Coffee and Cabs, two of my favorite things
I have lots of weird things on my jewelry bench that are NOT made for jewelry making. I like to repurpose things to make my life easier. But before I tell you about those things, I want to give you a little insight into me and my routines.
The minute I open my eyes in the morning, I want coffee. I know, I’m pathetic but I’m sure many of you are right there with me. Am I right?!
After I drag myself out of bed, I make my way into the kitchen to wake up my dear friend, the coffee pot. (He’s been with me for years.) I hear those delicious drips trickle their way into the carafe and I’m filled with anticipation. Then, that enticing aroma begins to fill our home. From there, I sit in my chair, read, pray and sip my coffee. It just starts the day off right.
Oddly enough, I LOVE cutting cabs in a similar way! Lapidary is food for the senses. The way a stone looks and feels along the process of slabbing, cabbing and polishing is so rewarding and much like coffee, worth the wait. It’s so fun and satisfying to finish up a new batch of stones and see what they turn out to be.
I also love cutting ‘cabettes’ which brings me back to the weird things on my bench.
A couple years ago my kids gave me a Mr. Coffee cup warmer for Christmas. What a thoughtful and useful gift – right? Coffee, maybe. But I had other ideas….
When doing stone on stone work, using epoxy is a time killer, even when using 5-Minute Epoxy. 5-Minute Epoxy really means about 5 minutes of working time, then at least 30 minutes to set up, and if you want it fully cured and hard, you’re looking at overnight. Enter Mr. Coffee. I like to place my glued-up cab on a small piece of paper then place it on the cup warmer. In 15 to 20 minutes your epoxy is cured and you can continue working with your cab.
A couple of cautions: after just 15 minutes the stone will be too hot to touch, so be careful. Just another repurposed application that will make your life easier for you.
Coffee and cabs? I’m in! Two of my favorite things (besides Roxanne). There’s
nothing like a fresh cup ‘o Joe and a handful of freshly cut cabs in the morning.