The little group of craftsmen had been struggling. The Venice Lapidary Guild, as they called themselves, mainly made tumbled beads of semi-precious gemstones. We sawed rough turquoise, lapis, coral, jade, and other materials into cubes, and tumbled the cubes round, and then polished them. The profit margin was narrow, and we wanted to start cutting more valuable stones – but materials were expensive, and waste was high. One day we were sitting around smoking a left-handed cigarette, and somebody suggested that we just trim off the bad parts of a stone, and polish the result, instead of trying to cut it round or oval or cushion-shaped. So we did, and discovered that with modifications, the tumbling equipment we were using to polish the bead could be used to polish these new gems.
Carved Rutilated Quartz
We worked on the idea over the next few months, learning to sculpt tiny stones with carefully shaped grinding wheels and diamond saws, and figuring out how to polish them. The results were unique, and we went on to change the jewelry world a little bit, win some awards, and make and piss away a WHOLE bunch of money.
Of course, when we first showed them to people, they were hesitant. Jewelers are conservative by nature, and they couldn’t immediately see what could be done with them – but they could see that the prices were relatively low for the quality, and they were intrigued. So we started making jewelry too, just to show that the unusual stones could be used effectively.
Top: Carved Amethyst in Fine Silver-Approx. 20 ct.
Bottom:Carved Rainbow Obsidian-Approx. 980 ct.
