u/ivityCreations

Just this beautiful koroit nut with a nice little gem in it. This will likely cut a beautiful pair of matching pendants for me ♥️😁🫶

Hello yall! Long time lurker and appreciator of you lava breathing badasses!

I am a gemstone lapidary, working in the opal sector of the gemstone industry. I am also an elder millennial engineering student with a long life that has promoted learning crafting and fabrication skills, school is largely backtracking to collect certification credentials and learn some of the extremely nuanced stuff my life hasn’t already taught me already.

I am developing a new piece of lapidary equipment aimed at reducing the cost of entry to the hobbyist/amateur level of skill/engagement in the craft; basically someone who needs equipment that will work, but isn’t necessarily overly concerned about return on investment. I fully know my method of manufacturing the tool will not allow for the same levels of precision and accuracy a well maintained traditional faceting machine will achieve, nor am I trying to. The goal is giving people an option to explore a craft that is otherwise cost prohibitive to enter (I am sure you all can relate to this, I am not naive of the cost of glassblowing lamp work equipment, if anything yall got it worse than we do tbh), while also maintaining an acceptable level of precision and accuracy to not fail entirely in producing results that are at least on par with foreign low labor cost cutting farms; not perfect but perfectly passable for an enthusiast.

I realized in a “oh duh” moment, that there are several glassblowers who utilize very similar equipment to lapidary equipment, sometimes even being an actual lapidary equipment piece like that diamonds flat laps, and using them to basically do big version of what we do just with glass instead of rubies and sapphires and diamonds.

So, I thought I would poke on over here and give yall a peak at the prototype I’m working on and see how your industry feels on if it might be worth exploring its usage in glasswork.

Thank you for your time and responses❤️ I am now ready to be laughed out the room ☠️

Already putting those degrees to work 😤

This is how I will be cutting the koroit dice for the more complex shapes: d20/12/10/8/4

Y'all I am excited about what it could ALSO do for the faceting side of lapidary: a space sorely in need of entry level equipment that is affordable but also WORKS.

Testing phases begin today with the first sets of dice 😁♥️

At the moment it is mostly going through a proof of theory phase; will it hold any tolerance, can it achieve any level of precision. Then there will be testing on its ruggedness and ability to maintain its baseline. But I thought this would be a fun opportunity to give people a sneak peak into why I have had lapidary work itself on the back burner while pursuing and engineering degree! Planning to really answer some of the industry aches, like viability of AFFORDABLE entry level equipment that is not just a moneypit or poorly crafted chinesium. Part of that degree is understanding material science, so please please please do not approach this post in a way that suggests you believe I have not considered the pros and cons of the method of manufacturing that I am using. I typically keep to the r/Opals community as my personal specialty is opals and other difficult to properly cut materials like fire obsidian, fire agate, and so forth. But I wanted to share this with the broader lapidary community as well!

Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day everyone!

I just turned in my last final for this school.

On Friday, I walk for my first two degrees.

I am graduating with high honors. A representative of our Associated Student Government. A member of Phi Theta Kappa honors society. A military veteran turned academic.

My opal paper was an absolute pleasure to bring to the academic world and opal communities.

The work I am doing to improve our local interest in the physical sciences like geology and mineralogy is being seen and recognized.

And I have finally stepped into a professional space for my lapidary work, one that is my own and run my way.

I just feel this sense of emptiness right now. Perhaps burnout from the sheer amount of time and energy I have been putting into other things. Perhaps a bit of sadness knowing this place I have spent the last several years investing my time and energy in is coming to a close for me.

I know there are many exciting possibilities ahead of me. That there are doors opening up that I would have never dreamed of before, and yet I just wish there was more time to enjoy these moments. These fleeting moments that pass you by in the blip of an eye.

So I am trying to take in what all this means for me right now, and the truth is, I don’t really know yet.

What I do know though, is that I need to be proud of this milestone, even if it feels overwhelming to say goodbye to so many people that have so positively impacted my life.

Celebrate with me, the closing of this monumental chapter of my life.

And for myself, and any others stepping into that next journey in life; Here is to the next chapter, my friends.

Now that I have permission from both mods to share the link to my blog post covering the paper, here it is for all you lovely opalholics!

https://ivitycreations.myshopify.com/blogs/academic-research-and-educational-resources/diving-deep-into-opal-formation-processes-early-study-of-unique-silica-deposition-in-pebble-clast-conglomeration

I would love to hear back from y'all once you have a chance to read through 👐

Featuring my very simply designed jig for square d6 dice 🤟

I just got to say the dice preparation is coming along nicely. Stabilizations going really well and seeing all the color and patterns with these slabs being stabilized is showing me that I am going to have many beautiful dice sets 🫶😤

Should have a couple of videos this weekend going over the cutting process, as well as our first examples of the koroit dice coming off the bench 😤🤟

Unfortunately