Grandpas Way #38: forging ring to fit heptagon aquamarine

Описание: In this video I make a ring for the heptagon aquamarine gem.



The harder the mineral is, the more they can handle the pressures the minerals will undergo as it is cut and polished. Most minerals, if it has cracks or fractures, will become problematic in the polishing phase. After years of polishing gemstones with cracks, the cracks have broken my will to polish them. Its frustrating to spend a weekend polishing a gem, with a crack, everything went well and then on Sunday evening the crack drinks the polish or the crack spreads through the stone/gem. Even clean gems without fractures/cracks will reveal their weakness, should they exist, in the polishing phase-its just less likely.
The goal of faceting for me is the best optics. I was okay appreciating cracks in the gems for many years, but not anymore. I have been able to see beauty of the fractures, but indeed no more. My quest is for the brightest best reflected, internally reflected, “best bling”--i.e. Best optics–gem. We do to gems what beauty in nature is unable to do for itself.

Moreover, my goal is the brightest gem when flush set in jewelry. Lately I have been experimenting with the length of the main facet on the crown. I have been making it longer so it sticks out above the bezel when we get there thus letting the light in. I heard a faceter recently, past the days of faceting, argue for the ideal, a gemstone that from any angle looks bright and is not windowed. That is my ideal now and when set in jewelry. And on this channel both are done.

Or, is this channel about gems and jewelry at all? Certainly it is, but what about the music? I arrived at publishing gem videos for the purpose of having content that would promote my music. I see this more as a music channel a musicians channel a music video channel.

Thank you for listening to the music. Thank you for buying my music. If you go the bandcamp.com and search “jungle survival camp” you can listen more of my music.

Welcome to "Grandpa's Way"! For over 20 years, my grandpa – a true master who started as a diesel mechanic and evolved into an incredible copper artist in Apache Junction, Mesa, and Scottsdale, Arizona – has been my mentor. Now, I'm sharing his invaluable lessons with you as I forge unique jewelry from flat sheet metal of sterling silver and copper right here in the workshop. From crafting custom tools to transforming raw materials (such as gemstones I polish and facet on the Raytech and Ultratech) into wearable art, every short video captures a vital 4-second to 3-minute snapshot of the steps in the process.

Though most of my rough gemstone minerals are sourced through the Tucson, Arizona Gem Show (and other gem shows), when permissions are granted, I hunt for Arizona, California, and Rio Grande Rift minerals from Leadville, Colorado, all the way down to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
At the heart of this channel is my original music, a passion for over 20 years. I craft every beat on my MPC Key 61, often weaving in guitar melodies, and recording vocals with my reliable MXL 440 microphone. Explore genres from EDM Hip-Hop to Indie Rock and Dubstep.


Your support fuels the magic! Please listen to my music, like my videos, and subscribe to the channel. Thank you for being part of this journey!
Find my music on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5TbWT...
Listen to My Music on Bandcamp: https://junglesurvivalcamp.bandcamp.com/

Here is a link to an album: https://junglesurvivalcamp.bandcamp.c...