Rock Tumbling Hobby Cabochon Contest
Welcome to the Rock Tumbling Hobby cabochon making contest where your skills and creativity will be put to the test. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to enter regardless of lapidary experience, or what machinery they possess. This friendly community contest offers a small prize but is mostly just about having fun and challenging each other to step outside our comfort zone and learn and grow, while dazzling the community with our beautiful rock creations.
Each month the contest features a specific theme as chosen by the winner of a previous contest. A complete list of contest rules and guidelines is posted here for you.
Previous Contests
December 2022 – RTH Cabochon Contest
Theme:
Circles, Winter! as chosen by our September winner realrockhound.
Theme Description:
Contestants were to cut a circle cab of any size. On the honor system, contestants are to cut it by hand, not using any forms of mechanical devices such as drills to create the circle shape or dome the cab. Contestants are also asked to choose a material that best represents winter to them and describe why that cab represents winter. Examples could be, snowflake obsidian, a picturesque cabochon that looks like winter, or any colors that go with the general winter or Christmas holiday theme.
Winning Entry By:
realrockhound
Material:
Nyedigger Plume Agate
Contest Notes:
With a crowded field of beautiful stones and after one of the tightest and most up and down voting sessions in memory of the contest, we congratulated realrockhound on another win! His Nydigger Plume agate circle shaped doublet cabochon perfectly captured the spirit of a winter night in December with the snow falling hard with promises of a white Christmas.
December 2022 Contest Page – view all entries!
November 2022 – RTH Cabochon Contest
Theme:
Thundereggs! as chosen by our September winner realrockhound.
Theme Description:
Contestants were asked to create a cabochon in any size or shape, from a material that originated from a thunderegg. For this contest we asked that the cabochon must contain visible host material, and not be created entirely of the core material which in a thunderegg is typically agate or jasper.
Winning Entry By:
liveoak
Material:
Cold Mountain Thunderegg
Contest Notes:
After two contests in a row finishing as the runner-up with beautiful cabochons that would have been deserving winners of any given contest, member Patty (liveoak) won this contest with what can be considered an outstanding example of Cold Mountain thunderegg agate. The visual clarity of the cabochon agate surrounded by brecciated jasper/rhyolite reminds the viewer of a beautiful pool of water, and took home a convincing 31.1% of the vote. Jasoninsd‘s gorgeous plume agate cabochon finished 2nd and was one of several fantastic thunderegg plume agate that could have been a deserving contest winner.
View voting collage of all entries
Also: Don’t miss our themed thread Thunderegg Thursdays on the RTH forum.
October 2022 – RTH Cabochon Contest
Theme:
Fall/Autumn as chosen by our August winner realrockhound.
Theme Description:
Contestants were asked to create a cabochon of any size, shape, material, or color that best represents what they deem to be the Fall season, or Fall weather. This could include color of material, cut of stone, etc.
Winning Entry By:
realrockhound
Material:
Papa Bob Bed Thunderegg
Contest Notes:
For the first time in the history of the RTH Cabochon Contest, member realrockhound made it three wins in a row with and outstanding circle shaped cabochon that featured gorgeous pink to orange plumes rising up and leaving no doubt that fall was in the air. The museum piece worthy cabochon won in another landslide vote capturing 37.3% of the vote in a field of 13 gorgeous creations. Once again liveoak was the runner up with her gorgeous hand crafted and carved leaf shaped cabochon made from rainbow petrified wood.
September 2022 – RTH Cabochon Contest
Theme:
Landscape! as chosen by our July winner agatewhisperer.
Theme Description:
Contestants were asked to create a cabochon of any size and shape, material or color that visually reminds us of a beautiful landscape scene.
Winning Entry By:
realrockhound
Material:
Ocean Picture Rock
Contest Notes:
RTH Forum member realrockhound made it two wins in a row with his stunning Ocean Picture Rock cabochon. Ocean Picture Rock is a beautiful material that originates in British Columbia and is known for natural looking ocean scenes, but this piece defied logic on how realistic the ocean scenery could be. The perfectly planned, ground and polished cabochon won by a landslide in a field of 12 gorgeous creations, capturing a whopping 53.85% of the vote in the process. May and June winner liveoak’s beautiful Rootbeer Agatized Wood and victor1941‘s elegant Biggs Jasper cabs finished 2nd and 3rd respectively and divided up most of the remaining votes.
August 2022 – RTH Cabochon Contest
Theme:
Curves! as chosen by our back to back May and June contests winner liveoak.
Theme Description:
Contestants were asked to create a cabochon of any size, shape, or material that contains both a concave and a convex curve (inside and outside) – that’s it, easy right?.
Winning Entry By:
realrockhound
Material:
Batcave Jasper
Contest Notes:
RTH Forum member realrockhound blew us away with this gorgeous cabochon with both convex and concave curves that left nothing to the imagination. This colorful creation won solidly in a field of 11 entries with 30.51% of the votes, followed by jasoninsd’s wonderfully crafted Rio Grande cobble agate cabochon which gathered an impressive 23.73% of the vote.
July 2022 – RTH Cabochon Contest
Theme:
Matched pair of earring cabochons, chosen by our May contest winner liveoak.
Theme Description:
Contestants were asked to create a matched pair of cabochons, suitable for use as earring jewelry. No specific dimension requirements were assigned but the earring stones need to be as lightweight as possible, so the size should be kept small. Any shape was OK but circles were disallowed because there are mechanical means that create circle shaped cabochons very easily.
Winning Entry By:
agatewhisperer
Material:
Noreena Jasper
Contest Notes:
RTH Forum member agatewhisperer’s colorfully dazzling matching set of cabochon stones dominated the field of 12 entries with 36% of the votes.
June 2022 – RTH Cabochon Contest
Theme:
Narrow Shape, chosen by our April contest winner agatewhisperer.
Theme Description:
Contestants were asked to create a narrow cabochon of any shape, material, or thickness with a finished height/width ratio of 3 to 1 or narrower.
Winning Entry By:
liveoak
Material:
Blue furnace slag
Contest Notes:
Technical aspects were off the chart as Patty (member liveoak) went all in and entered this stunning blue moon shaped cabochon complete with concave and convex curves and realistic looking craters. Patty’s creation edged out a very unique Morgan Hill Poppy jasper cabochon as well as a lovely Marcasite agate cab, and she won with 22% of the vote.
May 2022 – RTH Cabochon Contest
Theme:
Soft Rock, chosen by our March contest winner rockoonz.
Theme Description:
Contestants were instructed to create a cabochon of any rock material that will scratch with a steel knife blade, so MOHS 5.5 and below.
Winning Entry By:
liveoak
Material:
Shattuckite
Contest Notes:
In the first of her two consecutive contest wins, Patty (liveoak) lost the first two cabs of this very soft material before knocking our socks off with her gorgeous lazy S shattuckite cabochon. This beautiful blue shattuckite cabochon with an unusual ‘sticks’ pattern won in convincing fashion with 28.5% of the vote in a field of ten beautiful entries.
April – RTH Cabochon Contest
Theme:
Springtime, chosen by our February contest winner holajonathan.
Theme Description:
Contestants were asked to create a cabochon of any rock material, shape size or color as long as it had some relationship with or connection to the spring season.
Winning Entry By:
agatewhisperer
Material:
Arizona Chrysocolla
Contest Notes:
agatewhisperer’s cabochons never fail to wow us but this cabochon made from Arizona Chrysocolla was just flat out impressive in every way, colors, composition, shape etc. and it showed it by capturing an impressive 30% of the vote in a competitive field of eight gorgeous cabochons.
March 2022 – RTH Cabochon Contest
Theme:
Who you calling square!? This theme was chosen by our January contest winner agatewhisperer.
Theme Description:
Otherwise known as the battle of the four corners, in this shape challenge, participants were asked to create a square or rectangular cabochon of any lapidary material or colors.
Winning Entry By:
Rockoonz
Material:
Starry Night Picture Jasper
Contest Notes:
Lee wowed us with a highly technical intarsia cabochon made from picturesque starry night picture jasper, trimmed with polkadot agate, framed with black petrified wood, and inlaid with a white jasper moon. Lee’s creation wowed the voters and edged out a gorgeous sagebrush dendritic jasper with 28% of the vote for the win.
