Collecting rocks and minerals for lapidary, who me? Never, I used to say. After all, my rockhounding was about hunting crystals and going out into the field just to find and drag home rocks for hacking up and making jewelry was for the old timers. I guess you could say I was a rockhounding snob because, if the truth be told, I considered lapidarists as being 2nd class rockhounds because they collected pretty rocks instead of just mineral specimens. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't treat lapidarists differently than anybody else, but I did have my thoughts.
Well, time has caught up to me and I've become one of those old timers, having taught myself to make cabochons in February 2009. As some friends and fellow rockhounding snobs would put it, I've moved over to the "dark side". But, along with time came wisdom and I've come to realize how wrong I was to have ever considered lapidarists as being anything less than full fledged rockhounds. Stated more bluntly, I was a big dope.
Other than technique, there is no difference between hunting mineral specimens and lapidary rough. As a matter of fact, those who collect both enjoy the best of both worlds and therefore at least double their collecting opportunities. But on top of this, a lapidarist can continue to rockhound even while at home as he (or she) slabs rocks to reveal hidden vugs. A vug is a vug, no matter if found by digging in the field or hacking up rocks at home, albeit generally smaller in lapidary rough. But smaller doesn't mean less beautiful and to illustrate this point, I offer the following vugochons (cabochons containing mineral vugs) that, for the most part, represent rocks collected while Chrissy and I were out hunting mineral specimens.
