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The Fallbrook Gem and Mineral Society has had a significant presence at the San Diego County Fair's gems, minerals, and jewelry exhibit, and this year the organization's lapidary class designed a display case exhibit and provided the items for the case.
"I thought it would be a nice thing to do to show what we do in our lapidary program," said Joyce O'Connell, who teaches the cabochon and wire wrapping processes. "I think ours came out pretty well."
Educational cases are given numerical scores with 100 points constituting a perfect score. A case which garners at least 85 points is given an Award of Merit, and the case by the lapidary students earned 94 points.
"I think it was an excellent case because it showed what our lapidary group is able to accomplish. We were able to make cabochons and also do faceting," O'Connell said.
A cabochon is a gemstone which has been polished but not faceted, or cut. Annette Paterson guided the class in cabochons and Meg Berry is in charge of lapidary (engraving and other design) techniques. O'Connell and students Meline Giannini and Mary Ingorvaia planned the exhibit.
"We never have more than four at one time in one class, but there were eight to ten students who participated in the display," Berry said.
Berry avoided the planning not because of her own competitive exhibit case but because she wanted to provide a leadership opportunity for the students.
"I told the students it's not my case, it's your case. You do the work.You design it," Berry said. "It came out beautiful."
Paterson did not participate in the design or the placement because she was in Scotland.
"We were novices about setting up the case," O'Connell said. "We had a lot of input. We learned from other people and so we were constantly changing it. It took us over a month to put it together."
"It was nice to have them do their thing," Berry said. "They learned that it's not all fun and games."
"It just evolved," O'Connell said.
The case was titled "Embracing the Stone."
"That's actually what you do because you almost have to get inside the stone," O'Connell said.
The exhibit shows photos of students using tools and also shows rough materials, instructions, and finished work. "It just showed every step that we did. It was an educational case," O'Connell said.
The faceting and lapidary classes tend to have between two and four students, although the cabochons class often has between four and six students.
"It's a wonderful program because all we pay for is the use of the equipment, which is $5," O'Connell said.
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