Gemstone rings was judged to be the Shop Friend of the Month for October 2011.  Congratulations to James Brown of Greybull, WY for his entry!  Jim hopes to eventually put a tutorial on the web on carving soft stones and eventually the gemstone rings. Jim wrote the following: "I am wampidy on RTH (Rock Tumbling Hobby). The easy part of making the rings was drilling a hole in a slab with a hole saw then using a larger hole saw to drill out the rings.  The polishing is a different story and I would have to take some pictures to explain how I did it.  A small drum sanding tool held the inside of the ring.  That was chucked up in a drill and the ring was spun against grinding and polishing pads.  It took me a while to figure that one out and I had several methods fail to begin with.  It has taken a lot of practice to be able to get both sides of the ring even and round.   Once the ring is shaped and polished, I use a dremel with water to clean up the inside.  I gave many of the rings away to family and friends to see how they would hold up and have not had much luck there. (Jim does not recommend wearing them on New Years eve while drinking and roller skating.) The Chinese use only jade and there is probably a good reason for that. lol!"  Again, thank you Jim for your article entry and photo which will help others on how to make something similar!