One of the 3 rocks I shaped and polished for the Rock Project, was green opal. Opal is a form of the chemical compound silica, it's a mineraloid, which simply means it doesn’t demonstrate crystallinity. Unlike similar forms of crystalline silica, which are minerals. Other than these properties, things I immediately noticed on contact were that it feels extremely light in weight, and that it’s totally gorgeous. Once I had chosen it, I went had to get it cut, and then I could begin transforming it! I cut what I had in half, with help from my classmate Jiapsi (who was really helpful throughout the whole process). After that was done, a gray diamond mesh wheel was placed on the lapidary machine (a machine that shapes and polishes rocks. By lightly holding my rock against the diamond mesh wheel, once it was on and spinning with water flowing on it, it would smoothly grind the rock into my desired shape. I decided to make it into a 3D diamond shape. The amount of grit on the wheel was high, so it didn’t take very long to get it into the perfect shape. The next wheel that had to go on was a brown wheel that would refine the shape and smooth over any scratches that remained on the rock, after I had briefly ran my rock over the wheel, it was so soft! The next 2 wheels, red then blue, were for rounding, finishing, and polishing. When I was done with these they were silky smooth, and shiny. Once it was perfect I used super glue to put a metal bail on the back of the rock. Because of the bail, I could attach the rock to a chain and turn it into wearable jewelry. My little green opal is now a necklace ready for mother's day!
I liked this project a lot because I really wanted to see the end product of all the efforts. More than any other experiment or project i’ve done this semester, I was most passionate about this. The idea of reshaping something as solid as a rock was really appealing and challenging sounding, it motivated me to want to follow through and do my best. I also liked how Jiapsi took a lead on this project and shared this experience with his classmates, it was nice to work on a project on a project. Overall, this experience was great!
I liked this project a lot because I really wanted to see the end product of all the efforts. More than any other experiment or project i’ve done this semester, I was most passionate about this. The idea of reshaping something as solid as a rock was really appealing and challenging sounding, it motivated me to want to follow through and do my best. I also liked how Jiapsi took a lead on this project and shared this experience with his classmates, it was nice to work on a project on a project. Overall, this experience was great!