I am a disabled U.S.C.G. veteran living abroad, & yes, I miss Home Depot Actually, living in a 3rd world country after having been raised & spending a lifetime in America with a “Rock Hound” background changes the way one looks at things not being able to get what you want, when you want it, if you can get it at all, & safely go into the bush. I had no idea growing up with a rock hound father “cuttin' cabs” (but “not” actually designing the mountings) would have such a profound effect latter in life after having become disabled & lost just about everything I thought at the time was dear in life. Having too much time on my hands I learned wire sculpting from Preston Ruther’s DVD's, know just enough about gemstones to be dangerous, & began collecting the occasional piece of rough, cut gem/ cabs for about 6 years now, Educated myself in the ancient art making chain maille jewelry through free online sources & gemstone identification. Moved here after the passing of my father-in-law & learned to design & build "Strip Built" & modern SOF kayaks online for free but ran into all kinds of problems related to material acquisitions & intellectual property, yet still share my knowledge as a volunteer coach at the local canoe federation. I come to this forum in the hope of further educating myself in the basics of faceting & increasing my knowledge in gemology as inexpensively as possible just as I did with Kayaking & for those interested in becoming a .yak addict try: http://www.blueheronkayaks.com/kayak/index.html However, living where I do really boggles the mind as to how anyone accomplishes anything with all the "in your face" corruption, inability to ship or receive mineral samples or completed jewelry through the very same channels the rest of the world uses (UPS, DHL, FedEx), disclosure of required licensing applications by government employees creates instantaneous targeting for criminal activity combined with the governmental control of all lapidary, mining, & geological activities causing consideration of such activity prohibitive to say the least. Having discovered the importation of rough would not only effectively double the costs, propagate the existing corruption, but create a logistical nightmare of risk management as well. Still, through online connections, shipping to my son back in the states (causing my son to tell me "Your safety deposit box is starting to look like Black Beards treasure chest" ), with your mentorship, & God willing, perhaps I can turn my hobby into a new career. My passion for turning "Gembone", opal, & acid etched meteorite into "Intarsia" style inlay & having watched the prices & direction of relatively newly discovered Wello opal emerge into the faceted gemstone arena has inspired me to take my love of jewelry design not only to a whole new level, but overcoming the adversity I currently face here has made me want to attempt a whole new career in transport, importing, & export of opal rough (& perhaps other gems in time). Having only cabbing experience & the little research I have done into faceting machines has revealed modern faceting may actually prove to be easier than cabbing by eyeball & hand. Due to the local restrictions I face, its portability, & the high probability of damage during shipping, I am considering the upgraded Lap-Lap (stone TES) viewtopic.php?f=8&t=11524 & just bring it back via suit case to learn on. It appears to be a lot more effective than the jampost methods I have seen so far & I like the cut stop idea much better but I still have to address concerns about its ability to interchange index’s & ease of repeatability since the cut I really want to use for “crystal” opal is a fancy cut requiring an 80 index. ( I know it’s a misnomer & actually water opal) I suppose it's time to engage in more studies & perhaps make a post to the next but related topics in gemstone design (Gemcad) & faceting. Mail is unreliable here, so anyone willing to post links to online or downloadable tutorials/books/DVD’s on faceting would be greatly appreciated for saving valuable research time. Michael
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 11:24 am Posts: 7523 Location: Rome, Italy
Hi Michael and WELCOME to the Forum!!! let's start to surf among old posts, i'm pretty sure you'll have so much to learn, looking forward to your contribute soon!! take your time to browse free online courses by Barbara Smigel and the other venues on the left coloumn of the board. BENVENUTO!!! ciao alberto
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:13 pm Posts: 5077 Location: Australia
Big welcome Michael. May your dreams and endeavors become reality. In the left hand column, check out the Gemmology Project. there's a quick tutorial on faceting and some gorgeous free designs. Also check out Jeff Grahams website http://www.faceters.com/ A wealth of knowledge, cutting and gemstone info and some more great free designs.
Sorry about taking so long to reply. I am currently in Guyana South America, home to gold, diamonds, topaz, black tourmaline, amythist, and only God knows how many other undiscovered gemstone deposits. In the meantime I have grown to appreciate the members of GO, the vast amount of knowledge & resources available. Especially, designs, but saddened to find out why Jeff Graham is not taking orders since he has passed away but glad some one apparently has maintained the site to keep the designs listed. I finally came out of the wings & posted on an existing thread that had been inactive since october & must say "Thanks for all the posted information & pics to prove it!!!! viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12474 Sorry it's not one of yours Mehoose, but I have also since purchased the StoneTes, had it shipped to my son in the U.S., & bought my tickets home but on the bright side I do have a home made flat lap here in Guyana & love the reviews for darkside!!!! downloaded the free 4.51 version of gemcad & was having trouble with the tan feature but found out I was barking up the wrong tree anyway. Gotta go study some more but thanks again for GO! Love this site!!!!!
Thanks for getting the StoneTES. I enjoy this website and visit quite often if you have questions please ask and I will do my best to answer. Although, It is summer here and and I am out and about more so sometimes I don't visit here as much. The web page is the best way to get a hold of me unless you tried in the last 3 weeks, the contact e-mail was not working I thought something was wrong but it was a nice break for a while.
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