I recently posted about the lapis lazuli a rockhounding buddy sent me.

But I wanted to destroy it.

My goal was to create the original ultramarine pigment of renaissance artists. After a few failed tries manually, I ordered a rock tumbler and — since lapis lazuli is SUPER hard and I didn’t want to have to separate grit from pigment, I got steel paint mixing balls to grind it down. That way I can separate any steel bits at the end with a magnet.

After a week, the pieces look like this. It’s so pretty I’m keeping these to polish and turn into, I donno, a necklace or witchcraft or something, while I let the balls work on the rest of the bits.