Saturday 22 February 2014

Journey in a Rock Tumbler

Orlando's deep passion for rocks and minerals continues. The greatest thing he could possibly think of was to own his own rock tumbler. His wishes came true at Christmas, when his Nan and Pop gifted him a Rotational Rock Tumbler.

With great excitement, he sorted through his rock collection. Selected the ones he thought would benefit from some polishing.
The first 'round' was a coarse grinding powder for a week. This resulted in some edges rounded but we thought they needed more, so we did a second week with the coarse grind powder.
Then a week of medium grind, followed by a week of fine grind. Each time we could see the rocks getting smoother and showing more of their colours.
We all loved sorting though them after each round, looking at how the process was changing them. We each had a few favourites that we would spot each time the rocks were rinsed.
Once the rocks had finished their grinding, it was time to give them a week in a polishing powder.
It was with great anticipation that we rinsed the rocks for the last time, seeing what the 5 weeks of tumbling had created...

We were busy creating before the rocks were even dry! Orlando selected one to create a pendant. We have many ideas for the rest! The possibilities are endless!

2 comments:

  1. What a great journey! What a marvellous gift and a marvellous use of a gift!

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  2. As Ian just commented, also a marvellous project of waiting and patience for a result

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