After missing an entire week of school after spring break, I decided to jump right in to the rock project. The first day I chose and started to shape a rock on the lapidary machine, I didn't know what to expect. I thought that all it took was to cut a rock, shave it down a little bit, and polish it with some sort of coating. It was way far from that. I didn't expect i to be so much hard work.
The process of shaping a rock is first, you have to find your piece of rock, and cut it into a thinner piece in order for you to easily work with it. You then flatten both sides of your piece with the diamond disk on the lapidary machine, and then start to grind it down to the shape you want. The first rock I shaped was labradorite, and I shaped it like a teardrop. I was frustrated for a long time because I didn't understand why labradorite was pretty. I barely saw any blue shiny pieces like they said I would. After rounding it and making sure it was the shape I wanted it to be, I started to see a little bit of light. They told me that if I kept grinding it down, I would see more blue. We then went on to the next disk, and that one was to smooth out any scratches. The next one was to get rid of the bumps and redefine the shape, and the last one was the final smoothing/polishing disk. That day, I only finished one rock in the whole two periods, and I realized that it was a lot of work, and that I really like making pendants out of rocks.
The process of shaping a rock is first, you have to find your piece of rock, and cut it into a thinner piece in order for you to easily work with it. You then flatten both sides of your piece with the diamond disk on the lapidary machine, and then start to grind it down to the shape you want. The first rock I shaped was labradorite, and I shaped it like a teardrop. I was frustrated for a long time because I didn't understand why labradorite was pretty. I barely saw any blue shiny pieces like they said I would. After rounding it and making sure it was the shape I wanted it to be, I started to see a little bit of light. They told me that if I kept grinding it down, I would see more blue. We then went on to the next disk, and that one was to smooth out any scratches. The next one was to get rid of the bumps and redefine the shape, and the last one was the final smoothing/polishing disk. That day, I only finished one rock in the whole two periods, and I realized that it was a lot of work, and that I really like making pendants out of rocks.
Labridorite can be found in Canada, and belongs to the Plagioclase Feldspar group. It's composition is ((Ca, Na)(Al, Si)4O8). Light reflects on different "twinnings" within the stone and can some time appear to be different colors than blue. **Fun fact: Labradorite makes up 60% of the Earth's crust.**
I decided I wanted to make a project out of it, and commit all of my time and effort in Chemistry class towards making jewelry for Village Fest 2015. It was a pretty big project knowing that I had to make a lot of jewelry in 2 weeks, but I wanted to challenge myself.
I asked Daisy if she wanted to be my partner during this, and she agreed. We made a few more labradorite pieces, and moved onto other rocks. The next rock that we made jewelry out of was blood stone.
I asked Daisy if she wanted to be my partner during this, and she agreed. We made a few more labradorite pieces, and moved onto other rocks. The next rock that we made jewelry out of was blood stone.
One weekend I went to the beach, and brought a bunch of seashells back to school. We researched whether we could polish them with the lapidary machine, and decided to try it out. It worked, and we made a few seashell pendants.
On the day of village fest, I hurried to Michael's during chemistry with one of the Seniors that Brian and Andrew trusted, and we bought chains and all the necessities to make necklaces. When I finally got to making the necklaces, I realized that the thinner chain we bought was too small for the connectors. So Daisy and I had to cut a bit of wire and make makeshift chain loops that the connectors could fit through. I was so frustrated at this point because we only had about 6 chains made and 5 minutes left until school was over. My thumb was bleeding I noticed after awhile, but I didn't really care. I really wanted to get this done because I had worked so hard to sell necklaces and pendants at village fest. In the end, we had 8 chains and about 15 pendants we were selling, and Daisy and I sold around 7 of them. I was really excited to count the donations and actual money for the astronomy club tent, because I was so proud of all of our hard work.
I really enjoyed all of the opportunities for learning that Brian and Andrew gave me, and I had an amazing semester being in Chemistry class.
I am so grateful for the experience and all of the things that I learned throughout this process, and I am so excited to use my knowledge and will remember this experience for a long time.
I really enjoyed all of the opportunities for learning that Brian and Andrew gave me, and I had an amazing semester being in Chemistry class.
I am so grateful for the experience and all of the things that I learned throughout this process, and I am so excited to use my knowledge and will remember this experience for a long time.