Category Archives: Picture Stones

What’s on the Workbench?

Paintbrush Jasper-China

Bonnie mentioned that I have not blogged about “What’s on the Workbench ?” in some time. So this month let’s just have a look.

I usually consider my workbench as the place I make finished jewelry, but getting stones to the point they can be worthy takes time also. Many wire artists do not cut their own jewelry stones, but I think it’s important to control my jewelry from start to finish.

Where do I get all the beautiful stones I use in my jewelry? I get that question all the time. Over the many years I’ve been in the Lapidary business I’ve acquired many old collections from estates or old collections that were just wasting away in a basement, garage, or barn somewhere. Rocks are also bought at the rock and gem shows in Tucson, Quartzsite, or rock & mineral shops anywhere we travel.

Outside Mexican Crazy Lace Agate

Inside Mexican Crazy Lace Agate

Owyhee Jasper-Owyhee Mountains Oregon

Leland Blue Stone is actually slag glass form an old smelter in Leland, Michigan. It is a local favorite.

Deschutes Jasper. Oregon

I eventually make jewelry stones (cabochons) from the rough. I love that many times (actually most of the time) I just don’t know what’s inside a rock of interest. Let’s saw it and see the inside!

Biggs Jasper has great pictures. Notice the Dendrites?

What will this Larimar Rough look like when cut and polished? That’s the fun.

Anyone that works with rocks generally knows what kind of rock they have, but the surprise occurs when that rock is sliced. Sometimes that rock is a Heaverite (just heave-her right out on the scrap pile). Bonnie’s flower garden is sometimes the beneficiary of these rocks, other times they just pile up outside the barn waiting for some visiting kids to take them home. The times that really are exciting is when the rocks are much better inside than I ever could have imagined from the outside. On occasion a rock may be just exceptional. I love these. Snob Appeal Jewelry is well known for the rare, unusual, and exceptional. I love it when someone buys a truly amazing piece.

Distinctive Picture Jaspers amaze me. A recent Paint Brush Jasper had a really outstanding scene. Classic picture jaspers like the famous Oregon jaspers from Biggs Junction, Owyhee, and Deschutes are famous and popular.

Turquoise and Petoskey Stone. Bonnie has been busy too.

Many, many of the stones I cut can have unique pictures in them, so I’m showing you a few. . Dendrites in jaspers resemble trees, shrubs, and plants and make the scenes in these Jaspers very realistic.

A Dendrite is a crystal structure with a tree-like branching form, adding realistic-looking details to the picture jasper stone. These are not a fossils, as many believe. Manganese is a common mineral that crystalizes into dendrites in picture jaspers.

Many projects are in the works here at SAJ. I find myself with too many ideas for the time I have. If you watch cartoon movies, you’ll know what I mean when I say I see that little fish saying in my ear “Just keep cutting-just keep cutting”; so that is what I do. I’m busy, but enjoy it as long as I don’t have a deadline.

If you enjoy looking at my recent projects share your favorite on Facebook!.

Favorite Rhodochrosite and Jasper Jewelry

At our outdoor art shows shoppers generally look close up at several pieces before they make their selection. On the web it is a bit difficult to flip from page to page and remember sizes and features, so using our ability to look at several at a time, this blog will be about some of Bonnie’s favorites. I write mostly about jewelry from our Michigan stones, the Lake Superior Agates, Greenstone (chlorastrolite), Datolite, and Prehnite, so today I will focus on some other great stones.

Beautiful pink Rhodocrosite

Rhodochrosite is one of those stones that Bonnie gravitates to every time she sees it. In fact that is true about Turquoise, Variscite, and Sonoran Sunrise. These Rhodochrosite Jewelry choices have very pink color with banding, the favorites are Red Ridge and Banded Heart Rhodochrosite Pendants. They are both beautiful pinkish-red, though the colors in their photos look more orangish. If you love rhodo, you’ll love these.

Queensland Agate boasts the most beautiful pastels in the agate world.

Amazing variety in Queensland Agate,

Queensland Agate jewelry is lovely because of the candy colors that are available. A strand of beads Bonnie bought looks like a bunch of jelly beans. The Yellow Banded, Pink Banded and Orange Blossom Queensland Agate Pendants show the great variety of pastel colors that you can enjoy. Bonnie loves them all!

A pair of Biggs Jasper (bottom), and Paintbrush Jasper (top)

Picture Jasper is a less colorful stone, but makes distinctive jewelry because of the one-of-a-kind pictures that you might get if you are lucky when you cut the stone. Mountain Valley Picture Jasper Pendant and Tree Lines Hills Picture Jasper Pendant are two great examples, both of them are Biggs picture jasper. Conjuring Image is a picture, but comes from Paint Brush Jasper. It looks like a pond edged by trees to me. Since there are so many jaspers, these are grouped together under Jasper.

Ocean Jasper in now extinct, but it is the amazing in both patterns and colors.

So, Ocean Jasper could be on that page, but because there are so many of them, they got their own category. And because it has been more readily available than some other stones, they are some of the more economical jewelry pieces. A favorite (remember my wife is a flower gardener) is Ocean Jasper Flowers Pendant, The size is large enough to command attention, the colors are very neutral, with the obicular pattern is enhanced by flower petals! Eternal Pink Ocean Jasper Pendant and Ocean Jasper Arrowhead Pendant are a couple of the other good ones, and show the diversity of colors available in this stone.

owl

To finish today’s list of favorite stone jewelry, Bonnie picked “The Owl”, a cabochon of rhyolite that inspired me to play with the wire a bit. A good choice for someone who loves owls, or who lives life playfully!

Stones with Pictures Make Distinctive Jewelry

This month I thought I would talk about rocks with pictures in them. I love these, as do many of our customers.

Fordite is for the warped (or intoxicated mind). Get drunk enough and you WILL see pictures!

Royal Imperial Jasper

OK. this IS NOT a picture rock, but it is a great picture of my favorite hunting areas near Lake Superior. This one is from our campsite.

Landscapes are common in Biggs Picture Jasper and other western jaspers, but they sometimes show up in other stones as well. I have posted a blog previously on my “Dogman Pendant”, and some of the stones and pendants you see in this blog have been commented on before, but others are brand new. This will be good fun. You may see things others do not.

On some occasions finding a picture is just “the luck of the cut” as demonstrated by a datolite I found. If I had not had a lucky cut I would not have found Michigan’s Lower Peninsula inside it. The same holds true for the “Dogman” and many other lucky cuts I have made. I do not often recognize the unlucky cuts because the picture never materialized.

"Michigan" Datolite

Mookaite from Australia on rare occasions has dendretic inclusions.

Old rockhounds, like myself, are often accused of having rocks in the head, so if you see strange things in stones, you may not be hallucinating. There are some people that just do not have enough imagination to see things. This is a shame. How can you go through life without having a little fun? I’ve been accused myself of being “a few fries short of a happy meal”, and I accept that as partially true. Check out all the rocks I’ve found with wonderful picture inclusions.