{"id":19,"date":"2008-12-08T01:25:25","date_gmt":"2008-12-08T06:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegemdr.userblogs.ganoksin.coms\/?p=19"},"modified":"2008-12-08T01:25:25","modified_gmt":"2008-12-08T06:25:25","slug":"bits-and-pieces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/2008\/12\/08\/bits-and-pieces\/","title":{"rendered":"Bits and pieces"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\">Having bits left over is a quite different concern for a lapidary than it is for a motor car mechanic.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">In this first case I didn&#8217;t do anything particularly clever but since I have some pictures of it I have to share. The first picture shows the checker-board cushion rectangle Amethyst that I cut to replace the original stone that had been severely busticated at one end;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.thestonedoctor.com\/orchid\/DSCN0809.JPG\" alt=\"Amethyst ring\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">And this is the square cushion I got from the remainder;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.thestonedoctor.com\/orchid\/DSCN0839.JPG\" alt=\"amethyst remainder\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">In this next case I had a couple of very bright opals that had both been chipped, the chipper\/setter\/jeweller had glued the chips back onto the stone and set them anyway. The disgusted chipper\/setter\/jeweller\/owner eventually sold them to my customer. After removing the chips with an acetone soaked swab I recut the opals into a pair of &#8216;free form&#8217; cabs that were very saleable and would readily and generously repay his investment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">I was left with a couple of conchoidal (like a piece of eggshell) opal chips that although pretty were quite small and very fragile. Useless for all practical purposes. In a fit of self amusement and loss of practical purpose I shaped a piece of lapis lazuli with a couple of recesses and then filled the backs of the opal with epoxy and fitted them into the lapis.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">My customer was thrilled when he came to recover his opals as all his doubts and fears faded as he realised that his investment was not the risk he thought it to be. Being as how he was in such a good mood I showed him what I had done with his chipped off bits. Instead of giving me his useless chips he plied me with cash until I sold him my lapis;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.thestonedoctor.com\/orchid\/DSCN0830.JPG\" alt=\"lapis-opal\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Finally I have to share this 18kt pinball machine charm with a turquoise &#8216;pinball&#8217;. I cut and inlaid a new top to replace a yuck, piece plastic that had been glued across the top and had long since been abraded to opaque.  Nothing clever from me but how often does one get a high score doing repairs;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.thestonedoctor.com\/orchid\/DSCN0846.JPG\" alt=\"pinball\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Tony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having bits left over is a quite different concern for a lapidary than it is for a motor car mechanic. In this first case I didn&#8217;t do anything particularly clever but since I have some pictures of it I have to share. The first picture shows the checker-board cushion rectangle Amethyst that I cut to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/thegemdr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}