I’ve been ahead of the curve as it relates to this isolation. In January, I opted for an Ankle Fusion (not as much fun as it sounds). I was in three different casts in 6 weeks, than a boot for another 6 weeks, now a walking boot. During that time I could not get out and about.
This isolation allowed me to be pretty much home bound in an RV in Florida. You cannot imagine how much jewelry a person can manufacture with so much time. I took the opportunity to up my jewelry game by making not only more jewelry, but more complicated and innovative jewelry.
This blog will be things I’ve made just the past month. All are for sale, but may not be on line or in our show inventory yet. If you are interested in any of these, call or message me.
I love reaching into a vug at one of the Amethyst Mines near Thunder Bay, Ontario, and feeling the sharp points of mud-encrusted Amethyst. Careful prodding and pulling will often dislodge an excellent specimen. this one had set around for a decade in my shop, finally attracting my attention.Condor Agates, from remote mountain areas in Argentina, are some of the most colorful agates on Earth. You have to wade through a lot of Condors to find exceptional ones. This designer cut beauty came out very nice, and sports some remarkable colors and patterns.A couple custom rings were recently made for a couple awesome ladies. The top is a Pink Topaz, while the bottom one is Isle Royale Greenstone with assorted Copper and Silver Beads.Yellow Cat Petrified wood is a rare limb cast wood from Grand County, Utah. Back in the day all of this material was bought up by Tiffany and made into jewelry. Parts of this wood glow green under the UV light. Small amounts at large prices are sometimes found at the major Gemshows in Tucson or Quartzsite.I found this piece of Dinosaur Bone at the Tucson Gen Shows a few years back. I was attracted to it because of the scenic picture, and unusual Agate/D-Bone mix.The top is an Actinolite mix from Canada, and the bottom is extremely rare Oppu Rhodochrosite from Japan. Oppu is easily recognized by its Raspberry color.A Centennial (Mine), blue Datolite and a Silver-Copper Nugget. Centennial Datolite is very rare, and is one of the most coveted varieties of Datolite. This one has so much Copper in it that it has a beautiful pink sheen.I found a large (2 1/2″h x 1 1/2″w) Fordite that had a wavy, gray surface. I thought to just his the high spots of the surface. WOW! How amazing is this? The rear (shown below) is also very fine.The rear of the above Fordite. Hey; I wrapped this one so you can wear either side to the front, as your mood suggests! Ruby in Fuchsite is a beautiful stone primarily from India. The striking combination of red Ruby and pastel green Fuchsite makes this stone very sought after.Under a UV light, the Rubies just glow like fiery embers. Ooooh!I love these little Silver-Copper and Silver Nuggets from Michigan’s Copper Country. They are not so easy to find since many of the waste piles at the Copper mines have been hauled away for road fill. A fun reminder of the Copper Country.A blue, pink, and orange Petoskey Stone. It’s got a lot going on. Chrysocolla, Azurite, and other things combine to make a stunning gemstone.Just a really nice Pink Petoskey with a simple Unisex wrap.Drusy (Druzy) Quartz’s are natural Quartz pockets that are sometimes dyed, sometimes treated with Titanium Vapor Depositions; sometimes both. They’s always popular and attention getting.Chrysoprase is the most expensive member of the Quartz family. Most of the “Prase” is scarfed up by the Asian markets and is known as Australian Jade. It rivals jade in beauty, if you find a fine pure piece, like this one.Big and bold, these Elrathia Kingii Trilobites from Utah, are in my opinion, one of the finest types of Trilobites. Most still have their “cheeks”, and make great jewelry.Lastly a large custom pendant, I made for a special lady. The large Silver-Copper was hers, and I added a large Greenstone and a smaller nugget of silver and copper. This one was over three inches and is a real stunner.
Looking back through the year Bonnie has been remembering some of the unique stone pendants that I have created. We miss some of our favorites, but are glad they have gone to new owners. Of the ones that are available, here are some new favorites, Top 7 Stone Pendants (or maybe a bit more)!
Now this was a tough choice. We added three new sets recently, and they are all really nice. Malachite is trendy today and the On Target Malachite Set Sma350 is very cool, but Smooth Sailing Blue Lace Agate Jewelry Set Sbl350 gets my vote today. The pastel blue of Blue Lace Agate is so popular, this set is stately and a useful addition to you jewelry collection.
Waves and Mountains Lake Superior Agateclose up of Waves and Mountain Lake Superior Agate
For rareness, different coloring, and just unique you might choose Banded Steel Iron Lace Pls330. Prefer green in your Laker? My favorite of the year is Waves and Mountains Pls355. For impact, paint agate, pink with banding,
Do you like yours pure dark blue, light blue, or with bits of gray? Again, so many ways to classify your stone. Top rank goes to one paired with a Petoskey Stone and Greenstone beads, making a Michigan Trilogy Pendant Ppe350.
The Weirdest Fossil Pendant
King Family Trilobites Pendant
The Kingii Family Trilobites Ptri350 rises to mind as the most unique fossil ever wire wrapped. We have had doubles before, but triple? It sort of evokes the maternal nature of family life, always together. But what about Wonderful Worm Homes Pendant Psh350? Isn’t it a fossil lovers dream to own a calcereous worm tubes jewelry piece? I almost forgot the large, in your face, amazing pyritized Ammonite. Mastadon Teeth, Dinosaur Bones, Dinosaur Dung also fit in the odd fossil category. It’s so hard to choose! The large Ammonite is my favorite, contact us if you are interested, it is in our show inventory.
Did you love our Top 7 Stone Pendants? If you want more to choose from, in the last two months we have added new pendants to so many places, visit these categories:
If you have followed my blogs over the years, you should have noticed many are about Isle Royale Greestones. I am amazed by orders from all over the country for cabochons, pendants, and earrings. How do these people know about these rare, one-source gemstones?
Many people have visited Isle Royale National Park, and know these stones can be found on the Island, but park regulations do not allow collecting Greenstone, as well as other specifically listed rocks and minerals. Having said this, the National Park Service policies have changed over the years in regards to picking up Greenstone. Isle Royale Greenstone have actually been protected since isle Royale National Park was estabished in April of 1940. There are individuals, even today, that harvest a few Greenstones while visiting Isle Royale. I guess my personal feeling is neutral on this subject, but they could pay a price if caught.
The Park service looked the other way, back in the day, when visitors picked up a few Greenstones on the beaches. Tiny little Greenstone, although fairly tough, were eventually ground up by the mighty Lake Superior, so why not let a few go home as mementos. The problem came with commercial Greenstone expeditions, where thousands of Greenstone were harvested by divers or “professional pickers”, and sold on the mainland for massive profit. The park service cracked down on these greedy private business collectors, and began enforcing the collecting rules that were always on the books. Today, there is a strict and enforced policy against removal of certain Gemstones and Copper from Isle Royale.
Over the years, I often have conversations with customers about old rock collections from decades ago. The collections are sometimes discovered by heirs in basements, garages, or sheds. My ears perk up at the sound of “grandpa’s old rocks”. Last year I bought an old Greenstone collection that was stored in a barn for fifty years, the rockhound that collected them was remembered by the jewelry he made, but some stones remained.
I am an obcessed person when it comes to cutting and polishing Greenstone. I try to limit myself to 100-150 of them for marathon cutting and polishing (I can oly average 4 Greenstones an hour). I’ll select the beach tumbled stones from my stash, throw them in my redneck bowl (CoolWhip), and take them to my shop to flatten the backs for Dopping. FYI; the rough Copper-Greenstone, featured in the opening blog photo, is at 12 O’clock in the bowl. I thought it was just a Thomsonite-included stone. There was no indication it had Copper in it until it was cut (with me smiling).After the backs are flattened, I push them, flat side up, into that crispy Styrofoam used for making wreaths. Sometimes I get lucky, and am able to get broken scraps.
Finishing Isle Royale Greenstones
Whenever the urge presents itself, or my inventory depletes, I decide to have a Greenstone production week. Production usually involves sorting out stones for both pendants and earrings. Earrings are generally sorted for color, size, and quality AFTER the Stones have been dopped, cut and polished, and removed from the dopsticks.
Depending on the size, pendant stones may or may not need to be dopped. Dopping involves gluing or hot waxing a stone to a wooden stick, a nail or a screw, to allow safe cutting without the skin touching the diamond imbedded wheels of the Lapidary Machine. Some bleeding is often present even though the stones are Dopped. I tell Bonnie, that a little blood on the stone improves the polish (NOT). I do heal fast. Some of my cutting and polishing of Greenstone methods I keep under wraps, but standard methods work well for most. I may continue, starting with how I remove the stones from the Dopsticks, and proceed from there.
A tiny Greenstone, from the Jeremy Graham collection, I recently wire wrapped for him. An unusual yellowish-green Island stone with Thomsonite inclusions.. Many times good things come in small packages.
Greenstone Quality
Island Stones are usually superior to Keweenaw stones in all respects. They generally harder and the pattern goes completely through the stone. The pattern most often, is a finer pattern, and often the color is a pale sage green. Because of the hardness of the Island material, Isle Royale Greenstone take a super deluxe polish. You can read more about the colors and inclusions in Greenstone in the Snob Blog article, The Shades and Patterns of Greenstone (Chlorastrolite).
Island Stones make wonderful stud earrings due to the fine pattern that is usually present. Isle Royale stones cost a little more money, but are lovely.
Another phenomena of Island stones is their color variations; some are so unusual you can have doubts that they are actually Chlorastrolite.
Coming out of Warp Drive inside a Laker. I just might get a poster made of this. “These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise”…..you know the rest.
I cut and polished this odd Tube Agate and had a vision of the Starship Enterprise coming out of warp drive and finding they had actually warped right into this agate. Only an old Trekker, like myself, would think this. How WOULD that look exactly? How would Kirk or Picard escape from this dilemma? I’ve never been known to think like others, I admit, but if this shows up on the IMAX screen, I WILL claim credit.
A Very Special Lake Superior Agate.
You might suspect, based on how many blogs I’ve written on Isle Royale Greenstones, that they are my favorite rock or mineral from the Great Lakes Region. I do indeed love Greenstones, but those that know me also know that Lake Superior Agates are really my favorite stones. The more unusual the Laker, the better I like it. This blog is the story of one particular Laker. Other than playing with lighting, I have not enhanced this agate in any way. What you see in the pictures is as close as I can come to what I see.
A Citrine, banded, tube Laker salted with micro Quartz Crystals. How many of these have I seen? Answer: None.
When I first view a rough Lake Superior Agate I always wonder what does the inside of this agate look like? In many cases I can take an educated guess based on the thousands I’ve seen, but in many cases it becomes a mystery, and I cannot wait to slice that agate open.
I obtain my Lake Superior Agates in many ways; find them, trade for them, or buy them. These Lakers may come from swap meets or rock show, but most of my best agates come from trusted dealers. I make jewelry from my stones, and I do not apologize to my Purist collector friends that just collect them to perhaps oil them and put them on display shelves. I have no issue with simply collecting Lake Superior Agates, but to me, they are beautiful and deserve to be shown off.
The full banding, crystal, and tubes appear here.Clearly the tubes are seen. Don’t they look like balloons?
I would never make jewelry from a large, super quality Laker, one that is clearly a true collector agate. I try to obtain fracture-free Lakers of smaller sizes, rare colors, patterns, and types. Classic Candy Stripers are always in demand for jewelry.
In Tucson, several years’ back, I bought a quantity of medium sized “Buckers”. This is a term Laker collectors give to pocket-sized Lakers, neither large nor small. I like the size of Buckers for jewelry. I can slice them on an 8” saw, and quickly see if there is a piece of jewelry hiding inside.
Micro Quartz crystals are seen here. This is the best I can do lacking a camera-microscope.
This Laker is just loaded with floating Quartz Crystals that sparkle as you move the agate under bright lights. I’ve never seen anything like it. Some of these tiny, clear quartz crystals are double terminated and resemble Herkimer Diamonds. I wish I could show you in person because I can’t do justice even in a close up to this inclusion rich agate. I do not have the capability or microscopic photography, but I was able to confirm the Quartz Crystals by using a Corbascope.
What a surprise when I plucked an agate from the bucket full of Lakers I purchased in Tucson. It was a very unusual yellow and orange coloration, it was not the normal banded beauty. As I cut this agate recently, I found that is was a Tube Agate, with some banding. But, to me, it looked like a Lava Lamp (they were a big thing back in the 60’s). I could watch a Lava Lamp for hours and globs of an unknown substance rose and fell within the globe. I never imagined 50 years later I would find a Laker Lava Lamp.
A Lake Superior Agate Lava Lamp. The Lava Lamp is the name I call this Laker.
Usually my blogs involve several specimens, but this Laker deserved a blog of its’ own. Hope you enjoyed your voyage with me today. Continue the journey by picking your favorite on our Lake Superior Agate Jewelry page.
You might have noticed the new look in our blog. This is part of a major update we recently had done by our web people. Please let me know if youlike the changes. We (Snob Appeal Jewelry) apologize for the disruption of our website as changes were made. If you have any problems at all with our new systems, PLEASE, let us know, so we can correct things.
Winter has been very productive at Snob Appeal Jewelry. Many beautiful stones that have been patiently waiting for their turn to become wire-wrapped pendants called out to me, and have finally turned up on the workbench.
I’m like a dog that sees a squirrel; I pick out a stone that grabs me, then I might decide not to chase it, and grab something else. All my stones beg, plea, and whine; they tease me, and all of them want to be elevated to the pendant level. The ones that whine the loudest are the “Chosen”. The pendants in this blog were all whiners; can you hear them. Let me know which ones are whining loudest for you.
There will be no rhyme or reason for the pictures in this blog, except they are all new. Many Michigan gemstones are mixed in with assorted worldwide stones. Most have not been listed for sale on the website. Contact us it you have an inquiry. Many will go to our show inventory or are scheduled for shipment to a retail outlet.
I have also been playing around with new ways to wrap gemstones, but still keeping with my policy of never distracting from a fine gemstone by using a lot of fancy doodah and froohaw, what I call it when people run wires all over the place. I do classical wire wrapping that enhances the stones. I spend too much time cutting rare and unusual stones to cover them up with a bunch of wire. Most customers appreciate my clean, neat, style.
So, without further rants, here is some of my recent favorites (AKA the sucessful whiners).
Sometimes it pays to look through old buckets. I recall digging this Chrysocolla with Copper from the Old mine dump at the Bumbletown Mine, maybe 15 years ago. Digging is not as good as it once was, but there are still a few pockets of nice Chrysocolla in the Keweenaw, The brown matrix gives this away as Bumbletown material.
Shattukite set. These from Bisbee, Arizona.
If a Lake Superior Agate Island appears in a Laker, it’s refer to as a “Floater”. Here’s a fine Floater I cut and wrapped.
A happy Trilobite couple..I really enjoy the challenge of wrapping these odd shapes. Elrathia Kingii from Utah. Most trilobites you see are missing their cheeks; these beauties are perfect specimens.
Drusy are natural Quartz Pockets that are treated in different ways. The customers like ’em so I make ’em!
Rainbow Obsidian Starfish has been sitting for a few years. It needed to be done.
A carved Ametrine, about nickel size turned out pretty nice.
Thomsonite; one of my favorites.
A composite Turquoise with Copper inclusions.
A very special piece of Gembone. Red is one of the most popular colors. Each cell is an individual agate. Dinosaur Bone; I love it!
An atypical Greenstone with Greenstone beads on top. I just wanted to be whimsical.
Some people call Owyhee Picture Jasper the king of Picture Jasper. A really good piece (like this one), is so realistic. Found a slab in my shop; Where did this come from? Doesn’t matter if I smiled. From the Owthee Mountains on the Idaho/Oregon border.
Thomsonite form Superior’s North Shore. Big perfect pieces like this are very scarce.
Blue Lace Agate is popular because it can be worn with almost anything, and has unusual pastel coloring. I felt compelled to fancy the bail up a bit.
After the frenzy of Christmas comes the chance to start on new pieces and replenish our bestselling stone pendants. I don’t know what happened in January, but I made a lot of jewelry! This blog will be fairly simple. I will just show you some of the newest pendants and earrings.
Picture Petrified Wood from Holbrook, Arizona. I am fascinated by this stuff. Unless you knew it was Petrified Wood, you would probably not guess it is.
I made this gorgeous Rhodochrosite set to replace a set purchased as a Christmas gift. Beautiful color and gem quality came together nicely. They look like pink candy.
The back side of the Copper Included Agate found in the Kearsarge Lode in Michigan’s Copper Country. Many Copper Agates are ugly on the back (which is actually the outside of the nodule, as found by the miner.)
The front side of a Copper Agate. You can see the bands of Copper that replaced some of the agate banding. This one has Copper Eyes. I focused a light on the front face. The copper popped and the cleat Quartz reflected the green back wall of the nodule. Without the light reflecting the face is mostly white.
Like the old song about Friends, “one is silver and the other gold”.
I made a pair of Rainbow Obsidian Hearts thinking someone would like one for Valentine’s Day. If you could see them in the sun you would see the pendants “pop”.
Kingman Turquoise is from one of the oldest Arizona Turquoise Mines. Native Americans historically mined Turquoise from this location long before the white man appeared.
My favorite Gemstones are Lake Superior Agates; a flawless Lake Superior Agate with perfect, varied, pastel color banding.
Kentucky Agate with coveted red, black, and yellow bands
Firebrick happened when vapors and molten Copper replaced much of the brick in the walls of the Copper Smelter. The Silica was impervious to the hot Copper and remains as small white grains in the Firebrick. This pendant was challenging to make in many ways.
A tiny Greenstone from Isle Royale (this is about as small as I can wire wrap.) This is a perfect choice for the person who wants to put it on and wear it 24/7.
The sizzle of Fire Agate amazes me.
I’ve wrapped many new Greenstone Pendants in preparation for summer sales, and Bonnie has had me working on earrings. Earrings are not my favorite projects for a couple reasons. First; they take as much time to make as two pendants and second; They are small and require that they be exactly like each other, but a butterfly image of each other. Buyers also think that earrings should be less expensive because they are smaller than pendants. This should not be the case at all, as they are smaller, and require more detailed work both in cutting and wrapping. Hear me grumble?
When making pendant/earring sets, they more often require making the cabochons and earrings from the same stone. You can never, for example, match a set of Lake Superior Agate earrings to a Lake Superior Agate Pendant, unless they are from the same stone. No two Lake Superior Agates are alike.
We have hundreds of pendants and earrings, both on line, and in our Show Inventory. So if, for example, you prefer a silver wire pendant, and you only see a gold pendant on line, give us a call. We might have something in our off-line inventory. Remember we can custom wrap something for you in a stone of your choice. We have many thousands of stones and cabochons; we specialize in Great Lakes Rocks and Minerals.
Drusy Quartz is a natural Quartz pocket. In some cases these pockets are dyed or treated using Titanium Vapors.
A very fine Dinosaur Bone. Red is always a popular color for jewelry.
From the Keweenaw Peninsula, Datolite with copper and other inclusions.
Charoite from Russia is always beautiful, but you will seldom see this stone with a landscaped picture, such as this has.
A Neon Blue Cooper Peby Opal doublet. A picture does not do this justice, but I did the best I could. Bling!
Gorgeous South African Pietersite. A beautiful landscape that the picture nowhere near does justice to.
Transparent Coyamito Agate from Mexico make charming earrings.
“Greenstone, Copper Agates, Lake Superior Agates, Datolites, and Pink and normal Petoskey Stone Jewelry continued to be popular in 2018; and we expect this trend to continue. Our loyal customers understand how rare these Gemstones are becoming, and eagerly order them as impressive and historic pieces of jewelry from the Great Lakes Region. Many are buying these rare Gemstones as investments and treasured heirlooms. Great Lakes jewelry makes unique and highly appreciated gifts.Thanks to all of you that bought handmade in the USA, Great Lakes jewelry treasures, in 2018.
Christmas is past, but many of you are now wearing our jewelry. Thank you so much.
Bonnie’s Christmas Pendant: Top to Bottom; Lake Superior Agate, Yellow Keweenaw Point Datolite with Copper, Greenstone with Thomsonite from Isle Royale (Collected at least 50 years ago).
What does the jewelry makers wife get for Christmas? The trick is to make her something special (and make it in a stealth mode). I think I pulled a good one off.
I picked out three special stones; cabbed them, and made a beautiful Lake Superior Area Showpiece. The top stone is a wonderful, flawless Laker. Stone two is an ultra rare Keweenaw Point Yellow Datolite with Copper. The third Stone a very finely colored Isle Royale Greenstone that I retrieved from my very old collection of Isle Royale Stones. All these stones swing freely and separately from each other.
I took care of all those errant wires; (see above picture) which proved me worthy.
Very unusual pattern and coloration from the Central Exploration Mine. Enhanced with a nice pair of Greenstone beads. 2.8 Gram Greenstone about Quarter-sized large Greenstone.
A double Greenstone pendant with a free-swinging bottom. Phoenix Mine.
I’ve decided to up my game in 2019 by making some exceptionally notable pendants. Thanks all, and a very Happy New Year to you all.
