with silver wire. Should be dynamite!

And then there are these two little gems. They come from a small stone found on a nearby beach that offered a really nice surprise when cut. The smaller is about an inch long.

The colour and detail on the patterning is awesome and deserving of a nice setting.

All for now. Hope to see you soon. Cheers!

More Goodies From The Lap of Lapidary

It sure is a different summer with no visitors stopping by. We hope that you are all well and staying clear of the effects of the Covid virus.

We were able to have a visit from our daughter, Sandra, who lives in Nova Scotia about 3 hours away and while she was here, I finished some pieces on my new Cab King. I am really loving this machine and if you are serious about lapidary, check it out.

Thought it might be fun to show a piece from start to finish. During her visit, Sandra and "She with the agate eye" did a little rock hounding and came back with some interesting material. As you can see, this stone is not large.

But inside it showed itself to be pretty spectacular!

The red and black areas are both hematite and while the black usually polishes well, the red can be a bit of a problem. But not this time! I usually try to do something with the end piece when I cut a rock to see how well it works and that determines what I do with the rest. So I was able to get a shape for a nice little pendant and this is how it turned out.

The red polished like glass and the black was even better with some of the areas actually polishing to silver! So now I know I want to get as much from this piece as I can so I glue it to a small piece of 2x2.

This lets me keep the stone in the same plane as it cuts so the slices are uniform. And now, hopefully, I should get three more slices.

Also, I wanted Sandra to try her hand at cutting a groove around a stone to facilitate wire wrapping and we chose this little beauty.

It looks sparkly because it is sparkly with internal facets of amethyst surrounded by plume and fortification agate. A real show stopper! So before she left, I managed to wrap it in sterling silver wire and she wore it home on a silver chain.

I told her it's her inheritance!

If you have any questions about my work, don't hesitate to ask. Otherwise, when travel is permissible feel free to contact me and arrange a tour of my shop- The Lap of Lapidary!

The Rewards of Lapidary.

Since the weather has been lousy and we can't really go anywhere because of good ol' Covid 19, I've been able to cut some of the local rock in my shop and have had some pleasant (and in some cases interesting) results. If you want to see amazing detail, just click on the picture.

 Take, for instance this unassuming rock.

This humble little rock was found on the shores of St. Mary's Bay. It appears to be a highly altered granite and its structure suggests that it might have been carried by the ice sheet from just west of Saint John, New Brunswick! If correct, imagine how long that journey took! (Thank you Rob Raeside, Acadia U. for the insight)

Then there's this little gem.

The exterior structure suggested that it might have an interesting core and, voila!

Just imagine the time (and chemistry) needed to make those beautiful linear patterns!

Here's a piece that offers a real contrast- simple on the outside:

And amazingly complex on the inside!

The central band actually changes composition from agate to amethyst (the purple area). Again, the patterning is amazingly complex when looked at in detail.

The following is interesting because of the colour.

The area that appears black is actually an indigo blue and the blue becomes more apparent when it is cut thinner. It is stunning up against the red haematite bands!

This next piece has it all!

The red areas are haematite and there is even a little  bit of fortification agate (white)

Did I save the best for the last? You be the judge. Again. it didn't look all that great on the outside.

But on the inside, oh my!

The patterning is amazingly detailed and I really like the lemon yellow sections!

Agates have to be one of the most interesting types of rock around and we have so many varieties in Nova Scotia. What I like is that all the beauty is really caused by chemical impurities that cause the colour variations. Without that, we would have just plain quartz!

By the way, all these were cut on my Hi-Tech 10 inch water cooled/lubricated saw. It does an amazing job!

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at these and if you ever want to see them in person, drop by my lapidary shop at The Artist's Mark on Digby Neck!

More From The Lapidary Shop

Like the rest of the world, we are self isolating way out here on Digby Neck with the hope that at some point in the future, "normal" will return and we will actually see some tourists.

I am fortunate to have a hobby (lapidary) to occupy the time and a large amount of rock to cut and polish.

As some of you may know, my wife Vickie, (She who MUST be obeyed) has The Agate Eye and it is because of that that I have such beautiful material to work with. Here is one she demanded be cut this morning and although it was a little big I decided to give it a try on my Hi-Tech 10 inch saw (you try saying no to her!). The results were spectacular! The surface is like glass and includes areas of plume, moss and fortification agate.

If you click on the pic you will see even more detail.

But because there have been no visitors, I have had time to cut a lot more and here are a few of the nicest.

The last one (greenish) is called eclogite and it is formed deep in the earth where one tectonic plate is dipping below another. As such, the pressure is so high that sometimes diamonds can be found associated with this rock.

If you click on the individual pictures you will be able to see even more detail.

I happen to live smack dab in the middle of an amazing geological setting and I hope that you can experience it for yourself sometime. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy!

Back in the (Lapidary) Saddle Again!

Well, I held out as long as I could.

My original plan was to wait on cutting until I had completely cleaned up the shop but Vickie had found some really interesting stuff recently and I had an itchy trigger finger so I put some oil in the small saw and voila!

Here's a great piece of agate with several different types.

We have some lovely examples of fortification (grey area at the top) and plume and there are some gorgeous little islets in the center.

This next piece is a great example of a stone that didn't look all that good on the outside but on the inside...

Gorgeous areas of fortification and plume- what some would call our local moss agate. The patterning and colours are very organic and I have cut one slice and plan on getting a few more. These will make some beautiful small pendants.

So now I guess I have to get the big saw going so we can get at some of her larger pieces. Stay tuned for more interesting materials in subsequent posts.

More Amazing Agate and Jasper from Digby Neck

A while ago, I had a bit of surgery done on my chin and the doc told me to stay away from my machines for a bit but after a follow up visit, I'm good to go again!

So this morning I cut several pieces, mostly to define and cut out shapes for cabs that I will work on over the winter.

This piece is from a beach so we really have no way of knowing where it originated but since I have a drill core of the same material from a site nearby, I'm pretty sure it is local. Here's how it looked on the outside.

This is what's known as brecciated (broken) jasper and here is what it looks like on the inside.

Pretty spectacular, huh? The broken pieces of jasper have been re cemented at a later date and in the process, small cubes of pyrite have formed. They show as shiny gold shapes in the picture.

And if you think that looks good, How about this? Recently, a friend brought me a piece he had found while exploring his property "somewhere" on the neck. He is a fellow lapidary from Arizona and has given me some amazing slabs of petrified wood so since he has no equipment here (bring a saw on your next trip Glenn) I offered to cut it for him. The patterning on the outside looked "interesting".

But I must admit that I wasn't prepared for what lurked inside.

This is called "fortification agate/ plume agate" and it is one of the most amazing examples I have ever encountered. Now I have to find a way to "liberate" it!! (heh,heh).

I am amassing some awesome material to work on over the winter and later in the fall but I also have some beautiful cabs I just finished to amuse myself with.

Man I LOVE cutting rock!

Nova Scotia's Beautiful Rocks

If you have visited Nova Scotia, you know that it is one of the most scenic parts of the world. And our little corner, Digby Neck, is one of its main attractions. What you might not know is that the rock that often helps create that scenery can also be breathtakingly beautiful on its own. Bay of Fundy agate is world famous and treasured by collectors.

At The Artist's Mark, I have a fully equipped "Rock Lab" where I can cut, grind, polish and tumble rock. And if your schedule permits, I'm glad to give you a fast tour.

One side of the "lab"

And every visitor gets to choose their own tumbled specimen so they can take home "a piece of The Neck"

The free rock box

It is amazing that rocks that look pretty mundane on the outside can look like this on the inside.

Red flame agate- one of our rare beauties

   

Moss Agate with a beautiful quartz druzy

Beautiful patterning

Striking fortification agate vein in basalt

Every rock has an interesting story to tell- how and when it was formed and what has happened since- and it is often told in a spectacularly beautiful manner.

So if your travels take you to this part of Nova Scotia, look at the rocks! And don't forget to come by and pick up your own "Piece of The Neck"!

More New Pieces From The Bench

Well the weather has been up and down like a toilet seat so I've had some time to sit down at the bench and finish a few "WIP"'s- works in progress. I stole that term from the knitting crowd (heh,heh).
Here's a nice little piece of Crazy Lace that comes with a sparkly druzy in the center.

It has a hand made copper prong setting and copper clasp and is hung from a premium leather cord.

Then we have this nice piece of banded jasper.

I used a really nice decorative copper bale and is hung from a longer soft hollow glass cord.

The next two pieces were really fun to do because they required a lot of planning and engineering. The first is a beautiful piece of local carnelian that absolutely glows. I decided to use it in its natural shape- pretty much just as it was found.

Gunmetal chain and wire were used to complement the colour and a solitary glass bead was added for balance and a sense of mobility.

Then the fun really began. I hand hammered and drilled a piece of thick copper wire to produce a flat paddle and the clasp and all other findings are hand made in copper.
Finally, here is a gorgeous piece of local plume/ fortification agate. Both the colour and patterning are amazing so I decided to come up with a setting to really showcase it.

The stone is wrapped with copper wire attaching it through drilled holes to a copper back plate which was then attached to two hand made copper eyelets.
In this close up you can see the delicate design which was impressed into the copper plate by running it through a metal roller with a piece of desiccated leaf.

It is hung from a premium Greek red leather cord with a beautiful copper lobster clasp.
So my next project will be to use some of the butter soft leather I picked up recently in a couple of pendants and then learn how to use the JoolTool to finish a few specimens. So stay tuned and see how it turns out!