When I first heard about the rock project, I thought it would be boring, because who cares about rocks? That is until I saw how beautiful some of the rocks turned out. So I thought why not give it a try. I had no idea what to do, then Alana generously explained a little bit about the project and even gave me a stone from her stash. It was a light pinkish stone that I was familiar with called rose quartz.
Rose quartz is typically found in South Africa, Japan, the U.S, and more countries. It's a silicon dioxide crystal and one of the most common varieties of the quartz family. It usually occurs in massive form such as slabs, however sometimes it grows in clusters of small crystals. It's a stone of unconditional love and caries an energy of peace and compassion. It was even used as a love token as early as 600 B.C. After looking at this description, I realized what I could do with the stone. I decided to make it a necklace for my mom on mothers day.
It was the perfect stone to use because not only does it give unconditional love and compassion, but it's said to also emotionally heal people. I researched more about its powers of emotional healing and found out it specializes in healing Vertigo, Alzheimer's and more diseases. My mom's dad died from Alzheimer's 4 years ago and it really affected her, so this stone can emotionally heal her and even ensure that she doesn't inherit the disease either, and my mom was also recently diagnosed with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo which is one of the most common causes of Vertigo. Vertigo is a disease that affects the inner part of your ear canal making you dizzy, light headed, and even causes vomiting. It puts her down and ruins her day when it strikes, so whenever she wears the stone maybe her symptoms will be lessened and she can have a better day. All of these factors will make my necklace very special and meaningful.
After finding the stone I wanted to craft, I had a small idea of what I had to do but I didn't know where to start. So Jiapsi generously guided me through the process. First before I shaped my rose quartz piece, he informed me that the particular piece I had was fragile and would break. So Jiapsi saved me a lot of time, and even got me another piece out of his personal stash! After acquiring my new stone, Jiapsi guided me through the process of shaping a rock on the lapidary wheel. He showed me which wheels to use, and helped guide me to make a beautiful stone that would soon be a necklace for my mom.
Reflection:
In all, this experiment not only helped me make a beautiful necklace for my mom, but it also helped me learn how to do a lot of other skills. For example, I got to learn how to use a lapidary machine, how to identify some of the rocks, and carve them into cool shapes like a tear drop. This all started from Jiapsi's plan and now everyone gets to learn how to shape rocks which I think is really cool, and has united our class and Brian's 9th grade class. So I believe my take away is not only info on different rocks and how to make them, but also to follow your dreams and persevere. I know it sounds SUPER CORNY, but it's true. It's amazing how the goal of one student changed the way two entire classes ran through out section 4.
Rose quartz is typically found in South Africa, Japan, the U.S, and more countries. It's a silicon dioxide crystal and one of the most common varieties of the quartz family. It usually occurs in massive form such as slabs, however sometimes it grows in clusters of small crystals. It's a stone of unconditional love and caries an energy of peace and compassion. It was even used as a love token as early as 600 B.C. After looking at this description, I realized what I could do with the stone. I decided to make it a necklace for my mom on mothers day.
It was the perfect stone to use because not only does it give unconditional love and compassion, but it's said to also emotionally heal people. I researched more about its powers of emotional healing and found out it specializes in healing Vertigo, Alzheimer's and more diseases. My mom's dad died from Alzheimer's 4 years ago and it really affected her, so this stone can emotionally heal her and even ensure that she doesn't inherit the disease either, and my mom was also recently diagnosed with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo which is one of the most common causes of Vertigo. Vertigo is a disease that affects the inner part of your ear canal making you dizzy, light headed, and even causes vomiting. It puts her down and ruins her day when it strikes, so whenever she wears the stone maybe her symptoms will be lessened and she can have a better day. All of these factors will make my necklace very special and meaningful.
After finding the stone I wanted to craft, I had a small idea of what I had to do but I didn't know where to start. So Jiapsi generously guided me through the process. First before I shaped my rose quartz piece, he informed me that the particular piece I had was fragile and would break. So Jiapsi saved me a lot of time, and even got me another piece out of his personal stash! After acquiring my new stone, Jiapsi guided me through the process of shaping a rock on the lapidary wheel. He showed me which wheels to use, and helped guide me to make a beautiful stone that would soon be a necklace for my mom.
Reflection:
In all, this experiment not only helped me make a beautiful necklace for my mom, but it also helped me learn how to do a lot of other skills. For example, I got to learn how to use a lapidary machine, how to identify some of the rocks, and carve them into cool shapes like a tear drop. This all started from Jiapsi's plan and now everyone gets to learn how to shape rocks which I think is really cool, and has united our class and Brian's 9th grade class. So I believe my take away is not only info on different rocks and how to make them, but also to follow your dreams and persevere. I know it sounds SUPER CORNY, but it's true. It's amazing how the goal of one student changed the way two entire classes ran through out section 4.