after a little bit a family emergency, all is settling down. Debbie is sitting Shiva until Monday evening. I actually found a place (mortuary) in this Baptist belt where I could get a Shiva candle for her. Of course, they did not know what Shiva was, they just called it a “Jewish” candle. I was referred to this particular mortuary by the Beth Israel congregation in Greenville. It worked out wonderfully as I had the candle here for Deb when she and family returned from New Jersey. I would have like very much to attend Pop’s funeral, but Tyler and Cain could not afford to miss any more school.
But the best news was that I was free to engage in cutting some stones Monday when WESCAGEM has its weekly workshop. Then I looked at one of the cabs that I made then, and decided to try something different in the form of a wrap to hold the stone as a focal piece in a pendant. I took a slice of copper (1/4 by 6 inches) and wrapped it around the stone, formed the bail top; then removed the stone and soldered the bail together; slid the stone back in and used my bent flat tip screwdriver (prong pusher) to start bending the copper over the top and bottom of the cab. Finished the folding with a small hammer on my anvil. The pictures show tool marks, however, I removed them with emery and rough to polish.
It is a ball to try something for the first time. Now to improve, and keep improving.
The Emerald Isle
Having two minerals with extremely different hardnesses made the cutting a bit of a challenge. I’m really happy that the calcite portion didn’t break when I was hammering on the copper.
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