We have piles and piles of rocks sitting in our work area where the lapidary equipment is located. Every once in a while I go out there and start digging through the rocks wondering if the rough would make a good cabochon. So the other night I was really motivated to start cutting some of these rocks in half to see what was inside these gems. The first rock we decided to cut was amazonite and we cut a beautiful slab. the color is a gorgeous blue green with matrix throughout and we were so surprised at the beauty of this one. I found another black rock that seemed to have a vein of pink running through it, and I guess it is rhodonite but it will make gorgeous cabs.

I also tried slabbing a rock that we had found on the beaches of Cape May Point hoping that it would be translucent or have a neat pattern to it, but it ended up just being gray inside, not too interesting. I did however cut some of the quartz we found on the beach, like the pieces that are way to big to tumble and wire wrap. This piece does look really neat, but I need to polish it up to see what it will actually look like and if it will make a nice centerpiece in jewelry.

I do have to say that playing with the rocks was so much fun, I felt like a kid again. It makes me want to go rock hunting to find even more!

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