Ready to tumble

My double-barrel tumbler arrived today! I woke up earlier than usual to pass by the post office and pick it up before going to work. It's a Chicago tumbler, not the best brand, but right now that's the only one my money is enough for, considering the high shipping costs to Cyprus. I'll give it a try and if I will continue with this hobby, I will invest in a good Lortone or Thumbler later on.

I used two batches, one in each barrel. No idea what the stones are though as they came with the two tumblers (some stones today, and some came with the previous Lortone tumbler, which I'm using for jewelry only). I saw some nice jaspers, a small piece of rhodonite, and in the other one some pretty quartzes. Added 4 tablespoons of coarse grit, water to to almost cover the stones by 3/4 and a spoon of soda bicarbonate for the gasses that accumulate in the tumbler.

These are the two batches of stones I'm using in each barrel (and no, the white dish is not the barrel, it's where I washed the stones).
I guess I'll be seeing them next in about 7-8 days *sigh*. Sorry about the crappy pictures, but without a tripod I'm pretty much lost. And the tripod is in another place in the flat :D

I thought the tumbling process would make much more noise, and it would even interfere with my meditation sessions, but it's actually rather soothing, I have a feeling like I'm around a stone waterfall in a reiki office :) Even hubby doesn't get bothered with it (well not yet, anyway *grins*), so I guess for now it's all running in the living room. We'll see later on...