Gallery – Lapidaus

lapidaus

18 months since moving to Melbourne, at last we fi

18 months since moving to Melbourne, at last we finally have the lapidary studio all set up again! A journey which started back in 2018 in Canberra.

Looking forward to finishing a lot of gemstone faceting! The machine is an Australian hand-built job (I'm told from the 70's). Speed is adjusted by changing belts (just 4 settings). The hard stop and light indicator are a simple clip-on circuit using a pair of size D batteries. The angle indicator is analogue and just relies on "using your eyes". The digital gauge is just there while we work on getting everything level and true again.

It uses 6 inch laps, the Lightning Laps in particular have been fantastic for tourmaline and sapphires.

Should be able to get cutting again in a few days! Mission one will be a pesky watermelon tourmaline that came unstuck just before we had to pack her all up 😂.

#facetingmachine #gemcutting #lapidarystudio #lapidary #faceting

The new gem-collecting assistant is going very wel

The new gem-collecting assistant is going very well! We love our Jimny, even though the available space is nothing like the old LR 😂.

#jimny #jimnyxl #marutijimny

More Eastern Victoria fossicking. Some smokey quar

More Eastern Victoria fossicking. Some smokey quartz and facet-able citrine was brought home for future cutting. Nice to be working with the sounds of birds and flowing water in the background.

#fossicking #gemstones #gemsieve #quartz #citrine

Having a poke around Eastern Victoria. Water was c

Having a poke around Eastern Victoria. Water was clear and quite chilly! Didn't find any nice rocks in this particular spot, but did make friends with a duck 😂.

#Australianrivers #Australianrainforest #Victorianriver #ferns #goldpanning

Please welcome our new gemstone hunting and bush e

Please welcome our new gemstone hunting and bush exploring assistant! Yes, the old Land Rover Discovery 3 was very good to us for about 10 years, but she's long in the tooth now, and far too big for our garage 😅. This little Jimny was the best match for our lifestyle, hopefully for many years to come. Looking forward to lots of adventures together!

#jimny #jimnyoffroad #victorianbush

Cold but sunny in #Beechworth doing some quick #ge

Cold but sunny in #Beechworth doing some quick #gemstone hunting.

Some more goodies from the #granitebelt. #quartz #

Some more goodies from the #granitebelt.
#quartz #sapphires #garnet

Some tasty treats from our #granitebelt road trip

Some tasty treats from our #granitebelt road trip in NSW and QLD, #fossicking and hunting for different #gemstone #specimens! #quartz #smokeyquartz

140 carats of #Topaz we recently sieved in the won

140 carats of #Topaz we recently sieved in the wonderful #NewEngland area of #NSW. We're looking forward to #faceting some of the clean and smaller ones. Always nice to work on #australiangemstones and do some #lapidary

One of the last stops on our recent New England #N

One of the last stops on our recent New England #NSW gem #fossicking trip was the #Emmaville #Mining #Museum. An amazing assortment of specimens are inside, and it was great to chat with the friendly folks within.

Returned to a favourite little #NSW #beach spot to

Returned to a favourite little #NSW #beach spot to hunt for #banded #agates. It was a rainy day, but the clouds parted just long enough for our #fossicking adventure. More coming soon too, big trip through upper NSW and QLD in a few weeks!

Cleaning up some of our mini #quartz mountains for

Cleaning up some of our mini #quartz mountains for future display. #fossickingaustralia

Nice pocket of #crystals discovered by Yumi down t

Nice pocket of #crystals discovered by Yumi down the far Australian #southcoast. The veritable boulder they were in was too big to cart home, so we left them where they wanted to be, in the wild. #orangecrystals #fossicking #gemstones

One of my early #gemstone cuts, a #Mossagate #cabo

One of my early #gemstone cuts, a #Mossagate #cabochon held up in nice #Canberra sunshine. Like a green landscape trapped in time forever.

Small #Agates from #NSW tumbled, polished and on p

Small #Agates from #NSW tumbled, polished and on proud display. The @lortonelapidary baby #rocktumbler did an excellent job, after switching to #ceriumoxide

Couldn't resist, had to crack open the @lortonelap

Couldn't resist, had to crack open the @lortonelapidary #tumbler to see how the final polish phase was going. #Banded #Agate from #Illawarra area is looking nice. Back in to the barrel now for a few more days with it's friends.

Exploring around #Beechworth in 2019. Was great to

Exploring around #Beechworth in 2019. Was great to meet our friend @christinebattocchio too!

Nicely terminated #quartz found in #NSW. Looking f

Nicely terminated #quartz found in #NSW. Looking forward to cleaning it up and seeing what's hidden under there!

A #rosequartz #faceted stone fresh off the machine

A #rosequartz #faceted stone fresh off the machine.

Fun little day trip to learn about the history of

Fun little day trip to learn about the history of the #Captainsflat area.

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