Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
This case, put together by Fallbrook Gem and Mineral Society lapidary students, wins the Best Case of Lapidary Work award at the San Diego County Fair's Gems, Minerals and Jewelry exhibition.
The creators of the case that won Best Case of Lapidary Work at the San Diego County Fair are, from left, Meline Giannini, Joyce O'Connor and Annette Paterson.
The case put together by Fallbrook Gem and Mineral Society lapidary students was given the Best Case of Lapidary Work award at the San Diego County Fair's Gems, Minerals and Jewelry exhibition.
"I thought it was very exciting because we strive for excellence in our carving, and we strive to create things that are as close as we can get to perfection that our instructor Meg Berry strives for," Joyce O'Connell, who designed the case, said.
O'Connell teamed with Meline Giannini and Annette Paterson to create the display.
"It took all three of us to put it together and make it meaningful," O'Connell said. "That was quite a challenge."
A total of five students had work displayed in the case which in addition to stones also included tools and photographs displaying the steps utilized in lapidary art.
"With this case we wanted to show how to carve gemstones because no one else was doing it," O'Connell said. "We thought that the best thing we could do is to show the steps it takes to create a piece."
The steps include design, shaping, pre-polishing and polishing.
"The design is important, and the cutting is important," O'Connell said. "The polishing takes the most time because there are so many steps."
O'Connell and her collaborators consider the specific steps of lapidary work to be as important to the display as the stones themselves.
"We made it interesting and we made it something that other people would like to do," O'Connell said.
The judges also found the steps to be important enough to award the Best Case of Lapidary Work to the students.
"It was a nice surprise," O'Connell. "We're very excited that our case won. It was an honor to win it."
O'Connell also credits Berry for the students' success.
"She was our example," O'Connell said.
The 2018 San Diego County Fair was the third in which the FGMS students entered a display case. The current plan is to focus on individual entries rather than a case for the 2019 county fair.
"We reached the goal that we strived for," O'Connell said.
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