What is a Lapidary

What is a lapidary

 I am a lapidary which means I hand cut my own gemstones.  Having enjoyed cutting gemstones for many years, I have crystal and cabochons to sell.  Also rough stone - which is the rocks before they are cut into cabochons. do you know any  friends whom are jewelry designers or jewelry store owner?  I work with rock lovers al over the world. 

definition  Lapidary

 

Here is a Unakite boulder in the quarry where I have collected some rough in NY state.  The travel mug in this pic is about 10" tall to show perspective. The boulders are over 3 feet tall.  The blue rocks on the left side are mostly calcite.
 

 7 Steps to make a cabochon

1. select a rock
2. cut a slab form the rock
3. decide  the shape of the cabochon & draw it
4. trim the slice around the lines
5.  dop the trimmed piece
6. start cutting the cab
7. polish the cab

Michigan Kona dolomite slab.  This is a piece of the selected rock cut into a slice.  This is a slab or a slice from the rock.(step 2)   Imagine the rock as a home made loaf of bread cut into slices.  They can be cut whatever thickness I desire.

Black Lives Matter

Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY.   FB page  Free the People ROC

 

Join me:stand up, listen to others, be kind and to support our sisters and brothers.  

#bekind #blacklivesmatter  

#stopasianhate #standup

#listen

Being involved is more that attending a march, make phone calls, VOTE, talk about these rights we have,  help friends VOTE! 

Cabochon (step 7)

On the right, a piece of the Unakite I collected as a finished cabochon.  I went through all 7 steps  to create this cabochon..

My cabochons are free form which meas they are not round, or oval like most of the ones I see for sale.  This makes them unique and OOAK.
OOAK means One of a Kind. Cabochons are also called cabs.

What to do with all these cot gemstones? I sell them to other jewelry designers & collectors.  My focus is on my gemstones and showcasing the beauty in them with my wire designs. 

  Buy Local from the Artist

My shop:  Panda Wear Website
Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Instagram: Instagram

For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community.  

 

Almost April as a Women Business Owner

For all the new readers & followers of this blog,  I am an avid gardener and lapidary.  Most of my inspiration comes from nature as can be seen in my work.  Whether it is the arch of a branch, the stem of a bush or the pattern of moss.  As a lapidary, when I am cutting a stone my design became the feature I find in the natural stone.  Moss on a Lava rock in my backyard garden.  


Expanding the gemstone/rock side of my business.  I sell rocks! Do you know a jewelry designer or small local Jewelry store?  Being a lapidary, I custom cut my own stones into one of a kind cabochons. Retail & wholesale options for you to buy the gems.  Please feel free to contact me if you have a friend with a shop who uses one of a kind gemstones.

Today March 31 is National Equal Pay Day.  
We had a local rally scheduled to bring more visibility to the fact that Minorities & Women are drastically paid less than men.

learn more here:  Pay Equality Coalition
  
Another way to support women is the ERA now ratified by the 38th state.  I a a proud bard member of Rochester NOW 
NOW Rocheter NY




What does it mean to be a Lapidary?  Definition: The art of cutting, polishing & engraving precious stones.  

To the left is a slice of the Unakite I found as a rough rock in St. Lawrence county NY.  It has been sliced into this slab of rough gemstone.  Below is the finished polished cabochon showing the beauty in this stone.  
details of the process here:  
Lapidary process




As a small business owner I know how difficult it is at this time in NY state and around the US.  As a women owner business it is more difficult to generate the income necessary to keep the business going.  We are counting on the local community to remember to support all local business.  For every $100 you spend at a local business $68 stay in the community.  We are in this together.

I will end with a quote from my favorite president, Barak Obama. 

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek".   


Buy Local  from the maker

My shops:  Panda Wear Website
                   Cabochons and Beads

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest 
Instagram: Instagram
Habitat:  My Page Women Build

Happy growing and enjoy your week.  

Vacation days

Often I am asked where do your designs come from? What inspire you?   Here is a peak at some of my inspiration last month.



 Long weekend, vacation days, time off, relax & rejuvenate.  Everyone has a name for it and we all need to realize the value of this.
We spent the day hiking and communing with nature. Here are pics from the wonderful day off.  Was there a better way to spend this day? He & I truly enjoyed the long weekend spent together -  hiking and enjoying nature.

The tranquil foam on the pool of water (above) made me want to be able to touch it.   

One of the walls (right) in the Grand Canyon of the East.  Beautiful layers in this rock showing the age of the wall, the mineral inside all made possible by the water moving thru this area. Being a lapidary, this is a treasure to see. 


This last photo (below) is my favorite part of the hike, after we crossed the bridge.  All you could hear was nature- zero people, cars, technology. 


Where?  Letchworth State Park on the 4th of July weekend.

 My shops:  Panda Wear Website
                   Cabochons and Beads

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest 
Instagram: Instagram


Enjoy the moment, like we did.  Take a walk down the road, go for a short drive, spend time outdoors and enjoy how you feel when you are there.  

Summer, Are you enjoying the party?

August is here and it is hard to believe summer is half over.  Time really seems to have zinged by this year. I am enjoying the season and making the most of it.  We are finishing redoing the brick paver walkway by the pond in the backyard.  The vegetable garden is happy and still producing tomatoes.  Cucumbers are there so salads are frequent with my meals. 

 I have decided to join one of the local farmer's markets for the rest of the summer.  I will be at the Genesee Valley Regional Market in Henrietta.  The hours and address are here:  http://bit.ly/1gP5b2S


One of the recent harvests with carrot man. Below pic shows the full harvest with snow peas, kale, cucumbers, beans and tomatoes. 

My shops:  Panda Wear Website
                   Cabochons and Supplies

 
Facebook:  PW Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest 


Enjoy the rest of this beautiful season.  

Guess What....garden bounty?

My new shopping cart is working well for the website.  Very happy to have new traffic and from so many different places.  Visitors from over 25 countries and the majority from about 10 different countries. Surprised to see visitors from so many countries. 

and drum roll please......

The long wait is over.  My Vegetable garden has produced the first ripe tomatoes.  I harvested them this morning. these are the first two cherry tomatoes form the 2015 garden.  Behind them are kale and leaf lettuce, all going into a great salad for dinner tonight.    Prior years tomatoes were ripe by about the 10th or 12th of July.

This second pic shows the greens better.  I enjoy gardening.  Wish my father and his Mom were here to show them what I have in my yard.  Many thanks to both of them;  my love of tools and growing things is due to they love and teaching me when I was younger.

This is Genny From Charlotte, a stunning Sterling silver pendant. I collected the beach glass myself in Charlotte on Lake Ontario. To see this & many more of my creations, website link is below.

Have a happy summer day.

My shops:  Panda Wear Website
                   Cabochons and Supplies

 
Facebook:  PW Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest

Etsy, Why Handmade Left

My originally idea was  to blog about all the changes on Etsy over the past three years and the  impact to those sellers I have met.  I decided the post would be extremely long and might not be red through by most visitors. The topic will be broken up into several posts over the next few months.

They redefined handmade or change the legal definition of a word to suit themselves.   I believe they wanted to make more money so they decide to change their site TOU(Terms of Use) to reflect the new influx of sellers with commercial items that drop ship form foreign countries.



https://www.etsy.com/help/article/483
quote from Etsy's blog "HANDMADE items are designed and created by the shops that sell them. Because transparency matters on Etsy, we ask sellers to list shop members and share information about manufacturers involved in creating their items."


 I certainly can not speak for all of the sellers on Etsy.  I can speak for myself and the friends I have made there.  Yes I still know a handful of handmade shops on Etsy. Most I know have left the sinking ship.



As I used the site search by topic, key work and tag , I noticed hundreds of pages of items that were not handmade.  I started to discuss this on several of the teams I belonged to.  My discovery of the commercial items was not unique.  We being good site members reported the shops to the site as not in compliance with their TOU.  We waited a few days then weeks and the odd thing was the shops were still there.  In one case, the shop was on the front page of the  handmade section.  Many sellers had gone to other sites as a back up plan because they were afraid the buyers would leave Etsy.



I have a great group of friends and small business people I have became close with in the past few years.  We are online promoting each other through social media.  The group is Sellergroup.  We are a group of handmade, vintage and supplies buyers and sellers.  Please follow these links to learn about us.
Sellergroup  Pinterest




There are many sites the Hand made sellers have moved to.  I have tried several sites myself and now use my stand alone website as my main place I sell my work.   Here are a few of the options my friends have chosen:  Zibbet, Artfire, Indymade, Shopify, Bonanza, SupaDupa, Ebay, and Facebook groups. 

 To expand the audience of my sales and increase my customer base, I even tried selling jewelry supplies.  I listed my extra beads as destash supplies on Etsy.  The majority of my sales were during buying blitzes with the teams I was part of.  The impact has not been positive for myself, my sales or the majority of the seller of handmade I know.  This all began in 2012 when the site redefined handmade.

Hopefully you understand why many of us handmade artist have left Etsy.  Feel free to do an Internet search on Etsy, their stock and re-sellers (commercial items) to learn more.

My shops:  Panda Wear Website
                   Cabochons and Supplies

Facebook:  PW Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  

Short and Sweet

Happy Hump Day.....  a few gem trees and geodes for you to enjoy. 

What's new in my studio?  There are some new copper pieces and a few pieces with some hand made glass beads. Also, working with another of the artist on my team.  The feature will be up this week. 

Here are a few Fathers Day gift ideas for you. Geodes are from $10-15 and the Gem trees are $15-20.  all prices are plus shipping.  

What topics would you like to see in future blog posts?  Looking for suggestions from my fans. 

My stores: Jewelry shop

                 Cabochons and Supplies

Facebook:  PW Facebook

Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  

New Direction for Panda Wear - Stone DIY

New direction and focus for Panda Wear...what is this about you ask?
 
I am a lapidary which means I hand cut my own stones.  Having enjoyed cutting gemstone for many years, there is a surplus of stones I am unable to use right away. Also, there is a surplus of rough stone - which is the rocks before they are cut into cabochons.  The rocks started to accumulate (pile up) around my home.    To make space,  I decided to start selling the extras.


Above is a Unakite boulder in the quarry where I have collected some rough in NY state.  The travel mug in this pic is about 10" tall to show perspective. The boulders are over 3 feet tall.  The blue rocks on the left side are mostly calcite.
 

Steps to make a cabochon

1. select a rock
2. cut a slab form the rock
3. decide  the shape of the cabochon & draw it
4. trim the slice around the lines
5.  dop the trimmed piece
6. start cutting the cab
7. polish the cab

Michigan Kona dolomite slab.  This is a piece of the selected rock cut into a slice.

Texas graveyard point agate slab.  This is a slab or a slice from the rock. the slice is the second step to making the rock into cabochons.    Imagine the rock as a home made loaf of bread cut into slices.  They can be cut whatever thickness I desire. Clear or transparent rough works best cut thick to show the beauty in the stone when finished. 



In my work, I have bought nice quality supplies for many years. Having bought the high quality beads and cabochons for years I believe I have an idea what other designers are looking for.  Your referrals of friends whom are jewelry designers or jewelry store owners are always appreciated.   Most of my cabochon sales are to other jewelry designers right now.   A few are sales to collectors. Yes, I still sell my OOAK jewelry.  It is just that my focus is on the gemstones right now. 

On the right, a piece of the Unakite I collected as a finished cabochon.  I went through all of the 7 steps above with this rock.

Below is a Montana Moss Agate cabochon ready to be set into a piece of jewelry. This is a transparent stone and the light is reflected best when the back of the piece is left open.

My cabochons are free form which meas they are not round, or oval like most of the ones I see for sale.  This makes them unique and OOAK.
OOAK means One of a Kind. Cabochons are also called cabs.

Please feel free to ask any questions about the process of stone cutting or making cabochons that you have.   I have taught wire wrapping and jewelry making for years.  I also taught my boyfriend to cut cabs. He is a natural and is a better cutter than I am.

My stores: Jewelry shop
                 Cabochons and Supplies

Facebook:  PW Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  

First Harvest of 2015

Welcome to the beauty of my gardens.  a few pic \s of what I saw this weekend..Please enjoy and share with your friends.

 Happy to say I am enjoying the first harvest of the veggie garden for this year. Having a home grown salad with my garden lettuce.  Harris seed grows fantastic and quickly in my garden.
Looking down on the snow peas at right with lettuce on both sides of the row.  Before long, the  snow peas will be 4 feet tall and ready for harvest.  I guess about a 3-4 weeks to wait.



The photo on the left shows the leaf lettuce  on the one side of the trellis from above.  Red and green leaf lettuce are being grown this year.   I should have my first head of lettuce in about a month.  Salads are on the table at my house most nights on the year.  They are especially welcome early like this and when the first tomatoes are picked. 

This is a close of of the snow peas on the right and was taken at ground level.  They were hard to see in the above photos. 

On the left here is the mesclun I harvested for my dinner tonight in the ground.  Below you can see how much there is of the harvest stacked on my kitchen counter top.  

For anyone who has not see this blog before I am an avid gardener and lapidary.  Most of my inspiration comes from nature as can be seen in my work.  Whether it is the arch of a branch, the stem of a bush or the pattern of a flower... I picture designs I make with wire and gemstones.  As a lapidary, when I am cutting a stone my design can take shape based on what I see in the natural stone.  With some pieces, I need to find a stone the right color and shape for my design.

My weeping cherry tree in the front yard.  Did not want to miss showing off some of my flowers.  Lucky to get a good shot this year.  My helper behind the camera is Herb. He does more then help me plant veggies when I am unable to kneel.  He has been a rock through this injury and recovery for me.  I could not be here now without him. He is a keeper.

Every garden has hidden gems.  I found this yesterday and was surprised.  Never had the trunk bloomed before.  May your week be filled with sunshine and nature's beauty.

My stores: Jewelry shop
                 Cabochons and Supplies

Facebook:  PW Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems 

Goodbye Crutches, Hello Garden

Recovery going well after ACL ligament replacement surgery.   Sunshine and transplanting more vegetables, energized me and I am now walking without any crutches. Saying  goodbye to my crutches feels fantastic!  Being spring, there were quite a few weeds to be pulled in the gardens this past weekend.  Such a happy feeling to see the snow peas sprouted and the lettuce are  doing well.  Plan to harvest mesclun this week for the first time.  Fresh home grow spring salad, what a great side dish. Photos of the Veggies next week


Also working to grow the gemstone/rock side of my business.  I sell rocks! Do you know a jewelry designer or small local Jewelry store?  I custom cut my own stones and have many one of a kind cabochons I sell both retail and wholesale.  Please feel free to contact me if you have a friend with a shop who uses one of a kind gemstones.  The rocks I sell are available uncut as slabs for those who enjoy the stone cutting as I do or as specimens to put on a shelf and display.

Cabochons

My stores: Jewelry shop
                 Cabochons and Supplies

Facebook:  PW Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems 

Show schedule is still in process.  It will be posted as soon as I have it.  Looking at what my summer and fall show options are at this point.  It is quite late in the year for show applications.  Considering Naples Grape Festival, AppleUmpkin, and a few smaller shows for late summer and fall.  

 

Topic suggestions always welcome.  Still taking orders for Mother's day.  Happy gardening to you all.