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Small Lake Superior Gemstones are Often Amazing

This is a fair sized Greenstone form the Central Mine. They’re getting harder and harder to find.

Do you love small pendants? The popularity of smaller pieces of jewelry seems to have grown recently. Many people prefer a more petite pendant, that are less pretentious to wear, all the time, on a simple chain. Small stones can have big appeal for the rock/jewelry lover.

Thomsonite from the North Shore. I found this many years ago. Sitting on a dime.

Many of our Great Lakes rocks and minerals have filled the bubbles in amygdaloidal basalt and are small in nature. A few of the stones from the Great Lakes that are often petite include Isle Royale Greenstones, Thomsonite, Datolite, Copper Agates, and my favoite stone, Lake Superior Agates. Many times these gemstones are more amazing in a pint-sized versions, than in a larger size.

Another Not Shore Beauty. Sitting on a dime.

The difficulty I have as a wire artist is that smaller stones are more difficult to wire wrap than larger ones! In order to wrap these, I have created custom tools and use 24 gauge precious metal wire. This wire is more delicate and needs careful handling in construction.

In wearing these small pieces, be assured that the 24 gauge wire is sturdy enough for everyday wear.

A gorgeous, tiny, Lake Superior Eye Agate; smaller than a dime. I love the challenge or wire wrapping these tiny gemstones. Iknow it doesn’t look like Gold. Sometimes I like the look of Pink Gold.

My wire wrapping abilities with special tools allow me to wire wrap stones 1″ circumference or larger. Smaller than that, the stone is destined for a silversmith to put a bezel around it for a ring or necklace. A talented Goldsmith can create a lost wax setting; This is often done with rings.

Copper Agates seldom are found bigger than a dime. I named this “Copper Map”.

Many ask; What do Copper Agates look like in the rough? Here’s the rear of the Copper Agate I posted above. Would you pick this up? The Savvy Rockhound would, especially if it set off the Pinpoint Medal Detector.

Just because a gemstone is small, does not mean will not attract attention. Our customers often mention the compliments they receive on small pendants they got from us. One of the comments I enjoy is “How does a guy with such large hands, create these magical, diminutive, pieces of jewelry”?

Many of the treasures found around Lake Superior, or in the Old Mine Dumps in the Keweenaw, are small but stunningly beautiful. They may be small, but killers in their beauty.

Exquisite Jewelry Makes Extraordinary Gifts.

We’ll remember 2020 for COVID-19 and restaurants closed on Mother’s Day. Even though the family was self isolating, it was rewarding to make some fine jewelry in hopes that the economy will improve eventually.

**Beanie’s were all dressed up with jewelry for Mother’s Day. They want to go for brunch, but seem happy being together.**

I think the happy Beanie Babies, and the happy jewelry may cheer you up.

Except for Bonnie’s Pendant, all these jewelry creations are for sale. Call or E-Mail us if you are interested.

Bonnie’s Mother’s Day Pendant was this spectacular Firebrick and Franklin Datolite. The Datolite has copper lightning!

I named this pendant “Stems”. Crinoud soup with some spices.

A designer style Pink and Blue Petoskey.

A nice Pink Pet. A few flaws, but great pink.

A perfect North Shore Thomsonite coupled with two matched Greenstone from Isle Royale. The wave and Ice would have ground these Greenstone to dust, had they not been harvested 60 years ago.

**An unusual Thomsonite Sunrise mix from Superior’s North Shore.**

Madagascar Ammonite; Yes, some do look like Oak Leaves. Patterns on Ammonite shells are called Suture Patterns, and help identify various Ammonite species. This particular Ammonite is a Cleoniceras. I ground this Ammonite down, past its’ outermost layer, to expose only limited pattern on the harsh black background.

**Staurolite** **has a natural Cross Crystal Pattern**. **Some very fine Staurolite Crystals, like this one, form perfect crosses. Really nice Staurolite comes from remote regions of Russia’s Kola Peninsula.**

Self isolation is a perfect time to dig deep into my old material and find some special and unusual gemstones. Bonnie has fun rooting around in the pole barn, to find special rocks. While I play in the shop, she will come in often, all excited about something new she found. “When’s the last time you saw this?”, she will say. “Maybe 20 year ago; or 30; or never.” I might reply. Sometimes I too am so excited, I grab that rock, and instantly cut it, making a gem right away.

Please support us, and other small businesses, as we are challenged by current conditions. Think “Made in the USA” as you make your purchases. Thanks for the support.

Wire Wrapped Jewelry-Remarkable and New

During recovery from ankle surgery this winter, I’ve had plenty of time to work on new and remarkable pendants. I think I am approaching 200 new pieces of jewelry in the last couple months.

This blog will feature just some of the projects completed, and there are many more gemstones in line begging to be jewelry.

Yooperland pendant — Our “Yooperland” Pendants feature Fire Brick cut into the shape of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A Isle Royale Greenstone, from the Island is place in the general location of Isle Royale. Both stones are glued to a fine Blue Lace Agate.

Gotta love Datolite with Copper. The pink gold really brings out the red metal, don’t you think?

This Drusy (Druzy) fish was purchased at the Tucson Gem Shows, and carefully wrapped by me. Starting with a natural Quartz Drusy, the finished fish was created by a combination of dyeing and Titanium Deposition.

Isn’t nature amazing? This one is a natural Staurolite Crystal from Russia. Most of these crystals do not cross pefectly; but some, like this are perfect.

The Kearsage Lode near Calumet Michigan lies in the heart of Copper Country. Sometimes lucky digging in the old tailings piles will produce wonderful agates that have copper replacing some of the agate banding. These are not common and require a lot of work to find.

Paint overspray from car, boat, and manufacturing is commonly known as “Fordite”, but may not have anything to do with Ford. The remarkable, fully metallic pendant shown, is paint from the old Century Boat Company in Manistee, Michigan. The paint was used on their fancy ski boats back in the 70’s and 80’s. This [aint just shines in the sun. Amazing!

Out of this world-a Muonionalusta Meteorite piece. I use industrial two-part epoxy to seal these and prevent corrosion. The are iron meteorites after all.

A gorgeous Australian Boalder Opal. Ot’s unfortunate the color flashes, of the Opal. do not clearly show in a photo. this is really a remarkable stone.

Brown Rhodochrosite is normal Pink Rhodochrosite with impurities. I think it has more character than the usual Rhodochrosite we see.

Beautiful gem Rhodochrosite is translucent pink, and often does not have the banding that is a more common feature in this gemstone.

Dark-eyed Thomsonite from the North Shore of Lake Superior is coveted by Thomsonite officianados, especially if it is a beautiful pastel specimen like this one.

Copper Shale from the old White Pine Mine. Copper shale requires stabilization, but certainly unique.

Very rare and sought after Rhodocrosite from the Oppu Mine on the Japanese Island of Honshu. this mine has been closed for decades and produced remarkable Raspberry Pink Rhodochrosite; often boitrioidal.

Shining a light through the above Oppu Rhodochrosite, shows the boitrioidal pattern within this material. There was no other Rhodochrosite quite like it, and this is a pretty special piece.

Mohawkite was found in several Copper Mines in the Mohawk, Michigan area of the Keweenaw Peninsula. This piece is very unusual as it appears slightly pink. I do not know what caused this hue

Leland Blue slag glass from the old Leland Foundry has become a popular jewelry making item in recent years.

Pectolite var. Larimar that I recently acquired from the guy that introduced Larimar to the world, at the Tucson Gem Shows in 1986

The reverse side of the picture above. I wrapped the pendant so either side count be out.

Some of these new items are available on line, while others are in our show inventory. Nearly all are still available. Give us a call on these scarce, beautiful, and rare gemstones. We are known to have the things no one else does.

Multi-Stone Pendants

Recovering from ankle surgery has me homebound this winter. The good side is that it has forced me to focus on making many new jewelry pendants.

Having the extra time has also allowed me to make more complicated stone pieces. This blog will concentrate on pendants with multiple pieces. Many of them are hinged so the bottom moves. There are advantages to this configuration. When you sit, stand, or move, the pendant will react and make it more noticeable (and who doesn’t want to be noticed?). There is no reason why everything in life needs to be static. (Man, that’s a pretty profound statement). Enjoy these new artworks, as much as I did making them.

The collection posted features primarily Great Lakes Regional Gemstones, but there are a couple non-Great Lakes Gems in the mix.

An Isle Royale Greenstone with Thomsonite inclusions, was combined with Blue Centennial Datolite. **Sorry**; this one is sold.

Leland Blue slag glass looks great with flashy crystal CZ’s

Yopperland Greenstone Pendant — I call these Yooperland Specials; The U.P. is Firebrick. The Isle Royale Greenstone (from the Island), and they are all on a Blue Lace Agate base.

From the Kearsarge Lode near Calumet Michigan, this Copper Agate is coupled with Pink Gold Beads. The beads and the Pink Gold in the wrapping, bring out the Copper Inclusions in the Agate.

One of the best Pink Petoskey Stones I’ve done in a while.

This will be the first part of two or three blogs on new jewelry I’ve made recently. Most of the new ones are for sale on line, or are in our show inventory. If you are interested in any of them call or e-mail us at Snobappealjewelry@yahoo.com.

Thomsonite is a Great Garage Sale Find

Thomsonite Greenstone pendant — Transcendental Thomsonite & Greenstone Pendant

I have a good track record in identifying rocks and minerals, especially from the Great Lakes area. I’m not a know-it-all type person, but I have seen a lot of rocks and minerals in my day. Our website is an example of the variety of stones we use.

This is the back side, showing where the bottom is connected and how the botton swings. The bottom shows to be crooked, but that’s just the way I set it down.

I generally do not use common jewelry store gems; ours are usually much more rare. My rock club friends, and others, will ask me to attempt an ID for them.

At our recent Club Show a random shopper was referred to me by another club member to identify some odd looking stones. She had an old bracelet from a garage sale; the stones falling off a base metal finding. I identified the stones as Thomsonite from the North Shore of Superior. Most of the cabs were small rounds, but the main cab was a very unusual, pastel Thomsonite, sporting a red banding not unlike a Lake Superior Agate.

Closeup of the beautiful Greenstone//Thomsonite beads, the link visually tying the two large stones together.

I asked her what she was going to do with the stones (I was not interested in the metal, which looked like it came from the kids table), as they were loose in a bag. She decided to swap the stones for a bracelet we were selling. Sometimes a stone calls me to create jewelry immediately, and this was the case with this Thomsonite. It was so unusual for a Thomsonite, at first glance I though it was an agate.

I knew what I was going to do with the main stone when I traded for it. The only concern was the stability of the Thomsonite. The stone was thick, and Thomsonite is fairly brittle with an iffy crystal structure at times. Thomsonite does not tolerate harmonic vibrations, and requires careful cutting, grinding, and polishing.

First I used a 4″ ProSlicer high speed saw blade. ProSlicers are thin, for cutting valuable material. I used a .012 blade to cut the Thomsonite. Water and a couple drops of coolant are a must. I carefully sliced the Thomsonite, but a small piece broke off, turning a round stone into one with a flat side. The majority of the gemstone remained intact. I’d rather a gemstone break early in the process. I can’t begin to count the stones I’ve rejected over the years, because they did not live up to my standards. In many cases a customer would not even know there was a problem, BUT I DO. I refuse to sell substandard jewelry.

After a Thomsonite was sliced, the breakage can still occur. Grinding wheels must be broken in and only the soft wheels on the Genie or Pixie (lapidary machines) can be used (remember the harmonic issue?). Happily, the grinding and polishing turned out well.

The Thomsonite could have been a stand-alone pendant, but I love to upgrade if I can. In this case the upgrade was an gorgeous Isle Royale Greenstone, collected off the island 50 years ago; swinging from the bottom of the Thomsonite. This Thomsonite and Greenstone Pendant turned out amazing. If a pendant turns out amazing, I feel amazing, and I know the customer will feel amazing! Life is good!

It turns out identifying a random baggie of garage sale stones could be reworked to something stunningly beautiful! You can own and love the finished product! Visit our Thomsonite page today!

Explore ourÂ wide selection of Greenstone Cabochons, Greenstone PendantsÂ and Greenstone EarringsÂ as well as Thomsonite and other jewelry from Keweenaw Minerals

SISU Agates Revisited

Ledge Agate, Keweenaw Agate or Brockway Mountain Agate

SISU is a Finish word we hear often in the Upper Peninsula. It means going beyond ones’ Mental or Physical threshold. Most Lake Superior Agates are fairly easy to harvest, but Keweenaw Ledge agates require quite a bit of digging, pounding, and more digging and pounding work, to obtain. They require a lot of SISU to harvest.

Rocks and Trees are not an issue with SISU

On a previous blog (circa 2013) I showed the adventures digging ledge agates from the base of Brockway Mountain. A type of paint Lake Superior Agate, found mostly south of Copper Harbor, and not well known. I found a pocket of red chunks of agate in a secret hole. When I got home, I put these buckets of Keweenaw Agate in my barn to work on “later” and they rose to the top when Bonnie was cleaning and neatening out there recently. I didn’t have time to work with them right away, but one piece was so unusual it went right to the saw. Of the many Ledge Agates I have cut and seen, I have not seen one like this agate. Ledge Agates are pretty unique, but this one goes beyond unique

The back side of this Keweenaw Seam Agate is fairly mundane.

The front is really amazing. Like the big lake is has waves and mountains.

A close look reveals evidence of tubes, surrounded by red agate “eyes”

The green/ blue is probably a Chlorite deposition within the silica.

Keweenaw Agates are generally opaque with a porcelain surface, and little or no fortification banding. This particular agate had those attributes, and also eyes surrounded by red agate. The base color of the agate is reddish, but it also had green in it, indicating a chlorite deposition in the agate. I cut it and made a pendant as you can see here. I am hopeful that as I rummage through these buckets of seam agate I will find other nice pieces from this lucky pocket.

It took 5 or 6 years to show you Keweenaw Agate from this hunt, but hopefully I’ll find more good stuff to show you later. I probably missed some of the nuances in this stone. Feel free to comment at whatever link source you got here from.

video of rock huntint the Keweenaw Agate: https://www.snobappealjewelry.com/blog/category/keweenaw-peninsula/

Greenstone Surprise

When Bonnie comes to the shop all excited, it usually means she wants to show me something.

I was polishing a batch of Petoskey Stones when she appeared to tell me it was raining and all the my Greenstone-infested mine rocks were lit up with Greenstone. I had only a small pile of rubble outside that I have been working Greenstones out of them, off and on. Most of these rocks only have small Greenstone in them, and those I keep for teacher specimens. Sometimes a larger Greenstone may appear, and sometimes I see what appears to be a small Greenstone, and it turns out it’s really a big Greenstone. Let’s take a look:

Some of my tailings pile rock appears to be full of Greenstone, but it is full of, what most Greenstone hunters call “Half-baked Greenstone” or “Greenstone wannabes”. This material is dark and soft, showing no pattern. The wannabes usually occur in softer mine rock, whereas the good Greenstone occurs in hard rock (hard rock=hard greenstone). I’ve included a picture of this Half-baked material. This softer material may contain Chlorastrolite, but is mostly Chlorite. Unfortunately, like most of my fellow Greenstone hunters, I wasted a lot of time, over the years, on this half-baked dull junk. Not every green stone is our beloved gemstone Greenstone!

Soft, dark green Chlorite (Possibly with some Chlorastrolite) often inhabits soft mine waste.

Today I found one rock that I could see had a Greenstone poking out from the surface. I thought, based on my experience, that I might be able to break the rock open, and the little Greenstone might pop out. I whacked that mine rock and I broke that small Greenstone right in half. IT WAS A BIG-UN! I don’t mind at all that the stone broke in half. Now I can make two Greenstones!

The additional nodule shows some promise also.

This particular Greenstone has a center filled with some type of Zeolite. Often the Zeolites in Greenstones is soft and rotten, but this stone seems to be solid. The extraction now involves carefully cutting out the stones. More work, but the rewards may be worth the extra effort. Based on the thousands of these I’ve cut, I will not get real excited unless the final gemstone is finished and really is a worthy Gemstone.

Because of my workload right now, I cannot show you a finished piece and we don’t know if it’s a winner or a loser. The end of this story will have to wait…sorry!

to be continued

“You can’t count on a Greenstone Gem until the finished stone comes off the polisher”-Don Reed 2019

You can read more about Greenstones:

The State Gem https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/michigan/state-gem-gemstone/isle-royale-greenstone

Inclusions in Greenstone https://www.snobappealjewelry.com/blog/the-shades-and-patterns-of-greenstone-chlorastrolite/

Making Custom Great Lakes Stone Jewelry

Among our Great Lakes stone jewelry pieces, every year one or two pendants stand out as very special. One extraordinary stone pendant this year was a triple segmented pendant of three semiprecious gemstones from the Great Lakes area. A gorgeous Minnesota Thomsonite, a Keweenaw silver nugget, and a copper-filled Keweenaw Datolite show off the great influence of metals in stone through this fancy piece. The photo does not do it justice. In person, it shines in many directions and swings freely, and the pinks in the top and bottom complement each other.

This special piece was custom made for a most discriminating customer. Annually she searches through my inventory to find my best new pendants. Also she picks out stones that fit her bold and eclectic tastes, offering design challenges in the late summer and allowing me to create something very special over the winter months. She is an advocate of Michigan artists as well as loving Michigan stones and the great jewelry that can come from Great Lakes stones.

Great Lakes Stone Jewelry

You can see that the size of this pendant is big and bold; this one is around five inches in length. The silver nugget was most likely picked from a mine ore crusher many years ago somewhere in the Keweenaw Peninsula. The Thomsonite was an inch tall and even wider, and dug in Grand Marais Minnesota years ago before the famous Thomsonite site was filled and and a park was created. The Datolite with loads of copper inclusions, was located on the Delaware Mine waste piles, making the entire pendant from places no longer existing. Most of these stones I’ve had for many, many years.

In order to make these large, multi-stone pendants, I think freedom or movement in the pendant is vitally important for comfortable wearing. When sitting, the pendant conforms to the different body positions.

Next year’s Extraordinary Pendant is being designed and, to be honest, I do not yet have the perfect stones. I’ve been feverishly searching my stash. I am not satisfied yet.

Recently I have created several custom pieces for other customers, and I can create one for you. I’ll work with your stones or mine. Christmas is approaching fast. Please think of us for your gifting needs.

Here are a couple custom pieces I’ve recently done from customer stones.

From one jasper a customer found on a romantic getaway. I love these nostalgic pieces.

A beautifully, customer cut CZ. It was a big faceted stone. The wire wrap challenge was matching the carefully calibrated stone with the wraps. The flowing design in the top directed the eye down into the stone. Michael’s wife will wear this on a romantic cruise in the near future.

You can see earlier examples of our Custom Work.

See a recent bridal set at Custom Rock Cutting,Lapidary and Wire Jewelry, Created Just for You!

Cabochons, Custom Lapidary, and Found Treasures

Some Petoskey Stones that made the cut.

Custom lapidary, or stone cutting, is a way to turn your favorite vacation stone into a jewelry piece you can wear forever to remind you of your great day on the beach or rock pile.

Many times people will send stones for cutting and/or wire wrapping that aren’t necessarily beautiful, but have a deep sentimental value to the owner. These might include stones that were picked up while hunting rocks with Grandma or Grandpa as a child, or something found while on a memorable vacation, honeymoon, almost anything that when they think back makes them smile. I carefully cut and polish your stone, and either send the Cabochon back for another jeweler to finish or make something for you myself according to your wishes.

Rutilated Quartz. I love the ribbons

Laguna Agate. This one had much shadow.

Pudding Stone found in the road.

A few new Laker Cuts.

An atypical Greenstone. No color touchup on it. Sometimes with Greenstones you see weirdness; but that’s OK.

Some recently acquired Fire Agate I recut.

Anadara (Salt Water Clamshells from Northeren California). The patterns are amazing.

Wedding jewelry is also something we specialize in, both for the bride, and also for the attendants. You would be amazed at some of the things I’ve done and made for people. Most recently someone ask me to cut out the shape of Yap Island and somehow combine it with a Petoskey Stone the shape of Yap Stone Money. I had to research where the hell Yap was and what it and Yap Stone Money looked like. This project is still developing in my creative mind.

In addition to some custom lapidary, I have had a little time this month to make a few nice cabs myself. I’ve decided to show you a few, primarily from Great Lakes Rocks and Minerals. Most of the rocks I have been working with Bonnie discovered while attempting to organize my shop area. When you buy up old collections, sometimes by the pickup load, bring them home, and toss them in piles, you have the tendency to forget what you have; or never really knew what you have in the first place. So this sorting can be surprising.

Datolites with Copper Inclusions

A few new Laker Cuts.

Top: Copper Included Agate from the Kearsarge Lode Bottom: Copper included Keweenaw Point Datolite. Good things and come in small packages that are re-discovered in my shop.

Bonnie’s recent barn finds include a bucket of Lakers hidden in the recesses, some nice Datolite from years ago, and some things we have purchased at the Quartzsite and Tucson Gem Shows over the years. So we are concentrating on some of these finds. As they might say, “so many rocks, so little time”! Which slab should I cut today?

Bonnie and I both got excited about a little yellow Keweenaw Point Datolite with copper that she found in the bottom of a cottage cheese carton with other treasures. I am not messy on purpose, but sometimes I dump whatever is in the top tray of my Genie or Titan Cabochon machine. This occurs when I have to change wheels, or move machines around, or even change for some clean water. These random stones and unfinished cabs get heaped in a little dish, with full intentions of returning them to the tray, after the dirty water is dumped. Sometimes (OK often), I forget and have little containers around with treasures from the tray. They get dumped together and forgotten until Bonnie or I re-find them. So a couple of these cabs are from those lost troves.

A small bucket of top grade Laker slabs and cabs was also found and I cut a few. Enjoy the pictures.

See more examples at our Custom Work page. If you are interested in any of these beauties in a pendant or have an idea for other custom lapidary, give us a call for a custom piece.

Tucson Gem & Mineral Shows on the Strip-Part 2

We pretty much covered the one end of the Strip of Hotel Shows along I-10 in Tucson Yesterday. As You may recall, we park at a lot about midway along the Strip. Heres are numerous pictures of some of the wild and amazing things we saw.

This should catch us up on the Strip Shows (pun intended). Tomorrow we visit the Hotel Tucson City Center where we expect many fossils, speciments.

Punk rock skull-oh my!

I think we should check out this room.

Amazing Boulder Opal. This was really two halves of an amazingly stunning seam of opal crystal. The vendor was one of Bonnie’s Facebook buddies from Australia, and both seemed thrilled to finally meet in person.