The season has begun.  Alan still won't let me bring a sphere machine into the house.  :-(  It would make things so much easier instead of running from the saws to the garage to the kitchen and then all over again.  

Had problems getting a polish on 3 spheres yesterday.  I will change out all my pads and try them on Cerium Oxide this morning.  The Opalised Serpentine sphere from Australia is very different that the previous ones I have made.  It is a soothing combination of dark green, black gold and browns.  Another is a Bert's Mystery rock.  At first I thought it could be marble from Ballarat Ghost Town.  I have decided it is too crystalline to be that.  The colors are the same, a peachy orange with swirls of grey and black.  The Ballarat location is the only place where the kids were chased by a wild burro.  The third  is one of the Porcelain Rainbow Rocks.  The miner has decided to change the name to Sunset Jasper.

I have many more in various stages of completion.  More of the Porcelain, a Lepidolite, a Az Petrified Wood, about 10 in all.  The most fun is Hemimorphite.  Bright blue in a background of swirly white, I have not worked this material before.  It will be interesting to see what kind of polish it will take.

The saws have been singing.  (I'm sure the new neighbors love me.)  The small has a larger piece of the Hemimorphite in it that is very different than the others I have cut.  The blue is diffused into the white, is pale, and appears as the blue in an iceberg.  The corners should all be off by today and ready to hand rind the tips.  

The other saws are cubing Chinese Pietersite.   This may be my next new favorite rock!  I believe it may be a challenge to get a polish so it should be fun.

On a sad note.  We lost our Barkley after almost 17 years.  We were fortunate to have this Lab for so long.  Even though you know its time to let go, the pain is still there.

Thanks for reading.....