Aug 10 2008
Rough Carnelian
I completely forgot that I had some rough carnelian that I planned on polishing. I was going through a few things today, trying to do some organizing and get a little cleaning done, and I found the carnelian sitting in a box behind another box (yes, my house is really a mess right now).
Even though I call it rough carnelian because it hasn’t been polished yet, it really does look pretty rough! It takes a beautiful polish though, so all that will change. It will just be a bit before I do get it into the rock tumbler. I have several other stones that I want to polish first. Even if that wasn’t the case, the jasper still has a good two weeks to go. I think that means its time to upgrade again and get another rock tumbler with multiple barrels. But back on topic! Here’s a nice picture of what carnelian can look like after it has been tumbled. This photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons User jaja_1985.
A Little Postscript: Okay, I guess when I say I’m going to do something, I mean it. Since I published this post, I’ve already gone and bought a second rock tumbler. I was just going to check out the prices on eBay to see if there were any bargains on used tumblers. In the process of doing so, I found a great deal on a brand new one that will hold a 6-pound barrel or two 3-pound barrels. Even though I was looking for something a little bigger, this was too good a deal to pass up. Depending on how long it takes for the item to ship, maybe I will get around to polishing that carnelian a little sooner than I thought.
3 Responses to “Rough Carnelian”
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That’s an absolutely gorgeous stone! It looks like a piece of candy. I’m just about ready to go buy a rock tumbler myself except I don’t actually have any really nice rocks to tumble. I would love to read a blog recommending tumblers.
It’s definitely the natural, unheated rough, Melissa. I know that a lot of people do prefer the heat-treated carnelian because of how the color is brought out and made uniform, but I prefer the natural. (That’s pretty much how I am with all stones.)
There are lots of great rock tumblers out there, Milawe, depending on what you’re looking for. I like the rotary ones better even though the polishing process takes so much longer in them than a vibrating tumbler. With the slower process, you can check regularly on your stones and make sure that they’re coming along just the way you want them.