Carving Bloodstone

[fenryr]

Has anyone here attempted to do an italigo (sp?) carving on any stones such as bloodstone. Curious as to how hard or easy the process may be on a piece say 11mmx13mm.

A jeweler may be my only recourse.......Ferrous? Any ideas?

Thanks
Steve

 

[Ferrous Wheel]

Wow, that's a new one. On many stones today, a sandblast or other such abrasive process is used, along with a template that resists the blast and has spaces of exposed stone to get blasted.

Some places laser-cut stones, or laser engrave.

Hope this helps, sorry no better info from me.

Keith

 

[fenryr]

Thanks Keith,

Guess that leaves out using the old Dremel, eh?

See if I can't find a jeweler that will take on such a request.....wonder how much this will end up being?

Steve

 

[Ferrous Wheel]

You might use a deamel, but you need to know where the stone hardness falls on Moh's hardness scale. If it is up there (like 7-9, Quartz-garnet-diamond hardness), then I don't think any metal bits will work on it. Dremel does make diamond tipped graver tips...

I would be worried about skittering across the stone and ruining it with a dremel, because the dremel in its rotation has a variance up to 1mm of where the pooint will be. USE Caution!

Keith

 

[ddean]

dremal with diamond tip will woirk fine

for more info on carving stone

search on the web for:
lapidary carving

www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=lapidary+carving
should give you plenty to browse.

 

[fenryr]

Yeh, that was kind of a stupid thought wasn't it. Getting the right size & shape bloodstone isn't a problem....it's finding someone who is talented enough to cut an initial or carving into it. Keith, I haven't looked into it but make I'll look and see how the ancient's did it especially on ring seals etc.

Thanks ddean, didn't know the right terminology to use.....lapidecotmy? lapiscopic whatever that word was....thanks

Steve

 

[Kismet]

http://www.epiloglaser.com/stone_engraving.htm high tech


Then: Under "etching" might be a way to experiment without damage to the stone.

http://www.jaski.nl/teksten/jaski.aaa.technieken.html

And, of course, the ever-popular "Dead Pet Etch"
http://www.artisticetching.com/petmemorials.htm

 

[Yvsa]

I'll be back a little later to talk about this but I'm having trouble with my ISP and trying to get it fixed.:grumpy:

 

[Yvsa]

Bloodstone is something I'm familiar with because it is the old time March Birthstone and my birthday is the 1st of March. The gals didn't like it cause it warn't purty 'nuff. And so the Aquamarine became the birthstone for March. Some places still lists both stones but not many. I have a bloodstone Birthstone Ring.
It is in the agate family and so is very hard but as has been mentioned can be worked with diamonds and a Dremel.

But you're not going to be able to polish it unless you go with a diamond polishing compound and hard polishing pads in the Dremel. Yep, it exists. I don't know how costly it is but we used it in some of the machine shops I have worked in over the years to polish carbide dies and the like.
If you want something fancy it's best to get someone accustomed to working with hard stone. The lapidariests and such are generally only going to be able to make cabachons and such. Carving an initial would be beyond most of their abilities.

 

[fenryr]

Thanks everyone for the inputs....I think this my be beyond my operational limits so I'll try to defer to an expert.....if there's one around here?

Yvsa.....I'm March as well and you're right, women like the aquamarine much better than the bloodstone. Couldn't really see myself prancing around wearing an aquarmine ring......well maybe if it was a formal occasion and I had the right shoes Just kidding.....Seen some older bloodstones with images carved in them but they were from the 1880-1910's.....seems like the old things are generally better than the new ones

Enough rambling on this thread....thanks again...

Steve