Diamond saw light-show.

Most of us rely on a diamond saw to prepare the stone for the sphere machine. Recently I was cutting a block of superb banded, clear and white, massive quartz to size. With the illumination off I could see a band of light shining through the flat, partly clear surface of the block. it appears as though light, and not sparks, is the cause. It is not unheard of that quartz under pressure can produce light so I think this might actually be the impact of the diamond particles in the blade being pressed against the rock. In fact the area where there would be most pressure, that is in the direction of cutting, would be where the pressure is greatest and the light most intense and not at a tangent. That is the case.

The imported image has been seriously changed by the blog software towards blue. It was originally pale yellow. 

Sphere Craft

If it is worth doing at all, do it properly!

Cutting spheres for their beauty and supposed power has been with human-kind since prehistory.  The association with the shape of heavenly bodies predated, by many centuries, the awareness that our earth is also a sphere.  Spheres have been attributed with mystical powers that some folks swear by, for the rest of us, they are simply an attractive solid form with many association in the physical world, but there is no denying that handling a heavy, highly polished orb of stone is a pleasurable experience.  And if it is warm as well it borders on the sensual.  A beautiful orb appears in many representations of authority, especially ones made of clear crystalline material, such as in scepters and crowns.  Converting a rough and often unattractive block of country rock to a beautiful, gleaming object affects us all, and for some, becomes a driving force where no rock, attractive or not, is safe!  One need only browse the Internet to realize that those of us who find spheres desirable items of value are members of a sizable family.  There are dozens of web-sites managed by vendors from all over the world, listing spheres, equipment and rough rock for sale.

In the near future a book will be available that describes, in detail,  the making of polished stone spheres.

This blog will provide a contact point for lapidarists to exchange ideas and post questions on the subject of reducing rough stone to the finished polish object.