Everyone who reads this blog or who has read The Gemstone Chronicles knows that I, like the character of Beebop from the books, love to hunt gemstones. Rubies and diamonds and sapphires, oh my! I try to go about once per month and see what I can find. A few weeks ago, I went and had a great day finding rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and a great piece of clear quartz. I went with my brother John, and we made a significant dent in the dirt pile! Here is what it looked like when we arrived.
The Dirt Piles:
And this is what it looked like when we left. Like I said, a significant dent. Look at the sign in the background. Gives a great idea of how much dirt we moved!
The rubies:
But, I don’t want to talk about the dirt pile or what we found overall. What I wanted to show you today is what I did with some of the stones I found. Below are a couple of pictures of ruby rough that I sent to my gem cutting friend (whom John and I refer to as “He Who Cuts Stones”).
This is the small piece of ruby rough that I sent. I didn’t weigh it before I sent it for cutting, but He Who Cuts Stones made a nice little faceted ruby (picture later).
This is the second piece I sent for faceting evaluation. I didn’t think it would yield anything that was gem quality, and, sadly, I was right. Despite that, I think it might make a great cabochon, though!
As promised above, here is the picture of the faceted stone made from the small ruby rough. I think it is a beautiful little ruby!
Note that the description in the picture says this is a sapphire. Rubies and sapphires are both corundum. Ruby is the red variety of corundum. Sapphires make up all the other colors. Similar to an emerald cut, the cushion but is great. It’s gorgeous ruby and, at 1.3 carats, is a very nice stone. Although it’s not as big as the Ruby from Book Four: The Ruby, it’s still beautiful!
The quartz:
I also sent an extremely clear piece of quartz I found to Gene. I asked him to cut a couple of brilliant cut pieces between one and one and a half carats, but I wasn’t sure what how they would turn out. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised! This is the piece of quartz after the pieces were cut.
I know it isn’t the best picture. The stone was about twice that large before it was cut. Because it is still a good-sized piece of quartz, I probably could get a few more cut pieces from it. What I did get, though, was beautiful!
The picture doesn’t do the stones justice, but they will make a great pair of earrings for the lovely and adorable Lana! They are round brilliant cuts and, as the picture shows, 1.25 carats each. They look like diamonds!
Results like this make gemstone hunting worthwhile for me. Of course, I want to learn how to cut facets, but that is a topic for another post.
What is your favorite hobby? What do y’all think about the stones? Leave me a comment and let me know!
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