Category Archives: Mexican Stone Jewelry

New Spring Pendants

Megalodon Teeth with a signature wrap. If you want to awe and impress; these are your ticket. The blue tooth is from the St Johns River, while the tooth with the petrified wood look, came from the Savannah River in Georgia.

I wanted to show you some of my latest creations. from the past couple weeks. Rough stones were selected and cut with designs in mind. My inspirations come from the gemstones. Pattern, color, and pleasing appearances, all are taken into account, in my wire wrapping; But the most important part of my creative thoughts is usually whimsy. If a pendant is not fun to look and and wear, what good is it?

Condor Agate, from Argentina, is considered one of the most colorful types of agate.

This is the reverse side of the first Ammonite shown. I wrapped it so if it flips over, both sides show gorgeous, pearlescent colorations

The Ammonites are an fine example of out of the ordinary things that can be wire wrapped. These fossils are simple as compared to some things I’ve created for people.

Porcelain Jasper is a Ryolite from Idaho/Oregon. It’s supposed to instill a calming effect to the wearer. I think I may have to test the stone and see.

A handsome pendant of Fordite, wrapped simply in silver. This pendant could be worn by anyone. Fordite is an industrial waste from many years ago, put to a good use.

The rarest agates in the Great Lakes Region are the scarce and coveted Copper Agate, from the Kearsarge Lode near Calumet. Copper seeped in and replaced softer areas in the agate. They can vary from a very small amount of copper to lots of copper. They are typically not real big stones and often the copper is mostly on the outer areas.

Lake Superior Agate.
This one resembles a dust storm rolling across the desert. Or maybe you see a wild lake storm going on?

A more typical Laker. with red and white banding (we call these “Candy Stripers”). This particular agate has some shadow effects caused by very close banding.

Fairborn Agate from Teepee Canyon, in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

I could not decide which side of this cabochon was the best, so I wrapped it as a “flipper”.
You can wear it with either side out.

Mexican Crazy Lace Agate.
If you are lucky enough to find some old stock, the colors and banding can be amazing. This stone as rows of different colors, lined up like an artist might draw them.

I decided to enhance this Petoskey Stone with a few Leland Blue Beads. You can find these treasured things on the beaches near Leland, Michigan
The Petoskey Stone is Michigan’s Official State Stone, while Leland Blue in a slag Glass from an old foundry in Leland Michigan,

A pair of nice Petoskey Stone Pendants; one dark and the other light. Darker Petoskey Stones were Calcified in water containing petroleum, while the light stones were calcified where little petroleum was present. These were also different species of Hexagonaria. This is ascertained by the size of the individual cell structures.

Another wild Crazy Lace Agate. This stone is really a crazy, Crazy Lace Agate.

Turkish Stick Agate is a pseudomorph (you have to look this word up, and use it every day in your conversations) from the Cubuk region of Turkey. The mineral inclusions line themselves up in unusual ways, making each stick agate piece a surprise. This seems like it’s perfect for the off-kilter kind of person. Like me.

Here’s your Dessert

I cut these Greenstones from old stock material from Isle Royale.
All these are spoken for, and will make excellent rings.

I have a big backlog of cutting at my home shop, and am hopeful I will find some lost treasures to work with. I was restricted by the rocks and cabochons I could take to Florida. but I have loads of treasures I can work with as I return to my workshop. Time to get creative now!

Crazy Lace Agate yields a Custom Pendant

Meeting Facebook Friends is often an amazing thing. My FB friend, Gary, called me from the Chicago area and ask if he could stop in and find some Mexican Crazy Lace Agate.

He knew I had some fairly good Old Stock, and he had previously purchased a Crazy Lace Pendant.

He stopped in and after a tour of the shop, we sat outside and swapped stories while Gary picked out some old Crazy Lace. I told him to pick out a piece he loved and I would cut it while he watched. His end game was to have me make a new manly pendant for him. I have to say he had good taste. This stuff from a couple decades ago is so much nicer than the Lace Agate available today.

His challenge was figuring out what side of the slab would be the front. A choice was made and I was prepared to tell him that the side he chose was the side I would have chosen. Both sides were wonderful.

It did not take me long to produce a drop-dead gorgeous cabochon. Since he was staying in the Traverse City area for a couple days, I wrapped it up overnight and we relayed it to him when we did errands in TC. It turned out so well that I guess I have to make one for myself.

Thanks Gary, you own a real bragger.

Custom work is one of my favorite things. Until you have a custom piece made, you can shop our available Crazy Lace Pendants.

Searching Your Own Blog

What do you do when you have a stone you know nothing about?

Mexican Crazy Lane Agate along side an Aspenite Cabochon the day they were purchased.

I found a gemstone cabochon the other day recalling that I had purchased it in Tucson at one of the shows. I really forgot what is was, so I searched my own blog from this year’s Tucson Shows hoping to find out (again) what it is, and found a picture of the cab captioned “Aspenite“.

I searched “Aspenite” on line, and guess what? My own blog was pretty much the only information I could find on the stuff. So I answered my own question with my own answer. I guess I’m just amazing!

I was standing next to a woman at the Walgreen the other day that was talking to herself. She realized she was talking to herself, and apologized for it. I told her that talking to yourself is often OK. I , myself, do it at times when I seek someone intelligent to converse with. I mention this because, searching for my own answer, on line, was sort of like that.

When I wrap a gemstone, it speaks to me (most of the time telepathically), and whispers (hints) how it wants to look as jewelry. I just do what these little voices in my head tell me to do. Every so often I pick a gemstone that may be (how do I say this with sensitivity?) like three fries short of a Happy Meal. This Gemstone will force me to do a dumb thing, like cut or scratch a wire, ruining a pendant. After so many years I have learned to recognize these trouble making stones and I let them languish in their own misery in a seedy bucket with more of their kind. I got a little off track there for a while..have coffee and focus Don.

My blog indicated Aspenite is, according to a Gemological Institute of America (GIA) analysis, a Silicated Limonite with Chrysocolla, from Oro De Conception, in North Central Mexico. I must practice saying this, so it virtually “flows” off my tongue, with perhaps a spanish accent ala Ricardo Montalban. The GIA advised that the material had no name, so the finder named it after his home town. I am fortunate I took notes on this stuff; this made it possible to answer my own questions about it. I was not so stressed after coffee and by reading my own answer.

The claim made to me, by the seller, was that Aspenite is quite scarce (Yeah right; I’ve heard this before, so I take it with a grain of salt). From what I can determine it is indeed scarce. I recall the cost matched the scarcity claim.

snob-appeal-jewelryasppend

A simple two-tone gold and silver did wonders for this stuff. This piece was hand-picked by me for it’s wonderful combination of colors. Orange and green together is a remarkable combination I’d never seen before. Orange is not my favorite color, but I must like it. My Chevy Colorado is “Camaro Orange” for example. I like it not only for the color, but that we can see it in any parking lot we are in. I again got off track..sorry..

My point here is the best answers to your questions may dwell within you. At my age the only problem is finding or remembering them.