Each of my items are in a box or cell. You may copy and paste the contents of the box by setting your cursor in the top left of the box and hold the left button down as you bring the cursor to the lower right of the box. This selects the content of the box. Then right click while still in the box and select “copy”. This will copy the content of the box (except the picture will be copied as its location). Then on the email addressed to me left click where you want to place the item you wish to order. Right click and choose “paste”. This will paste the item you selected and it is placed on the email ready to be sent to me.

If you want to practice this, open your email form addressed to you and practice this procedure to gain practice then mail it to yourself to see what it looks like.

This is all for now. So try it before you forget the easy way to order items.

Waiting for your orders. Have fun with rocks.

But, time is on your side when you get to choose your activity.

At any point of time in the day you may be called upon to make a choice; do I do this or do I do that. When you are not forced to do one activity over against another, time is on your side. You can decide one or the other. If you are planning, look ahead. What needs to be done and what will provide the greatest good toward some future goal. When you get to choose time is on your side.

Examine the choices and choose the one that is most needed to further the next goal. There is no pressure of time because it is on your side. Chose the activity that is needed to help accomplish a future goal. Each activity that is completed towards the goal will open up more time for other activities.

Accomplish one activity at a time. Don’t try to be involved in more than can be done at any one space of time. Remember this: completing one task opens up more time for the next task.

The tumblers produce the greatest quantity of material ready for sale. After sorting the materials in the polish tumbler load the material is ready for storage and later sales or  for photographing and putting on the web site for sales.

I like the web site to have as few “SOLD” spots as possible although I know it is good to have a few “SOLD” spots so people know other people are ordering from the site.

I enjoy getting material ready for the tumbler. Sometimes it is just getting some loose slabs ready.This may involve breaking the slab along any obvious crack in the slab or breaking off any jagged area left from the sawing process. Sometimes a slab will need to be broken into a more usable shape or size for “useful” jewelry stones.

At other times it is grinding that is necessary. I like to rough grind edges on certain stones so they will have a more pleasing shape. On many of the stones intended for jewelry work, like wire wrapping, I like to make a curved bezel on the stone. Because of the larger irregular size of these stones I do not try to make them have a complete dome. Part of it is left flat towards the center but this is not a distraction to a stone well wrapped.

If I am opening a tumbler barrel  that has gone through the rough grit, I check to see that the stones are really ready for the next smoothing stage. If some stones are not ready for the next stage I take these out and run them through the rough grit again at a later time. This rough grind step lasts from 7 to 10 day.

In the second stage, which again last for 7 to 10 days, I again check the condition of the stones. When these are ready the stones are ready for the pre polish. The pre polish stage is also 7 to 10 days long. After the pre polish they go into the polish stage. And again I run this stage for 7 to 10 days.

I will have to take some pictures of my tumblers and get them posted for view. One tumbler unit consists of a 5 gallon barrel on a home-made set of rollers. The other tumblers are 12 pound Lortone tumblers.

If any one has questions about my equipment or tumbling process, give me a shout.

Purple desert glass tumbled and drilled.

I have inserted into my wire wrapping web page some information about this purple “desert glass”. I have run it through the tumbler to give it more of the appearance of “beach glass”.

My first goal is to see if there is an interest in material like this. If there is sufficient interest, the material will be available for sale.

The glass has come from broken bottles found in the SW deserts of the USA. The sun over the years has turned the glass to a purple color. Some pieces are lighter in color but all have a shade of purple. The tumbler has smoothed any sharp edges of the glass and has given the glass a “sand ground texture” like pieces of glass picked up on beaches.

Drilled pieces could be used at pendants. Smaller pieces might be for earrings. Larger undrilled pieced could be set nicely by a wire wrapper.

The interest and use of this type of material would enlarge the creativity of many craft artisans.

I also set a square cab I had cut for a customer’s pendant. This was a flat green jade cab. It went behind a Hebrew letter. Interesting pendant.

I was supposed to have taken pictures for my web site but that will be waiting for tomorrow.

I am going to try to make some purple “sea glass”. I will try to put just a small amount of 60 grit plus a fair amount of fair sized rocks – stones – and tumble them for a day or two to see what happens. I have a good supply of the broken glass turned purple. I test drilled a few pieces of the purple glass and will put these pieces in the tumbler to see if it will take off the sharp edges of the glass without breaking the glass at the holes.

OH, and I forgot, I did drill holes in some pieces of Florida coral (Tampa Bay) These I want to tumble polish and see if they will sell on my web site.

I should copy all this and put in for my blog on my web site: Maybe I will.

Have a good day, evening, weekend all.

Mushroom surrounded by grass.

A new month. Another new day.

Today is not the day to worry over things not done. Today is the day to begin getting the important things done.

Choosing the important things (projects or daily tasks)  first frees up time and energy to do more of the ordinary or even  the necessary things.

Being able to choose the important things rather than those urgent things brings us peace. Sometimes an important thing can become an urgent thing if we are not careful to use our time wisely. When an important thing becomes an urgent thing it may not be done in an efficient manner and therefore not done as well as it would have been done if it had been done while it was thought of as important.

Urgent matters cause haste and waste. The haste may cause the thing to be done hurriedly carelessly, and with waste. The waste may be in time, energy, money or pride in accomplishment.

Wisdom in knowing whether a project  is important or urgent is needed.  When important projects are not handled efficiently they may not become urgent. More thought can be given the important projects which will produce a better outcome.

Most flat slices of agate, jasper, and petrified wood take a good polish

Attitudes open up opportunities.

Friendliness is an attitude that can open up opportunities. This life value opens paths of communication which can lead to unexpected opportunities. Let me relate a recent example.

I was in a business recently to make a purchase. I had been there before and had met some of the workers. One worker, in particular, I had not seen for a while and I commented that it was good to see her again. She had finished some training and was now using it in the business. To another one I mentioned that I had not polished a piece of petrified wood that she used as a tool to demonstrate the variety of magnification lenses. We had talked about this previously. She handed me the slice of wood to take home and polish for her. From this friendly conversation  they offered to let me to bring in some of my polished rocks as samples for their customers since their customers frequently  asked about such things. The owners offered to sell some of my rocks and give me the money. To be fair I would not want them to do all the work without reward. What I would rather have them do is to sell it on commission or for me to sell it to them at wholesale price and then they could mark the prices and keep all that was sold.

This would be the next step but it may not have occurred if there had not been the friendly conversation that led up to it.

So the personal value or attitude of friendliness can open unexpected opportunities.

I would like my blog to be more than just a news paper of what has happened. I would like it to be interesting as well as contain information about the happenings of the site.

I want it to be a personal connection with those who log onto the site. In order to have that happen, it will have to have something interesting and draw people to connect and comment. That is my desire.(But this is too small to be a goal.)

Only well written blog entries will accomplish this.

From time to time I will see a need of presenting my goals for this web site. For me to present these goals, I will need to examine the pages of the site and determine what the goal of each page is. But this will not be the total goals of the site because each of the pages are only step or tool to reach an unstated goal. In other words, what I need is the underlying goal of not only the web site but also the goals of my activities that deal with the production of the site.

What we may be attempting to determine is “What is one goal of my life?” (A goal that would rotate around the web site.

I am getting ahead of myself because I am not ready to expose my self at this time. More, though, will come.

For now I am inserting a picture of the “new” shop that I build to help house some of my materials and activities.

Four walls needed for roof.

Exterior walls or siding needed as well as the roof give more hope.

Siding and roof make a much needed improvment.

A wide door way will make it easier.

Will he be a potential customer in the future? I don’t know. It is possible that he won’t come back with an order since he has found a place that might be quicker to supply his needs.

So, what I have learned is that follow through in timely order in necessary for good customer relations.

My desire is to provide prompt service. This means that follow through is absolutely necessary to provide prompt service. Leaving actions for later can interfere with providing prompt service.

So many varieties to capture with a camera.

I am thrilled when I get an email order. I am, of course, curious as to what was ordered. Each one is different. I then begin to imagine what the stones are going to be used for. Drilled stones are probably for a necklace, although I had a customer that bought some for Christmas tree ornaments. What I list as wire wrapping stones, as well as some of the cabochons, probably go into a wire wrapping project. Polished specimens may go into their collection of rocks or it may be intended as a gift for someone else. It is fun to speculate even though it doesn’t matter as long as they enjoy looking at some of God created gifts he has given to us.

The other thing that I am curious  and amazed at is where my customers are located.I find that  most of my customers live east of the Mississippi River, some in Kansas or Texas and another group in California. I may never get to some of these places but it is nice to know that some of my work (polished rocks) travels so far and end up in so many different hands.

These hands feel them, their eyes see them and their minds create purposes for each one. That is where it makes me nervous. Then I have to think – did I do the best I could to polish that particular stone or did I just say – “Oh, it’s good enough.” I have to confess that sometimes I have been tempted to do just that. That is when I have to think that Jesus is looking over my shoulder and checking to see if I has done the best for the stone. Jesus said he was in the beginning and created all things even the very rock I am working on at that moment. Would Jesus be satisfied with the work I put into the stone?

This is one thing that keeps me going but the other thing is that God has put within me a desire to polish rock.

I guess that is what keeps me going.

By the way, the picture has nothing to do with polished rocks.