I am hoping against hope that none of my readers ever heard about Lapidary, especially if you are from India. (I am being extremely preposterous! It is better to teach something new and unique, which, lesser number of people have heard of, than talk about stuff people already know.) If you are a Geologist or a person who takes particular interest in stones, then you might know what Lapidary is about.
Without much ado, let’s get into L for Lapidary.
Lapidary is the art of shaping stones into Cabochons or even faceting precious stones . Lapidary involves cutting, grinding and polishing stones or gems.
Cabochon Gemstones – Dome shaped at the top and flat at the bottom
If you are a fan of any kind of diamond jewellery and if you especially love diamond solitaires, you probably know that there are different kinds of diamond cuts. Each diamond cut has a different number of facets. Who makes the cuts? A Lapidarist does!
Diamond cuts and different facets
The best kind of diamond cut is the Round Cut. It is also the costliest cut too, since the shine of the diamond increases manifold, thanks to the round cut. The second best is the Radiant Cut.
***Flash back begins***
The state of North Carolina is famous for its Amethysts. During our stay in Charlotte, Mr.Bee , I and D (Mr.Bee’s friend) went mining at Emerald Hollow Mine, during a weekend. I should say, that was the most fun I ever had. What with Geology and anything related to stones,rocks or gems being my favourite. Each of us bought a bucket of dirt taken directly from the Emerald Hollow Mine. We were given tools, we sat near the sluice and had fun washing away the dirt in water to reveal beautiful gems. I found myself a number of tiny Amethysts and a 3 inch Agate. There is also an in-house Lapidarist and I got myself a silver Amethyst ring made (they shipped it to my address, after a month or so) and an Agate Cabochon. That’s when I came to know about Lapidary.
***Flash back ends***
If you ever go to Gem stone mining areas and if at all there is a Lapidarist nearby, do go and shop for your heart’s content. That is what I did at Chimney Rock, North Carolina. I got myself a beautiful blue Topaz ring. (I swear by gem stone rings. I collected quite a few of them during my USA stay. Gemstone rings are popular there, unlike in India, where we mostly run after gold and diamonds alone.
Do you love Lapidary so much? If so, why not buy a Lapidary Bowl? (In India, you can get these from Jaipur, the unofficial Lapidary capital of India!)
Rose Quartz Lapidary Fruit bowl
P.S:
- The other hobbies starting with L are Landscaping, Listening to Music and Letter Writing.
- While we were at the Emerald Hollow Mine, I could only find tiny Amethysts, but the ring I got made was from the Amethyst Mr.Bee found. The Agate Cabochan was made from the Agate I found. Yay to me, for getting two gemstones!
- Russian Lapidary is mostly about huge bowls made of rocks. Inlays done on stones also comes under lapidary. Go ahead and check it out, if you want to know more.
- Till the next post, cheerio!