Category Archives: Special Stones

Whimsical Agate.

Lucy gave me an agate cabochon a few weeks ago and wanted a whimsical pendant.

Lucy's Agate on my workbench. Do you see the face?

This cabochon had a big smile and little eyes. Lucy saw glasses on the face, as did I.

I thought about this face for a couple weeks and today an idea popped out. I saw the glasses and envisioned little curls.

Does this make you smile?

Here is the finished pendant. I hope it makes you smile as it does me. Lucy will really like this piece of jewelry in her collection and enjoy making other people smile.

Working on U.P. Projects

Today let’s talk about some of the projects I brought back from the Upper Peninsula.

Sue's "super" Thomsonite

Sue has been a faithful customer over the years and she has brought me some amazing local stones for custom pieces in the past.

This time she brought one of the largest and most amazing Pink Thomsonites I’ve seen in a while. The cabochon was found in the Keweenaw 40 years ago, according to an I.D. tag that was on it. Thomsonites of this size and quality are very scary to work with because of the value and this one because of the size. Thomsonite sometimes just blows apart when you work with it on the grinder. Any harmonics created by the machine grinding wheels can send shockwaves into this material that sometimes just blows the stone apart.

I am always up to a challenge, but I also would hate to ruin a $500 stone. Thomsonite varies in hardness quite a bit, as well as crystal structure.

I had to re-work this stone to balance the shape and the dome. Believe me it was scary. This stone was very hard and solid (fortunately), and I was able to reform and re-cut it .

I was very happy with the way the wrap came out. As is my normal theory on wrapping I did not cover the beauty of the stone, yet I wanted the wrapping to be as elegant as the stone. I liked the way it came out; as did Sue.

Unusual blue coloration enhances this great little agate.

Nancy's ring.

Our friend Nancy brought several stones for me to assess. She enjoys the U.P. and rock hunting. Her daughter, Elizabeth, is also a rockhound. Several of Nancy’s stones had possibilities, and cutting when I got home produced an unusual small agate from the end of an otherwise plain stone. The stone had a strange bluish area. I have never seen this coloration in a Lake Superior Agate. It is hard to explain and lucky for you I took a picture. I made a ring for Nancy that reminds her of the U.P.

Elizabeth's wonderful pendant.

Elizabeth found a very cool ledge agate the next day and after cutting it and finding out how nice it was, I made a great little silver pendant for her. All these projects I really enjoyed. I love making my customers happy. Thanks to all of them.

You are not going to believe what is inside this stone.

The third project was my wife Bonnie’s anniversary pendant. You have seen the amazing copper-infused Datolite Pendant, but I don’t think you saw the ordinary looking rock it came from. You never know what might be inside the crust of a rock. I think that is why I love making jewelry. I’m the first person to actually see the inside of the rocks I cut for my jewelry.

The 35th Anniversary Pendant...SHE LIKED IT!

I would be happy to do some custom work for you. I can take your stones and create something wonderful just for you! What’s your dream jewelry? Let me make it for you.

Thomsonite Salvaged from the Road

It’s always a dilemma to know what rock to go hunting for in the Keweenaw. The choices include scouring the rock piles Chlorastrolite (Greenstone), Datolite, Prehnite, Thomsonite, or walking the beaches for Lake Superior Agates. All of these Michigan stones are good for jewelry, so it is a pleasure to add any of them to my supply piles. Just as a lark, Bonnie & I decided to wander north in search of something, and ended up on a two-track where we had previously found Prehnite and Thomsonite.

Too bad I chipped this one.

As is my usual habit, I drive slowly down the track, and peer out the window. As I was looking out the window, I saw a small white rock nodule lying in the middle of the road. If you have ever hunted Thomsonite or Verigated Prehnite (U.P. Thomsonite), you would know to look for white bleached out nuggets of rock in the banks and the trail. I took my pick and without completely getting out of the car, hit the end of it, exposing a wonderful eyed Thomsonite. I should never have his this stone, but fortunately I just chipped it. I don’t believe I’ve ever found a nicer Thomsonite. These are so very rare when they are beautiful colors with eyes.

All day long we looked for similar pieces, but never even came close. Some days are like that, you find the best thing first, and then all the rest fails to deliver that same excitement. I can’t wait to get home and put that stone under my grinder. It will surely be the best drive-by road hunt I’ve ever had. And it was shady too. A “Cool” rock hunt in more ways than one.

The finest piece of Pink-eyed Thomsonite I ever found in the Keweenaw,

There will be more on this stone when it is finished and in a pendant.

Celebration of Agates Ends

The Celebration of Agate sadly ended today with a time consuming breakdown of all our displays, and carefully putting our jewelry away for the upcoming trip and shows in the U.P.

Aerial view of the show.

Bonnie making a sale.

Wonderful display by Rock of Ages.

Rock of Ages agates.

The last day of the show added a good quantity of Fordite to my stash and three pounds of flawless Lake Superior Agates for jewelry in the future. On the whole this trip was worthwhile. Our jewelry was a show hit!

We met many rock people and remember a couple from Connecticut that plan their vacations around rock related activities. They were headed to the Kewenaw and I suggested they check in at the Seaman Museum and see if they can still register for a hunt or two in the Copper Country Mineral Retreat next week. We expect to see them on the rock pile.

The Celebration of Agates was a successful show with seminars, specimens, jewelry, and lots of learning opportunities. If you have never been to a rock show yet, be sure to attend one in your area this year!

Polka-dot Agate

Spanish Pyrite shown by the Geode Gallery

Costigan's rough rock.

A wonderful wood display.

Great marbles!

Worlds Largest Lake Superior Agate

Panera Bread is a great place to have coffee, a pecan roll, and to blog. Everyone likes my blog from Minnesota, and I really appreciate it. People at the Agate Show from all over have told me they follow my blog–how nice!

Wild Crazy Lace

Lakers like this are all over here; like they are a common occurence.

More Lakers over a pound.

MORE!

The excitement was high at the Celebration of Agate Show today. We talked to people that just came to the show on a lark and could not believe what they saw.

World Record Agates appeared at Scott Wolter's booth today.

The excitement today was I saw loads of Lakers again that I had not seen before, including both the world record Lake Superior Agate and the world record Fairburn Agate.

How about these north shore Thomsonites?

The show attendance was around 1100 today. I had good fun just talking to rockhounds from around the U.S.

Tepee Canyon Agates

I’m just going to show you some of the amazing things I saw today, I hope you do not get bored with great agates.

You would think Fairburn Agates were common looking at this display!

Victoria Stone and Imperial Topaz-The Retirement Pendant

Sometimes making handcrafted jewelry requires a lot of thinking before any action is taken. I’ve been thinking about how technically to create this pendant for several weeks, and for various reasons all the pieces of the puzzle did not come together until now. What I see in my mind’s eye sometimes does not easily translate into a finished piece of jewelry. On rare occasions the process of how to make a pendant has to simmer inside of my head for a while.

I could not figure an easy way to create this piece of jewelry. I am showing you one of most complicated wire-wrap jobs I’ve ever accomplished. Alert: I would recommend you not attempt this at home!

This has been in holding since June 15th. I’ve got the stones, now what should I do?

I started with an impossibly rare bottom end piece from a Victoria Stone Boule. I previously mentioned in another blog about the unusual, chatoyant, flower pattern that appears on only the bottom of the Victoria Stone boule. (http://www.snobappealjewelry.com/blog/?p=159) Among Victoria Stones, this is the most unusual of patterns. I have been saving this particular Cabochon for several years, until I figured out something to do with it that was worthy of its’ beauty.

I had one of my “jewelry dreams” one night and thought that Imperial Topaz might work with this green Victoria Stone Cabochon.

Imperial Topaz is considered by most to be the Cadillac of Topaz, and quite expensive (so is the Victoria Stone). An opportunity to buy a large faceted Imperial Topaz presented itself last year, so I jumped at it. I liked this natural 28.9 ct Imperial Topaz from Pakistan because it has a large platelet inside. The platelet produces a rainbow within the stone. Unfortunately under the photo lights I use, you cannot see the phenomenon. You’d have to see this in person to really appreciate it.

What do you think of this one? BLING! BLING!

Putting the Topaz and the Victoria Stone together was a match made in heaven, but not quite enough bling for old Don. I added two faceted Pink Topaz and a pair of lovely green Peridots. NOW there was something unbelievably nice!

Several hours of work over several days produced this amazing piece of jewelry.

I refer this piece of jewelry The Retirement Pendant because it is the pendant I have been planning ever since retiring from my day job a couple weeks ago! Bonnie wants me to give it a more fitting name when I post it on this site for sale in the next couple days. It’ll take me this long to figure out the perfect name, but if you have any suggestions I will consider them.

Enjoy this special piece.

Read more about Victoria Stone manufacture and colors at https://www.snobappealjewelry.com/blog/victoria-stone-the-new-research-and-victoria-stone-color-chart/

Lake Superior Agate Jewelry-I never get tired of Lakers

I worked on and off today creating a couple of Lake Superior Agate Pendants. I NEVER get tired of Lake Superior Agates.
The first pendant was just about the prettiest agate I’ve seen, and it made a remarkable piece of jewelry to take to the Celebration of Agates in Hopkins Minnesota.

This pendant is big, bold, and beautiful!

Beautiful pastels adore this great Lake Superior Agate.

I promised you I would let you see what I made today, so here they are.

The “Mole” Rock

“THAT ROCK LOOKS LIKE A MOLE!” This is the comment Bonnie made when I bought a few rocks from the guy at the Boy Scout Camp.

The outside of the "Mole" looked very ordinary.

I am a long-time friend to the Ranger at a local BSA camp. I got a call the other night that one of his volunteers had a few rocks he wanted to sell. If I’m available, I will always look at rocks, especially from an inherited collection. Treasures are often found.

Bonnie was bored so we jumped in the truck and drove to the camp where we found George with a few rough rocks in his pickup bed. He had some good stuff, but much of his material was a duplicate to what I have already. I did find a few interesting pieces and after a bit of bargaining a mutual agreement was made.

The inside of the "Mole" was extraordinary, proving you really cannot judge a book by it's cover.

Much or the time I know exactly what I am buying, but not with the “mole” rock. I knew it was an agate, but had no idea what kind it was. As you can see there is no indication of what lurks inside of this “mole”. WHAT A SURPRISE when I cut this ugly rock in half.

It turned out to be a wonderful Botswana agate. I cut out a crystal section from the rock and ended up with perfect Botswana Agate of classic Grays and white. Making beautiful gemstone jewelry from a really bland rock is so satisfying! This should make a great piece of jewelry for the upcoming Celebration of Agates show in Minnesota.

Pretty nice for a "Mole" rock, don't you think?

So, blog fans, here is the Mole to Gemstone transformation.

“Rooting”

Bonnie is outside “rooting“.

Rooting is defined at this location as either gardening OR searching and cleaning the barn. I am fairly happy in my barn and can find at least half the things I need in it (this is a good percentage for a guy). Bonnie, on the other hand, feels compelled to enter my venue, namely the barn, and “straighten it up”. She often says things to me like: “Don’t you think you should neaten this barn up”, or “This barn is a mess”. I tell her that there are spiders in my barn, and she HATES spiders, but this seems not to work very well as a repellant. I mention that if she moves things I may not be able to find them, but again this seems not to work very well. I recall giving up on discouraging “rooting” in 2008 (the fall, I believe).

Rooting requires moving things, including buckets and rocks around. When this happens my percentage of being able to find things declines to about 40%.

I do not discourage this womanly behavior, as I know it makes her feel good, productive, and improves her well-being. She discovers new rocks and is happy moving things she has already moved on previous rootings (Word says this is not a verb, but I KNOW it is) Another advantage is she is not disturbing me while I watch NASCAR, Deadliest Catch, or Chopper (guy shows). I’m usually wire-wrapping jewelry out of some Michigan stones while I watch these shows, so you know how hard-working I am.

If Bonnie wheels a barrel up, it may be a good omen.

What is in this barrel of rocks that are covered with saw mud?

Today, after a good rooting session in the barn, she came up the driveway with a paper barrel in her wheelbarrow. I

A sample of the edge (about 2" thick) revealed interesting dendrites and pattern.

do not recall seeing this barrel for a number of years, but I can recall buying it about 10 years ago at a sale in Grand Rapids.

The Owyhee and one of the Brazilian Agates.

She found several nice Brazilian Agates and about a ten pond slab of Owyhee Picture Jasper, a better then average root. There are multiple types of Owyhee from Oregon and I am not an expert as to precisely what it all is, but it is all of interest, and makes wonderful pictured cabochons. I know this rough is at least 30 years old. I do not know whether this material is still available or not. Thus far I have not found any on line. If anyone knows exactly what this jasper is, let me know and I will edit this blog. There is probably much more Owyhee in the one slab then I can use in my lifetime.

This will be great lapidary and barter material, don't you think?

So, to sum this up I guess it pays to let your wife be happy in her “straightening and rooting” endeavors. Good things can sometimes come of this affliction.

Greenstone with Cuprite-AMAZING!

One thing that scares me is cutting a large Greenstone. You can never tell what you will get. I have what is shaping up to be a thousand dollar greenstone and after meticulously working it for an hour, cut through into a hollow pocket making that marvelous Greenstone garbage.

Most Greenstones never develop from inside a stone. I spend hours and hours cutting worthless Greenstones. People wonder why these gems are so very expensive. I’ll tell you exactly why; they are from one source in the world and you must cut so many to get a good one. Ten stones cut MAY produce one Greenstone, and to get a good stone its one in fifty. To get a large, gem grade stone, my experience has been one in two hundred to five hundred.

Today I wire-wrapped THE most spectacular greenstone I have cut this year. I have never seen a greenstone such as this one (I’ve got you interested now, don’t I?). Since I cannot begin to describe this gemstone I’ll have to show you.

Cuprite on Greenstone-How rare is this?

Cuprite on Greenstone, red on green; never seen it (before now) appeared as I cut this stone. I had to finesse this cut as the Cuprite was much softer than the Chlorastrolite and had a real undercut problem. This stone is very large at 4.6 grams, and I sure didn’t want to mess this up. Imagine the stress; could I cope? YEP. The stone came out amazing as you can see. I really should keep it for Bonnie, but she likes to wear the one she found. I’m going to post it up and it’ll be like selling a child, but I have big shoulders. I know I tell you often how unique, rare, or unusual my stones are, but this is in a class by itself. Very pretty and very distinctive. Buy it for your sweetie–there won’t be another anytime soon!

**I just noticed something, and since I’m sort of weird; IF you move your computer screen or laptop*** like a rocking chair ****while looking at this Greenstone picture you kind of get a Chatoyant effect. This will give you an idea what the REAL flash of this stone might look like….sort of like a cheap thrill for you.

***CAUTION-1. I will not be responsible for any damage that might be incurred while shaking a computer monitor. 2. Do not try this while under the influence of drugs of alcohol.

****Henceforth this will be dubbed “The Reed Maneuver“, and the phenomenon produced from The Reed Maneuver will be dubbed “The Reed Effect”. I will advise you when a piece of jewelry produces this amazing effect. Normal liability disclaimers will apply whenever attempting this.