I have a new toy to talk about. I have a rock tumbler. I know some of you may be thinking, "big whoop." Well, you're entitled to that. As a matter of fact, I might have said the same thing even just a few months ago. But all of that has changed.
So, Joe and I were shopping at our local Walmart just before the holidays, browsing around like we usually do. In one of their main aisles, they had a large display of "educational" toys like model rockets, artist sets, and...wait for it...a rock tumbler. As we weren't in a hurry, I was looking at all of the goodies on display and took a closer look at the tumbler. The more I looked, the more interesting it seemed. I could take nasty looking rocks and make shiny, pretty, colorful rocks out of them (who doesn't like shiny, pretty, colorful things?! :-) ). The whole process intrigued me. I could use the polished rocks in the cement stepping stones I like to make, for jewelry/key chains, and various other fun gift-y things. Before I knew it, I wanted the rock tumbler.
Well, I didn't get that one because, as I mentioned, it was just before the holidays, so I wanted to save my money for gifts I would buy for my friends and family. Fortunately, Joe noted my excitement and, being the awesome person he is, he got me a rock tumbler for Christmas. Awesome!
So, I started on my tumbling journey Christmas evening. I set up my tumbler, read the instructions (and was blown away that it would take two to four weeks to get my shiny rocks! :-) ), and started the tumbler tumbling. Again...awesome!
Unfortunately, I ran into a couple of stumbling blocks...the packet of polishing grit to get my shiny stones ended up being mislabeled, so while I got super-smooth rocks in the first attempt at making pretty rocks, they aren't shiny:
By the way, here is what the rocks looked like before I started tumbling them:
The second stumbling block was that when I started a second batch of rocks, the drum that holds the rocks, grit, and water leaked, effectively destroying my tumbler. I had to stop the process after only one day. Major bummer not only because I wanted another batch of rocks, but also because I was going to take my first batch and put them in with the second batch when it was time to polish them so they could all be shiny. I was so disappointed. :-(
Enter my knight in shining armor, AKA Joe. Upon finding a damsel in distress (me) with nary another tumbler in site, he suggested we search hither and yon (AKA Amazon.com) for a new, better tumbler. And lo, our search met-eth with success-eth!
So, I have a new batch of rocks tumbling as I write this. I am three days into the first of four tumbling processes. Most of the processes take about 7 days each, so in about three to four weeks, I should have a beautiful batch of bouncing baby rocks. I'll be so proud!
Here's my lovely new toy:
So, my new toy will not only give me a bounty of really cool, shiny, pretty rocks, but will teach me a little patience as well. You can't rush the tumbling or else you won't get the desired results. As I am really into instant gratification, this will be very good for me. Good things come to those who wait. :-)
I'll let you know how the process goes and what I will use the rocks for. I already have some ideas (I ALWAYS have ideas! :-) ), so it should be fun to see what I can do.
Until next time, exercise patience and remember a tumbling rock gathers no moss! Happy days!
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