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Apache Tears
This obsidian rough makes beautiful tumbled gemstones and is one of our favorites!
Apache tears are translucent obsidian nodules that can be polished to a brilliant sheen. They can be a challenge to polish because they tend to bruise in a rotary tumbler. This can be prevented by using a generous amount of plastic pellets (we use about 20% by volume) to cushion the tears. In a vibratory tumbler small ceramic media can be used to fill the voids between the tears and reduce the force of tear-to-tear impacts.
These Apache Tears range from 1/3" to 2" in diameter. Photographed wet to show full color.
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