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5 Stone Cutting Techniques and Projects: Cabochon, Faceting, Inlay 5 Stone Cutting Techniques and Projects: Cabochon, Faceting, Inlay, Slabbing, Trim Saw Setup Plus Bonus Dopping Tips 5 STONE CUTTING TECHNIQUES AND PROJECTS: CABOCHON, FACETING, INLAY, SLABBING, TRIM SAW SETUP Plus Bonus Dopping Tips SET UP YOUR TRIM SAW DESIGNER RUBY BY StepHEN CABOCHON WITH 6 TANEY DOPPING TiPS 3 BY AHNA V. WHite 9 11 GOLDEN OVAL FACET 18 DESIGN INLAID CUff BY Jim PERKINS BY Jeff FULKERsoN SUCCESSFUL SLABBING BY StepHEN TANEY EVERY piece OF Gem ROUGH take advantage of an unusually long, thin piece of quartz facet- is diffeRENT, with many different ing rough. In a fully illustrated, step-by-step project for making potential gem cuts sitting inside it just an inlaid silver cuff, take in the loads of ideas and techniques waiting for you to bring it to the light available for creating dramatic stone mosaics and how to cus- of day. Whether you intend to set a tom fit them into a piece of jewelry. And discover valuable tips stone in jewelry or display it proudly on and techniques for slabbing chunks of rock into slices suitable a shelf, and whether the lapidary rough for cabbing, and excellent information on how to set up your is transparent to opaque, all the same or lapidary saw in the first place. elaborately patterned, in brilliant colors From rough gem to final polish,5 Stone Cutting Techniques and or the softest of earth tones, the first Projects: Cabochon, Faceting, Inlay, Slabbing, Trim Saw Setup— question to ask is: what’s the best way to cut this stone? Plus Bonus Dopping Tips will tell you what lapidary tools and In this exceptional lapidary eBook, you’ll find five approaches equipment you’ll need and shows you how to get there. It’s a to gem cutting that will help you learn how to best take fabulous sampling for any lapidary or any jewelry maker who advantage of all kinds of gemstones and put your cabochon wants to do their own rock cutting and create cabochons, units, faceting machines, lapidary saws, and more to good use. faceted stones and more! ! See how a piece of patterned stone containing ruby mixed with other materials progresses from gem rough to finished cabochon, with details of the wheels and polishing compounds used at each stage—plus great tips for dopping your stone. Merle White Find complete cutting sequences for an oval cut created to Editor-in-Chief, Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist This premium has been published by Interweave, 201 E. Fourth St., Loveland, CO 80537-5655; (970) 669-7672. Copyright © 2010 by Interweave Press LLC, a division of Aspire Media, all rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without consent of the copyright owner. © INTERWEAVE • NOT TO BE REPRINTED • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED www.JewelryMakingDaily.com 2 5 STONE CUTTING TECHNIQUES AND PROJECTS: CABOCHON, FACETING, INLAY, SLABBING, TRIM SAW SETUP Plus Bonus Dopping Tips Designer Ruby Cabochon with Dopping Tips Slab and cab a striking stone BY AHNA V. WHite SKILLS n cabbing machine use h, Ruby, the Queen of gemstones —it isn’t just for faceted stones, A anymore. Deeply colored but translucent to opaque material also occurs that can make great cabochons— sometimes with interesting patterns courtesy of other materials found with the ruby. After examining the front and back of my slab, I decided to create a freeform design over the entire stone to make a designer cabochon. What is a designer cabochon, you ask? It means that you have used the best part of the stone in terms of the design in the rock to create an excep- tional cab. A regular, plain oval cabochon usually comes from chopping the slab up to yield the most cabs with the least waste, so finding a stone with carefully positioned markings is rare. I use a Diamond Pacific “Genie” with 6 wheels (3 grinders and 3 polishers, with polishing pad at the end). You may only have 4 wheels and that will work as OpeNING PHoto: AHNA V. WHite well—but for this project I’ll refer to wheel ProJect PHotos: AHNA V. WHite #1, #2, #3 and so on. Each wheel will make your cabochon smoother and smoother. It’s hard to gauge how much time to spend on each wheel—the harder the material, FINER GRINDING the longer it will take. What’s most Grinding takes a little bit of practice to perfect. Some stones are harder than important is that your movements are others and will take longer to shape—you need to decide which angle works quick and smooth. This skill is something best for you. Try holding the cabochon with the face to the wheel, or holding that will develop over time. the cab so its side is at the wheel to see which way works best for you. ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LAPIDARY JOURNAL JEWELRY ARTIST, MAY 2008 www.JewelryMakingDaily.com 3 5 STONE CUTTING TECHNIQUES AND PROJECTS: CABOCHON, FACETING, INLAY, SLABBING, TRIM SAW SETUP Plus Bonus Dopping Tips MATERIALS Rough rock or slab Acrylic caulking 2 x 4 or wood chunks TOOLS Trim saw, cabbing machine, X-acto knife, permanent ink pen or pencil, dopping wax, sticks, heat source, chromium oxide 2 OPTIONAL: Cabochon template 1 SOURCES Most of the tools and materials for this project will be available from well stocked lapidary supply vendors. SAFETY FIRST! Before working, be sure you’ve been trained and understand how to use a trim saw, you know to follow all safety guidelines—and wear your safety glasses! 3 4 wax hardens. Set cabochon aside to dry for PHOTO 1 Apply a good amount of caulk about 15 minutes. to top of 2 x 4 and set stone in place. Using SAWING SUCCESS fingers, fan out caulking over 2 x 4 and up the PHOTO 4 Start on wheel #1. Grind off any I recommend using a green or a black sintered rock at least 1⁄4". Let dry for at least 48 hours. material you were unable to cut away with blade to cut ruby. Examine the rock to trim saw. Lay stone face-down and flat on determine how wide to make your first cutting PHOTO 2 Make a first sawing pass on ruby table, and with pencil or permanent ink pen, pass. Never force the rock into the blade, use to create flat surface wide enough and long run a line all the way around cabochon edge medium pressure, and take your time. enough to make desired cabochon shape. about 2mm from top. Return to wheel #1, tilt Make second pass, about 9mm wide, to create cabochon at an angle, and grind away until a small slab. you reach line. PHOTO 3 Use a pencil or permanent ink pen n Move to wheel #2 to smooth out edge you cre- If you’re creating an open-back setting or will and cabochon template to trace desired shape ated with edge of cabochon facing wheel. be wire wrapping the cabochon, I recommend onto slab; if preferred, draw shape freehand. polishing the back. To do so, repeat the entire For darker stone such as ruby, I use a silver or n Use a rotating up and down motion all the way process on your cabbing machine for the back. gold permanent marker that can be bought at around; this is making the dome. Grind along flat a local craft store. surface of both sides and cab top. AHNA V. WHITE is the creative force behind n Lay slab flat on trim saw deck and cut as closely n Continue process on all remaining wheels. Final www.ArtCreated.com, a wide-ranging jewelry to outlines as possible to remove excess stone. step is a high gloss finish with chromium oxide. and crafts site. She has studied photography at While dopping wax is melting, heat cabochon. Remove dopping wax. If you’re going to set the CCAC in Oakland, California, stained glass in Dip dop stick into melted wax and place on cabochon with a backplate, there really is no Morgan Hill, California, and metalsmithing at back of cabochon, then hold stick in place while need to polish the back since it will not show. Butte College, California. DESIGNER RUBY CABOCHON BY AHNA V. WHITE www.JewelryMakingDaily.com 4 5 STONE CUTTING TECHNIQUES AND PROJECTS: CABOCHON, FACETING, INLAY, SLABBING, TRIM SAW SETUP Plus Bonus Dopping Tips DOPPING TIPS CONVENTIONAL DOPPING OFF THE DOP n Dopping the cabochon once it’s trimmed allows greater control over the shaping Here’s a great trick for removing wax once and also keeps your fingers a safe distance from the spinning wheel on the cabbing you’ve completed your stone: ice water! machine. You’ll need a heat source to melt the wax. You can buy a heat source from a Fill a bowl with cold water and several ice lapidary outlet or you can use things found around the house. I rigged up a small 3" x cubes, and place your cabochon in the 3", non-stick cake pan I had in the kitchen, and I have a fragrance oil burner that uses bowl for about 10 minutes. Hold both the tea lights to create a wax melter. Use the melter on a fire-safe surface such as firebrick. cabochon and the stick and break off the n Make sure not to get any wax onto the sides of the cabochon wax—it usually takes the entire because wax can easily clog your grinding wheels. This is a little wax area off.
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