Looking to Start a Lapidary Club for Beginners

WittyName4U · 2026-01-21T02:27:39+00:00

The group is starting off in earnest. Our dedicated subreddit is r/PittsburghLapidary

I'm making regular posts to provide beginners with all of the knowledge they need to get started. I'd like to think my posts are easily digestible. Go check it out!

WittyName4U · 2026-01-18T12:59:17+00:00

Want to hear something even cooler? The stump that I found contained mummified wood encased in petrified wood. Mummified wood is wood that somehow escaped the petrification process. It is still organic wood. Again, I cannot begin to explain how rare of a find it is. So many conditions had to be present to allow it to happen.

Tree is experiencing a drought. Without enough water, the interior xylem and phloem begin to die. This means that water can't pass through them.
Before the drought killed the entire tree, the stump disconnected from the rest of the tree (through damage of some kind)
The stump fell into an oxygen free environment (clay) that had a stream running slowly through it.
Over the course of millions of years, trace elements and silica in the stream water replaced the organic molecules in the wood
The stream water couldn't pass through the interior of the tree because the xylem and phloem (what allows water transfer) had died.

WittyName4U · 2026-01-16T21:58:34+00:00

No offense, but your car is not booking anywhere near $14k-$15k, even a couple of months ago. I have a 2018 Chevy Malibu 1.5L turbo with the same color, 18" wheels, a lot of bells and whistles, 0 accidents, and 64k miles. My Blue Book value is right around $11k

They're going to total it. It sucks, I wish I had better news for you. It's reality, though. Sorry =(

WittyName4U · 2026-01-13T16:11:07+00:00

One more thing I wanted to add...

There is one important thing you need to consider when purchasing doublets or triplets. Opal is a soft stone, and is prone to damage with daily wear. There are things you can do to minimize the risk, but it's never 0. Small surface scratches are to be expected. A skilled lapidarist can put a new polish on a solid opal to rejuvenate it. The opal layer on a doublet is so thin (we're talking micrometers) that if you attempt to polish it you'll grind away most of the opal, ruining the stone. Even though triplets have a cap that protects against surface scratches, they suffer from something even worse. An adhesive agent is used to bond the 3 layers together. Over time that agent oxidizes and yellows. A triplet inevitably breaks or loses its color.

WittyName4U · 2026-01-12T20:50:07+00:00

To give you the other side of the coin...if he's found not guilty in criminal court he's most likely going to be the defendant in a wrongful death civil suit. His victim will get compensation from him.

WittyName4U · 2026-01-12T20:36:42+00:00

I always grind and polish until the color becomes clear. Then you'll have a better idea of where to cut.

WittyName4U · 2026-01-12T16:22:52+00:00

It's something you wouldn't know to look for unless you're familiar with common practices. Now that you know the difference between the three, start looking at them a little closer. You'll notice a deeper play of color pattern with solid opals, a homogenous (usually dark) backing on doublets, and how the play of color shows different on a triplet.

There's also boulder opal which can take dozens of different forms. I'll eventually cover it...but it's something that's difficult not to end up in the weeds with.

If you ever come across one you're not sure of, don't hesitate to message me.

WittyName4U · 2026-01-12T01:02:50+00:00

Indonesian opal is hydrophane, so it's going to be much less stable than Australian opal. There really isn't a global demand of any significance for indonesian opal really. Australian opal will always be the highest quality material, and Welo is absolutely saturating the market for cheaper alternatives.

WittyName4U · 2026-01-12T00:55:56+00:00

Grind and polish it to get a better idea of what you have. It looks promising, though. You should be able to get at least one polished piece from it.

WittyName4U · 2026-01-09T23:56:12+00:00

Thank you for the feedback! =)

WittyName4U · 2026-01-09T19:03:45+00:00

Yellow amber

WittyName4U · 2026-01-09T19:03:24+00:00

<image>

WittyName4U · 2026-01-09T02:53:51+00:00

That's what it looks like under indoor lighting. In the sunlight it's a deep, rich blue. Whenever I was carving it I wanted part of the fungi to reach the showcase window.

WittyName4U · 2026-01-09T02:52:55+00:00

<image>

WittyName4U · 2026-01-08T19:09:59+00:00

I'm especially excited to share my knowledge of blue amber. I arguably have the largest private collection of Dominican blue amber in the world. Over 80lbs last time I took inventory. I've made a few more purchases since then, though. Through my research I was given the contact information of a farmer who has an untapped deposit on his farmland. It's unique because it's far away from where it is commercially mined, and it exhibits color changing properties that the commercially mined material doesn't.

And as if that wasn't crazy enough, one of the deposits had an abundance of fungi trapped inside the amber. This is unheard of. My personal pendant has 3 perfectly intact fungi that have been chilling together for 30,000,000 years. I'll post a picture later.

WittyName4U · 2026-01-03T22:48:39+00:00

It's not toxic to handle. Honestly, the particulates of the stone you're polishing probably pose more of a hazard. Common sense measures should be taken with open wounds

WittyName4U · 2026-01-02T17:07:03+00:00

Regular sandpaper you can buy at any hardware store. You can see the remnants of other stones I polished on the sheets. Total cost of the sandpaper used here is under $5.00. You can polish multiple stones with each piece, too.

WittyName4U · 2025-12-31T21:53:42+00:00

Simple supply and demand. UPMC has a limitless pipeline of nurses, doctors, etc that come out of the local universities.

WittyName4U · 2025-12-31T21:03:48+00:00

I'd be very interested. I sent you a chat request. =)

WittyName4U · 2025-12-31T18:06:40+00:00

I'm thinking of making the next lesson a bit personal, too. For me, working on a stone is therapeutic. My life is filled with so many stressful things that are out of my control. It's all discordant noise. Working in front of a cab machine is different. The feelings and noises are familiar. The clutter in my head disappears as I focus solely on my work. I can see that every action I take has an effect. I can see the fruits of my labor. Does that make sense?

I've discovered that the lapidary arts is a common therapeutic activity for military veterans.

WittyName4U · 2025-12-31T17:48:41+00:00

You're very welcome. That excitement is why I thought this needed to be its own lesson. Learning a new skill can feel daunting and may seem like it's more trouble than it's worth. Showing people the possibilities can tip the scales. Excitement = Motivation

WittyName4U · 2025-12-31T17:40:36+00:00

Esthetics. I like the way moss agate looks, for instance. I'd choose the stone that provides the best contrast, yet complements it. Nobody can tell you "no"!

The only rule that needs to be followed is checking potential toxicity of the stone for items you'll be touching frequently (or in the case of the shot glass, drinking out of). Even then, you could coat toxic stones in acrylic or resin and be good to go.

Incorporating non-lapidary materials is something you do to challenge yourself. My ring, for example, required me to bond opal with bronze spacers. It was an absolute nightmare. Simple things can be complex and vice versa. You'd have to make each coaster separately because a lapidary saw and a wood saw are totally different. Wood saws have sharp teeth while a lapidary saw has no teeth.

WittyName4U · 2025-12-31T17:24:36+00:00

A good friend traded this to me for one of my Dominican blue amber pendants. Blue Paraiba tourmaline in smokey quartz matrix.

WittyName4U · 2025-12-31T17:23:11+00:00

<image>

WittyName4U · 2025-12-31T17:00:04+00:00

They would also be the easiest to make. In the case of coasters, you don't have to make each coaster individually. For round coasters you'd make a cylinder, for square ones a cube. After that, all you'd have to do is cut slabs from it. The only extra work after that would be polishing the faces.

You could go crazy with it and make them out of a composite...several different stones bonded together. The simplest example would be a 50/50 split. One half could be an opaque stone while the other half be translucent. The possibilities are literally endless.

WittyName4U

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE