A lapidary is an artist or artisan stones, minerals or gemstones into decorative items such as engraved gems, cabochons and faceted designs. In modern contexts the term is most closely associated with jewellery and decorative household items.
Apart from figurative carving there are three broad categories of lapidary arts. These are the procedures of tumbling, cabochon cutting and faceting. Most lapidary work is done using motorised equipment and resin or metal boned diamond tooling is successfully decreasing particle sizes until a polish is achieved. Older techniques, still popular with hobbyists, used bonded grinding wheels of silicon carbide, with only using a diamond tipped saw.
Here are some great examples of lapidary work:
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