Pesky little amethyst

Bah...

I have a teeny little amethyst that doesn't want to cooperate. So far I have tried about eight or so times to transfer the stone to the other dop stick so I can cut the crown. Unfortunately, every time I have tried to remove the original dop stick, the freshly glued one comes off instead. It is a small stone so I am using a 2mm cone dop. I have tried my normal super glue, epoxy glue, wax and a wax/glue combination. It always seems to set up properly, and I leave them to set overnight and then the following day while I am at work; so I don't think it is attempting to seperate it too soon. I have again tonight attempted the wax/glue method, but this time, I am using a 3mm dop. I hope it gives the adhesive a little more to grab on to.

In the meantime, I have dopped another piece of amethyst that I will try to cut into a trilliant design. Hopefully it will turn out a little bigger than the previous attempt. Ya know...I probably spent at least 2 or more hours studying the pieces of amethyst to try to figure out which one would cut the best trilliant and then at the chosen stone itself trying to figure out which way would be the best way to orient it for best yield and color. And even with all that time I spent, I probably could have chosen better. But what the heck...I'm still learning.

Anyway...here is a pic of the troublesome amethyst so you can get an idea of how dang tiny it is.