Tools Pencil Paintbrush Scissors. Instructions Select an illustration to match the size of your cabochon. Apply a layer of Mod Podge to seal the print. This will protect the print once you glue it to the cabochon. Leave to dry for 15 minutes. Place the cabochon on the print, and trace the outline. Cut out the print just within the trace line. You want the print to be a fraction smaller than the cabochon itself. Apply a layer of Mod Podge on both the glass cabochon and the print.
Cover the surfaces entirely. Grit generally refers to the size of particles embedded in an abrasive material.
In cabbing terms, the particles that are embedded in abrasives are diamonds. The finer, smaller diamonds are used for surface finishing while the larger diamonds are used to shape and remove excess material. For example, an grit or 80 wheel is a very coarse wheel with large diamond particles, while a 3,grit 3, wheel is a very fine wheel with small diamond particles.
The initial, rough grind is usually done with a coarse wheel, such an an 80 diamond grinding wheel. Completely grind the surface of the stone using the lower quarter of the wheel and the whole width to ensure even wear. These scratches slowly diminish with each wheel. Drying and inspecting your cabochon after each wheel is an important step and shows your progress.
Fine grinding is performed with a wheel that has a higher grit than the previous step, such as a diamond grinding wheel. This wheel continues to shape your cabochon and removes the scratches left on your stone from the wheel before. Just like the previous step, completely grind the surface of the stone. Also make sure the coarse scratches from the previous wheel are removed.
This is a very important step. This step is usually done using diamond resin wheels. Resin wheels sand and smooth flat spots, scratches and tiny bumps that are left behind from the hard grinding wheels, resulting in a pre-polished cabochon and preparing your stone for its final polish.
Before you start this step, thoroughly wash your hands and stone. Any grit carried over into the smoothing process will cause deep scratches in your cabochon that are impossible to polish out. Start with the coarsest diamond resin wheel, such as a , then proceed to the , 1, and 3, wheels.
Thoroughly sand and smooth the entire surface of the stone on each wheel before moving onto the next wheel. Always dry your cabochon and inspect the scratches after every wheel. By the time you finish on the 3, wheel, the surface of your stone should be very smooth with no visible scratches at all. There are many different polishing methods that can be very confusing for beginners.
Many cabbing machines, such as the CabKing, come with a polishing kit that is universal and works for most material. The most common polishing agents used in lapidary work are tin oxide, cerium oxide, chromium oxide and diamond paste.
Step 5: Bonding your glass cabochon to your image- Now to the easy part. The glaze will start setting up fairly quickly so after you have centered your image and have your glaze where you feel it has spread pretty evenly, apply slight pressure on the top of the glass so that you see the glaze under the glass flatten out.
Once that is done it is time to leave it alone unless you notice an obvious air pocket under the glass which you want to push out as quickly as possible. Sealing Your Pendant Tray. Step 6: Sealing Your Pendant Tray- While your glass and image are bonding together you want to seal the inside of your tray. The reason we do this is to create a barrier between the tray itself and what will be your finished glass cabochon piece so that if the tray happens to oxidize at all from the water content in the glaze it will not reach the back of your image and create a blue tint to your image.
Simply put a pea size dot of glaze in the middle of your tray and then use your paint brush to spread it thoroughly around the inside of the tray. Be sure to get the inside walls as well. Allow minutes to dry and apply more coats. Now set your trays to the side and let them dry during the next steps.
If this occurs it usually means you did not seal the inside of the tray and back of your image as well as you should have with enough dry time. Cut Out Your Image. Our preference is to wait overnight to let the glaze dry completely but we have done pieces much sooner than that. The best test is to put the tip of your fingernail in the glue that bled out of the edges and if it is to soft let it dry longer. After experience we use a exacto knife to cut out around the image.
This step is really all about personal preference as to how you cut it out but this is what we have found is the most consistent. Take your nail file and start sanding the excess around the edges off. It is very important that you do not sand with the image side up or you will tear the image away from the glass. Be sure to keep the image side down and sand in a downward motion so that the paper is as round as the back of the glass. See the below image for what you want it to look like when done filing.
Seal The Back of Your Image. Step 9: Sealing the back of your image: This is the last step of creating a barrier between your image and glass and the metal of the inside of the bezel setting tray.
Put a small dot of your glaze on the back of your image and gently cover the entire back side. Let the coat of glaze dry for minutes and then repeat the process more times.
Your goal is to make sure there is no part of the paper touching any part of the metal on the inside of the tray. Remember you do this to keep your image from taking on a blue tint from the water molecules causing the tray to oxidize. We prefer to use the least corrosive materials by simply sealing your tray and glass. Below is a picture of what the back will look like as you get better at doing this.
No secrets here. Make sure the coats of glaze that you put on the back of your images are dry completely. In this case it is called Sugilite, a cyclo silicate mineral allied to the manganese mine in the middle of the Kalahari desert in the northern Cape in South Africa. The place is called Hotazel. The piece is preformed on a diamond lap and then glued to a dop stick with two component epoxy.
The stone is cut round using an Imahashi gem cutting machine. I use my gem cutting machine because I have it, not because it is essential to use.
A V block, with a wooden dowel stick would work just as well.
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