Rockwerks Lapidary Forum

Salutations all,
My name is Delia and I live in the Florida panhandle. Pensacola to be exact, which makes me neighbors with some of the Alabama rockhounds on here as well.

I have been making unique wire wrapped jewlery since 1991. It has been my passion - second only to my two beautiful children. I often joke that making jewelry is my sickness and my therapy all rolled into one - which isn't really a joke to be honest. I don't wear much jewelry but I just can't seem to stop making it. That's where the sickness comes in. But I get something out of making it that I can't quite describe. Some people have gardens, some people meditate, some go on retreats - I make jewelry and hope to join the ranks of those who make their own cabochons soon.

I am looking to buy some lapidary equipment to get me started - a little tax time treat for me and my other half. Problem is, even with it being tax time I still have to do this on a budget. I've been looking at the Inland lapiday workshop set ups recently and it looks to be something I might be able to afford. I question whether or not the affordable (for me) Inland workshop set up translates to cheap and impractical, or if it will work well enough for me to produce some quality cabs (with practice, of course). Does anyone have experience with the Inland lapidary equipment and if so, could you offer some feedback on it for me? Will it work for harder materials okay? Can anyone offer feedback on the quality of the equipment? Is there much difference in the 6" set up and the 8" set up in practical use? Any feedback would be much appreciated.

If you would like to see some of my jewelry you can visit my website: www.DeliaStone.com for a look. I also offer wire wrap tutorials available by instant download on my site if anyone is interested. I'm working on several more tutorials that I hope to have out this year. It takes me a while to produce a tutorial given that I work 12 hour shifts and have to balance work time with family time ... and do my jewlery in what time I can shave out of that.

Anyway, I am glad to have found the board and hope to glean some practical information to help me in the learning process from my participation here. I hope that I do not become too much of a pest with the ba-zillion questions I will no doubt be throwing at the group over time.

Rock on! :::giggles:::
Delia

I have only been here a few days but I will say hello,,, and nice work.
I should download you lessons, I could always make ear rings and pendants from all of the broken stones I generate trying to make rings.

Hi Paul,
thanks for the response. I saw the rings that you made earlier and I was in awe. I'd love to learn to do that one day ... probably a bit far off for me at the moment, but with a little time perhaps I'll be up to the challenge. I especially liked the ring with the opal cab on top. Just beautiful! Maybe one day you'll make some tutorials that I can buy from you?

Delia
Unique jewelry and tutorials
www.DeliaStone.com

nice work when you learn to do youre own cabs youre going to have some crazy awesome stuff. welcome and thanks for sharing you wonderfull work.

Nice work Delia,
Hope to have you making Cabs soon. You are talented in the Jewelry end. I have yet to try wire wrapping very seriously, but love the look of wired stones. If you have any tips on wrapping, feel free to post them if you want. Feel free to post your website on the forum to, we have a section for that, it will give you a bit more Google exposure,
Good to meet you and welcome aboard, make yourself at home.
Dan

Welcome Delia,

I am down towards the bottom in Naples FL. I am starting out with a lortone set up for 6" I also got a couple of lortone arbors. They were all good deals I found on Ebay even the motors. Watch and wait if you have to. There are some nice machines that come up in great new like condition. Inland, Star, Genie, you name it. You will get the hang of making cabs pretty quick.

greaser wrote:nice work when you learn to do youre own cabs youre going to have some crazy awesome stuff. welcome and thanks for sharing you wonderfull work.

Thanks Greaser
That is what I am looking foward to the most. I can't wait to wrap my first cab. I will probably have to keep the first piece myself just as a mile marker of my progress. I hope it's better than my first wire wrapped piece ... which was, well, pathetic. This knowledge is encouraging though. To know how far I have come in the craft of wire wrap leaves me hope that one day I'll be a skilled lapidarist too. Is lapidarist a word? I dunno... just made it up.

Delia
www.DeliaStone.com

Rockwerks wrote:Nice work Delia,
Hope to have you making Cabs soon. You are talented in the Jewelry end. I have yet to try wire wrapping very seriously, but love the look of wired stones. If you have any tips on wrapping, feel free to post them if you want. Feel free to post your website on the forum to, we have a section for that, it will give you a bit more Google exposure,
Good to meet you and welcome aboard, make yourself at home.
Dan

Thanks Dan
I appreciate the warm welcome from everyone. I'm looking foward to having a group of talented lapidarist (theres that word? again) to call upon for advice as I begin the learning process. I was very glad to find this forum! I will post my website soon. I'm going to set to work on getting some basic free tutorials, as well as some more advanced tutorials for a fee later this year. I'll be sure to share the free ones with everyone here on the list when they're ready.

Have a great day!
Delia
www.DeliaStone.com

Blarney Stone wrote:Welcome Delia,

There are some nice machines that come up in great new like condition. Inland, Star, Genie, you name it. You will get the hang of making cabs pretty quick.

Thanks Blarney
I'm just dying to get started. I hope that I take to the lapidary craft well. I am a little intimidated by it, but that never stopped me before ... so I see no reason to let it stop me this time.
I appreciate you, and everyone here who has responded, for the warm welcome.

All the best,
Delia
www.DeliaStone.com

Welcome! Yes, there is just nothing better than taking cabs that you have made yourself and creating a piece of jewelry featuring that very stone. It takes your jewelry to a whole new level when you can say that everything was handcrafted by yours truly.

Hi Delia!
I see you are considering buying equipment by Inland. I know several people who have had bad experiences with Inland. I'd suggest you avoid it.
I'd recommend buying an arbor such as the Lortone (if you find a Covington-BUY IT!) and fitting it with a couple of diamond wheels (80g and 220g) and an expando drum. You can use sanding belts with grits from 100g to 1200g on the drum. I've been using this setup for about 3 years now and I love it.
I like the 8'' wheels because you can work larger pieces with it. The 6'' wheels are more economical 'specially if you're gonna do mostly small cabs. You can also do smaller inside curves with a 6'' wheel.
If you can afford it or find a good deal go for the Genie by Diamond Pacific. The wheels are too close together to do big pieces on but just fine for most jewelry size cabs.