Carol Carter-Wientjes Posted December 30, 2007 Report Share Posted December 30, 2007 2 more stone carvings, both are about 25-30mm long. The chert carving is on the left and it's a gorgeous deep purple. Very nice to work with and I thought it was a common opal until I learned that it's actually chert (flint), a material more commonly used in flintknapping to make arrowheads. This purple type was mined this summer in Wyoming in the Big Horn Mtns. Burns green obsidian is on the right inlaid with a white topaz. I got this obsidian from a rockhound's shop while in Roseburg Oregon this fall and it's really hard to find stuff so I was thrilled to get a couple of nice chunks to play with. Obsidian is a natural glass so is also pretty easy to work with too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Barnhill Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 Very nice. What tools do you use to work the stone. I thought obsidian was hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol Carter-Wientjes Posted December 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 Hi Don, I used diamond plated burs to shape with and diamond pastes loaded onto wooden wheels/points to sand them smooth. Obsidian is a natural glass so it's about 5.5 on the Mohs hardness scale. Diamond has a hardness of 10, so cuts into the softer obsidian easily. Compared to something dense & hard like jasper, the obsidian carves like butter! LOL I did a little more detailed explanation with a carnelian carving if you wanna check that out too. It's under the New Work section and was submitted earlier this morning. Do you carve stone materials too? Thanks & Happy New Year, Carol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carvinmom Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 2 more stone carvings, both are about 25-30mm long. The chert carving is on the left and it's a gorgeous deep purple. Very nice to work with and I thought it was a common opal until I learned that it's actually chert (flint), a material more commonly used in flintknapping to make arrowheads. This purple type was mined this summer in Wyoming in the Big Horn Mtns. Burns green obsidian is on the right inlaid with a white topaz. I got this obsidian from a rockhound's shop while in Roseburg Oregon this fall and it's really hard to find stuff so I was thrilled to get a couple of nice chunks to play with. Obsidian is a natural glass so is also pretty easy to work with too. Hi, just came across your obsidian carving and thought id try some black obsidian i have. Im a new member but sure see theres lots of info on this group. I am going to try the diamond burrs to shape the obsidian with a foredom hand tool i have. I was wandering how you shaped your piece and what you ended up doing, like polishing and sanding.. thanks for showing your beautiful piece of art . Im a woodcarver but am trying some soapstone and other rocks but am new to the gemstone carving. Hope i did this right its my first post... thank you, carvinmom in montana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janel Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Hello Carvinmom, Thank you for posting, and ... Welcome to The Carving Path! Janel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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