Quartzite in January is really four shows in a town of about 1200 residents, but with an attendance of more than 250,000. There are several more fields of interest in the lapidary hobby, some have been touched on already. Most people have interests that cover more than one of these. After you have cut your first few cabs you are faced with the question of what to do with them. You can mount them in factory-made findings or you can display them in a display case, but most people want something more.
Fabrication is the art of working with metal directly, hammering, sawing, soldering, etc.
Casting is the art of working with a secondary medium, usually wax, and then converting the secondary medium to metal. They are frequently displayed at home or in display cases at local club shows and libraries. Some collections are good enough to be loaned to museums. Tumblers Many times the starting place for the beginner is a tumbler, polishing up stones they have collected. Sometimes this interest is expanded into making tumbled stone necklaces or other artful endeavors.