It started as a pun. My boss was retiring, and we had these computer systems named after, well, things that made sense at the time. Orca, amethyst, and agate.
So, I thought it would be amusing to get a present that combined the elements. Off to etsy. Messaged a bunch of vendors, no one would make anything custom.
How hard could it be?
It turns out that carving quartz is hard. Really really hard. It took me a long time to find anything that would cut the stone, but finally I found diamond disks that worked on a dremel. I burned two dremels out on this project. It was a lot of cutting
Also, it turns out that you have to cut the rock under running water. and it makes a horrible mist that will fuck your lungs up, so you have to wear a mask.
I set up a system in my kitchen, using a tripod, some tubing, multiple hepa filters, and a lot of hillbilly engineering. But I was able to work on the rock. The downside was that my kitchen was covered in a fine silica grit for about 3 months. I ate a lot of fish sticks and french fries, which i could cook with minimal silica grit wipedown. It was a trying time.
I started with an amethyst orca, on some agate. Such a beautiful piece of agate. Then in a moment of carelessness, I let the dremel touch the tail and it snapped off - the vibration cracked it along an internal flaw. So I glued the tail back on, decided to keep that one for myself, and started again on another piece of agate, from montana.
