I grew up in a sandy area, north of Barrie, where pine trees were abundant, but where my family and I live now is a very different region. Pine trees don’t naturally grow here in Conestogo where it is so wet and the soil has so much clay. But, just north of Elmira there is … Read more
One of the unexpected consequences of cutting the cabochon was a bucket of water with a layer of blue sediment (it was used to cool down the grinder while it runs). For many years now, I’ve wondered about creating ultramarine blue from lapis lazuli, but I’ve never gotten around to it. It is a pigment … Read more
With the beautiful piece of lapis lazuli purchased, I had a new challenge in front of me. I’ve never cut a gemstone before, but I had recently seen a demonstration by Tim Elliott which impressed me. I knew that he was the man to ask about how to get it done. When I called him, … Read more
As I wrote in an earlier entry, for the centre of the Pentecost Star I wanted to place a piece of blue stone. I had met someone during the 100 mile ART Project in Cambridge who did nice work making gem stones (and in conversation, he stated he was willing help on this front) so … Read more
Today my family visited the Royal Ontario Museum, and we had a wonderful time. Between dinosaurs and bat caves and totem poles and paperweights, we also explored the new Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth’s Treasures! Here we found rocks of all shapes and sizes (even a meteor from the moon!) but it was the above … Read more