Treasure Hunting

Is this pendant gorgeous or what? I was reading through some other sites this morning and saw this picture at Lucky Girl Trading Company and did a doubletake. (Picture credit to Lucky Girl Trading Company.) I had to stop and read more about what it was. It’s made from dichroic glass - if you want to learn more about that, check out the link. Actually, check out the link anyway since this pendant is up as a giveaway right now.

This must be the month for awesome jewelry giveaways since Melissa at Melissa’s Jewelry and Gemstone Blog is having a contest as well. The prize in Melissa’s contest is a gorgeous sterling silver blue topaz ring. Make sure you stop by her site, too, to see how you can enter to win.

I was going to wait until the jasper was completely polished before posting any more pictures, but it is coming along so nicely that I just had to share. This is the group of jasper that I’ve referred to before - there are some pieces of ocean jasper and desert jasper from Madagascar as well as some picture jasper from Africa.

This batch has just completed the grinding cycle in the rock tumbler so it still has quite a bit to go. While I was sorting through other stones today, I got the jasper rinsed off and ready for the next cycle. It took 11 days to complete the grinding stage in the rock tumbler, but that’s pretty common for jasper. Don’t believe those 5-7 days that the “book” tells you. Just check every couple of days and see how it is coming along. You may only need a 2-3 days for softer stones, but for harder ones like jasper and agate, you might need up to 2 weeks. (Do make sure to change the grit after one week even if you still need to grind the stones more. You don’t have to clean the rock tumbler as carefully as you do between cycle changes when you are changing the grain of the grit, but do a quick rinse and replace the old grit with fresh.)

On a side note, I now have an even stronger urge to learn to wire wrap due to spending so much time looking over Melissa’s Jewelry and Gemstone Blog. She has some terrific photos of really beautiful, one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces there. Take a peek there if you want to see just some of the things that can be done with the products of your own gem hunting.