|
The Products:EARRINGS and PENDANTSHere is the variety of earring styles (fench wire, ball post drop, post) that I produce. The size and shape of each pair of stones is dictated by the material, the pattern in the stone and the overall effect that I intend to achieve in each piece. No two pair are ever the same and each pair is thus unique.....never to be duplicated again. My trademark is the ability to match the pattern in every pair so that there is mirror image not just in the size and shape, but also in the image in the stones. When I produce a set to include a pendant, the pendant is cut to match the earrings. The Stones:
This calcium sulfate from Peru is actually related to gypsum. The unusual color is typically referred to as Lilac Blue Anhydrate but is also called Angelite. Most pieces are translucent and also sparkle when the internal crystaline structure is exposed to direct light.
This pale cream and white limestone from Bolivia has very broad bands and occassionaly lacy patterns.
Another pale cream and white limestone but this rare material also has sky blue bands. This find came from Peru.
ARIZONA PAINT ROCK *NEW for 2009* A brand new and very limited find of material from northwestern Arizona. The pattern strongly resembles my Indian Paint Rock from near DeathValley, but this has a grainier texture and the shiny black psilomelane is more evident.
This Canadian reddish feldspar material has a metallc glitter when polished. I also have selected pieces that are more unusual due to the use of the natural crystalline surface.
This material from Utah has a range of Lilac colors with black inclusions. For the mineral collector, this material is unusual because it will fluoresce a pink to violet color. This material from Utah has a range of Lilac colors with black inclusions. For the mineral collector, this material is unusual because it will fluoresce a pink to violet color Beryllium nodules have become very difficult to obtain. The stone is highly flourescent and has normal light colors in the lilac to purple range and also may have reds and oranges.";
Dendritic Psilomalane is nearly as difficult to say as it is to spell. This black manganese oxide occurs here as a feathered or fernlike inclusion in a creamy white agate. There are occassionaly quartz crytsal inclusions that I like to show off whenever possible.
The Blue Bird mine in Miami, Arizona closed in 1948. The copper ores that I show have predominantly the dark blue Azurite with inclusions, streaks and bands of Malachichite and Chrysacolla. There are also pieces that show some of the other minerals from the mine like silver, lead and occasionally iron.
This blue-green to green travertine, from Utah has colored inclusions that give the material an Asian character.
This quartz (granite) material is from Brazil has bright blue or navy blue bands on a white, grey or pale blue field.
This silicate of magnesium and iron is from Brazil and it has a more-or-less distinct fibrous structure, and when this is pronounced the sheen has a certain resemblance to that of cats-eye.
This material is a very hard purple Agate that comes from (oddly enough) Burro Creek in the Sonoran desert, southeast of Kingman.
CALICO LACE JASPER (not currently pictured)
This banded Jasper from Arizona has browns, golds, pinks, cream and occasional quartz crystal pockets.
I debuted this material during the 2007 season without including it here. This sky blue translucent material feels and works like a calcite but as yet is not fully identified.
The scenes in this grey blue travertine form scenic pictures. Combinations of gold, brown and dendritic black are truly unique.
A copper silicate frequently mistaken for turquoise. My Arizona material frequently has abundant quartz to give it great clarity and many pieces also show malachite and/or azurite intergrown in the native stone. The Arizona Asarco mines have a great variety of Chrysocolla. I love this material because of the many colors and abundance of quartz crystals. Ray mine is an old time Arizona Copper mine and the material has mixes of Chrysocolla and Malachite, many other copper carbonates and a rare show of Azurite. This material is characterized by seams or layers of many different colors. The copper ore from near Contact, Nevada has many colors including green, brown and black. Many pieces have fern-like inclusions called dendrites. The Good Day Mine in northwestern Arizona opened in late 2002 and it has a wonderful variety of patterns and colors. The material is very hard and glasslike with many translucent pieces. The mine owner now sells his material as Blue Cloud Chrysocolla. Arizona's Inspiration Mine opens occassionally and yields chrysacolla and malachite in quartz. Some are very translucent pieces and some samples have chatoyancy. My newest Peruvian material is very similar to an Arizona material called "Apache Chrysocolla".
SUNSET CHRYSOCOLLA *NEW for 2009* A new brillaintly colored chrysocolla from Sonora, Mexico. The colors are the typical blue turquoise of this mineral, but also with bold inclusions of black, red or orange cuprite. Also referred to as Sonoran Sunrise and Sonoran Sunset.
CHRYSANTHEMUM STONE *NEW for 2009* This is a very dark green (nearly black) and white rock made up of Gypsum clay, Dolomite and Limestone, with internal crystals of Calcite, Feldspar, Celestite or Andalusite. The white patterns can resemble Chrysanthemum flowers or Star Bursts or Snowflake crystals. This particular variety is from Canada.
This unusual druzy calcite comes from the the copper district of Congo (Zaire). The crystals form in small pockets and fissures in the native rock and some pieces have the occassional show of Malachite.
Yes, it's really fossilized bone ! Most of these pieces were collected from private lands in Utah. The colors range from brown to red to a very rare pale blue. My newest material came from a Wyoming collection site.
This sedimentary clay colored by iron and manganese was collected just outside Death Valley. The natural pictures appear to make desert scenes and are highlited by polished manganese with the effect of inlaid silver.
A highly patterned jasper from Mexico that has green, black and cream colors with some pyrite flecks.
Today jade is valued for its beauty. Its many colors are appreciated, but it's the emerald green color that jadeite produces so well, that is highly sought after by artwork collectors. This emerald green jade called "Imperial Jade" is colored by chromium. Other colors are influenced by iron (green and brown) and manganese is thought to produce the violet colors. Nephrite is usually only green and creamy white, while jadeite can have the full range of jade's colors.I have always had traditional green translucent Jade. I have small amount of a brecciated species from Big Sur on the California coast. The British Columbia Jade is generally translucent with a nice apple green color and there is always the lighter green Nephrite Jade from Mexico. My purple Jade is from Turkey and some peices have quartz veinss
A classic blue stone of sodium aluminum silicate that has been mined in Afghanistan for centuries.
This natural lapis from Peru has a lighter color than material from Afghanistan and a light stippled pattern that give it the Denim look and name.
A feldspar from Larvar, Norway with Labradorite crystals that give it an opalescent appearance.
A classic green copper carbonate from the Congo (Zaire). I cut these to show off and match the characteristic stripes and swirled patterns. I have a wonderful variant of this material from the Katanga mine with a surface of crystals. More examples come from various mines in the American Southwest and some of these of these pieces have black Tennurite inclusions and occassional pockets of light blue Chrysacolla and red Cuprite. The variety can be impressive.
MALACHITE / AZURITE / CHRYSOCOLLA
These copper carbonates are natural combinations of at least two (and sometimes three) of the listed materials. Together they frequently give the appearance of pictures of Earth as seen from space. These copper carbonate mixtures are the most popular color combinations in my collection. The pieces with dark blue azurite are the most rare and spectacular. The newest material from Peru for 2008 has an unusually large amount of azurite with a broad variety of color intensity. There is also white quartz in many of these pieces that add yet another color and character to this wonderful and rare material.
A wildy colorful and patterned jasper from Western Australia in the Kennedy ranges (Mooka Creek) near Gascoyne Junction. This is among my most popular materials because of the broad range of patterns and colors.
Net-like patterns of green and black against a grey background in this marble from China. This patterned chalcedony from Wyoming has white, brown and tan colorations. Some pieces have inclusions of crytsals that sparkle in the light. Materials are often named after who discovered them, sometimes after the places they are from. This very colorful orbicular and crystal pocketed material from Madagascar has large areas covered in barnacles. Go figure... I've had a very small amount of this material for several years, but have never had enough to feature on the web site. Persistent searches for a new source payed off this year. This is from the same area as Ocean Jasper, but the pattern and colors are clearly different and the name is very descriptive. A classic banded travertine (not truly onyx) from Pakistan. I like to make the distinction because many materials marketed as onyx are actually the softer travertine. PARROT WING *NEW for 2009* Another copper silicate from Sonora, Mexico. This variant of Chrysocolla has pockets of crystals and the dendritic pattern gives it the feathery character for which it is named.
This volcanic material from Washington State is Peridot in magnetite (a natural magnetic mineral). This mottled or speckeled combination is referred to as Olivene. Images one and two use reflected light and transmitted light to demonstrate the wonderful translucency of the peridot. This patterned material from Utah has rich brown, grey and black colors that give interesting geometric patterns and occassional scenes. This fibrous serpentine (Tigereye) from a South African tungsten mine is characterized by a rich cobalt blue with inclusions of a wonderful gold. This coral to pink colored material also has areas of gold and occassionally yellow. The mine is located in Western Australia near the Mookaite deposits. Rainbow Calcite is a multi-colored and banded material from Mexico. This banded and translucent fluorite is from Argentina and was collected more than 4 decades ago. The variation in colors include purples, blues, greens and occasional yellows. This stalagtite / stalagmite material is sometimes called Inca Rose. The warm coral pink color is a manganese carbonate that formed in a cave near San Luis, Argentina. This managanese silicate varies from a brownish red to pink to flesh color. This material is harder than rhodochrosite and usually has black veins of managese oxide. I have material from several continents, but these pieces were created from a find in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia. These two related minerals from Tanzania provide a stunning contrast in color. The red Ruby is a very hard Aluminum oxide (corundum) second only to diamond in hardness. The green Zoisite with black hornblende inclusions is much softer and that makes the material difficult to properly cut and polish. The newest material for 2008 comes from southern India, near Karnataka. Rutile refers to the titanium dioxide needles which, in this Brazilian material, occur in quartz. The net effect is to have needles in sheafs or clusters visible inside the clear quartz. The most prized pieces have an optically clear quartz and very distinct needles. The rutiles will ocur in several metallic colors, from gold, to copper to black.
SERPENTINE
Serpentine can be an attractive green stone that takes a nice polish and is suitable for carving. It has been used as a substitute for jade and is sometimes difficult to distinguish from jade, a testament to the beauty of finer serpentine material. This dark green, almost black, magnesium silicate comes from a newly opened mine in San Benito County. It has a faint tortise shell pattern and fine "lightening" streaks of silver or white. Serpentine has an amazing variability and I routinely show many different types including this variety from Washington (in addition to Green Fire and Seraphenite). The Lake Bakal region of Russia is the source for this green chatoyant serpentine. SHATTUCKITE *NEW for 2009* The original descriptions and discoveries of Shattuckite were from the Shattuck mine in Arizona. The hard copper silicate is charaterized by dark azure blues with lighter streaks of blue. This particular find is from the Congo.
Not a true onyx, but similar in appearance. This banded material from the Mojave Desert features white and cream colors with fern-like patterns called dendrites. The manganese ore from the Kalahari Desert is a highly prized gemstone occuring in a range of purple shades. An intense blue turquoise from the Nacozari Mine in Sonora Mexico. The Sleeping Beauty mine is located near Globe, Arizona. Its turquoise is noted for its solid, light blue color with no matrix. Sleeping Beauty turquoise is the favorite of the Zuni Pueblo silversmiths for use in petit point, needlepoint, and inlay jewelry. This mine is one of the largest in North America and is still operating. The unusual banding of this reddish material gives it the appearance of snakeskin. This comes from Newman in Western Australia, 600 miles north of Perth. Named after Robert Stich, general manager of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company, Dundas (Tasmania). Stitchtite is found in serpentinite rocks associated with Chromite. This find is from Kaapsche Hoop, Barberton District, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Lepidolite is an uncommon mica and has only in the past decade become available on the mineral market. This find from near San Diego has inclusions of pink tourmaline that complement the darker but sparkly host material. Variscite is a hydrous aluminum phosphate, Al(H2O)2(PO4) and it is sometimes confused with turquoise, however, variscite is usually greener in color. This variscite specimen comes from Australia. This material from the Gila wilderness area of southern Arizona, came to us through a native american friend where it is highly prized. It is called Wild Horse because of its 'Pinto' pony look. It is sometimes referred to as a white turquoise (which it certainly is NOT !). YOUNGITE *NEW for 2009* Youngite is an agatized brecciated jasper with a grayish translucent druzy quartz usually around the outer part of the material. It is found in natural caves in Mississippian limestone near Glendo and Guernsey reservoirs in Platte County, Wyoming. The extremely rare drusy quartz usually fluoresces green and is featured in this selection. The jasper center varies in color from a light tan, to a pretty peach, brown, reddish, salmon and variations of these colors and can be seen above as "New Fork". |
