Snakes and Stones

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #62



Indian Tree agate comes in a wide variety of qualities from solid to porous. This piece pictured above is on the porous side.
Some people who tumble rocks are OCD about producing perfectly rounded and smooth specimens...they would have to tumble this piece down to the size of a jellybean.

Ball python in early shed for photo.

[Ascended]

Your thread is massive. I have tried to read it all but may have missed something.
Have you ever tried to tumble fluorite or calcite.
I found them too delicate to get a good polish. They tended to keep cracking even by lowering the grit size.
Any advice?

[Lord Sorril]

Your thread is massive. I have tried to read it all but may have missed something.
Have you ever tried to tumble fluorite or calcite.
I found them too delicate to get a good polish. They tended to keep cracking even by lowering the grit size.
Any advice?

Thanks, this thread just got started.

I have tumbled fluorite, but, not calcite yet. Photo #6 is actually Mexican Fluorite in Quartz matrix--difficult to tumble due to the varying hardness (Mohs 4 Fluorite, Mohs 7 Quartz). All steps post shaping were done in my Vibratory tumbler (UV-18), vibe tumblers are relatively gentle on the stones.

I have larger pieces of Chinese fluorite, but, they have quartz banding in them. I don't trust that they would tumble well. I did borrow a friends $6000 diamond wheel cabbing machine to shape a few of them (shown below). Don't think I will ever convince my gf to let me get one of those machines...unless I win the lottery...even then, maybe not....

[Daniel_Effler]

If I have ever seen a Chinese dragon egg that would be one. Beautiful.


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[Lord Sorril]

Photo #63



I always thought it was misleading when people show only show their best specimens.
Some rocks are not destined for 'perfect' tumbles.
I endeavor to photograph all my efforts, good, bad, and ugly.

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #64



I know I've had 'possible Het' Albino genes kicking around in the background of my population.
This was a pleasant surprise as I can finally pin the title of 100% Het on one pair.

Green/Yellow stones are Nephrite/Jade
Blue stones are Sodalite
Orangey stones are Tiger Jasper

[richardhind1972]

Very nice indeed, the stones complement the albino python

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[Bogertophis]

Photo #63



I always thought it was misleading when people show only show their best specimens.
Some rocks are not destined for 'perfect' tumbles.
I endeavor to photograph all my efforts, good, bad, and ugly.

Not "perfect tumbles" but quite far from being ugly, IMO. I'd call them interesting with lots of personality.

And #64 is a delightful "color-salad" of stones & snake.

[Ascended]

Photo #64



I know I've had 'possible Het' Albino genes kicking around in the background of my population.
This was a pleasant surprise as I can finally pin the title of 100% Het on one pair.

Green/Yellow stones are Nephrite/Jade
Blue stones are Sodalite
Orangey stones are Tiger Jasper

Awesome picture, keep them coming.

what snake is Photo #63 nice contrast

[Lord Sorril]

Very nice indeed, the stones complement the albino python

Thank you Rich!

Not "perfect tumbles" but quite far from being ugly, IMO. I'd call them interesting with lots of personality.
And #64 is a delightful "color-salad" of stones & snake.

Yes, I wouldn't call these ugly. I do have some stones I do consider 'ugly' and they do kill a few of my photos (Like #111).
'Color-salad' I do like that term...I'm going to steal it in the future! Thanks!

Awesome picture, keep them coming.
what snake is Photo #63 nice contrast

Thanks, #63 is a Fire/100% Het Clown.
I'm not dedicated to Clown based morph projects, but, I like to keep the genes present because they will lighten colors and create interesting patterns.