Lapidary clubs
Encyclopedia
Lapidary clubs promote popular interest and education in lapidary
, the craft of working, forming and finishing stone, minerals and gemstones. These clubs sponsor and provide means for their members to engage in all forms of jewellery making, cabochon
cutting and facet
ing, carving
, glass beadmaking
and craft
work. The clubs also promote and facilitate healthy outdoor activities in the form of field trips to various fossicking
locations for the purpose of collecting gemstone
s or mineral
specimen
s. Lapidary is particularly popular in the United States of America and Australia where large numbers of clubs were formed in the 1950s and 1960s.
In Australia, the peak body is the Australian Federation of Lapidary & Allied Crafts Associations Inc known as AFLACA. AFLACA has eight member organisations that together represent several hundred lapidary and related clubs across Australia.
Each year AFLACA holds its GEMBOREE which is a national Gem, Lapidary and Mineral Competition and Show which in addition to exhibitions and displays includes Lapidary Club members competing for awards in a range of lapidary categories.
For more information on the Scottish Mineral and Lapidary Club in Edinburgh UK, please visit:
Lapidary
A lapidary is an artist or artisan who forms stone, mineral, gemstones, and other suitably durable materials into decorative items such as engraved gems, including cameos, or cabochons, and faceted designs...
, the craft of working, forming and finishing stone, minerals and gemstones. These clubs sponsor and provide means for their members to engage in all forms of jewellery making, cabochon
Cabochon
A cabochon , from the Middle French caboche , is a gemstone which has been shaped and polished as opposed to faceted. The resulting form is usually a convex top with a flat bottom. Cutting en cabochon is usually applied to opaque gems, while faceting is usually applied to transparent stones...
cutting and facet
Facet
Facets are flat faces on geometric shapes. The organization of naturally occurring facets was key to early developments in crystallography, since they reflect the underlying symmetry of the crystal structure...
ing, carving
Lapidary
A lapidary is an artist or artisan who forms stone, mineral, gemstones, and other suitably durable materials into decorative items such as engraved gems, including cameos, or cabochons, and faceted designs...
, glass beadmaking
Glass beadmaking
The technology for glass beadmaking is among the oldest human arts, dating back 3,000 years . Glass beads have been dated back to at least Roman times...
and craft
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
work. The clubs also promote and facilitate healthy outdoor activities in the form of field trips to various fossicking
Fossicking
Fossicking is a term found in Cornwall, Australia and New Zealand referring to prospecting, especially in more recent times, when carried out as a recreational activity. This can be for gold, precious stones, fossils, etc. by sifting through a prospective area. In Australian English and New...
locations for the purpose of collecting gemstone
Gemstone
A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
s or mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
specimen
Specimen
A specimen is a portion/quantity of material for use in testing, examination, or study.BiologyA laboratory specimen is an individual animal, part of an animal, a plant, part of a plant, or a microorganism, used as a representative to study the properties of the whole population of that species or...
s. Lapidary is particularly popular in the United States of America and Australia where large numbers of clubs were formed in the 1950s and 1960s.
In Australia, the peak body is the Australian Federation of Lapidary & Allied Crafts Associations Inc known as AFLACA. AFLACA has eight member organisations that together represent several hundred lapidary and related clubs across Australia.
Each year AFLACA holds its GEMBOREE which is a national Gem, Lapidary and Mineral Competition and Show which in addition to exhibitions and displays includes Lapidary Club members competing for awards in a range of lapidary categories.
External links
- Australian Federation of Lapidary & Allied Crafts Associations Inc
- Directory of Lapidary Clubs around the World
For more information on the Scottish Mineral and Lapidary Club in Edinburgh UK, please visit: