It’s about time I showed you some of the jewelry I made from all that stuff I bought in Quartzite and Tucson in February. I have been working both in my shop and on my workbench.
This is just so wild.
Another really cool Bumblebee.
One of the most popular stones in Tucson this year was Bumblebee “Jasper”. It is not really Jasper, but is a mix of minerals in a matrix of a volcanic Tuft from the island of Java in Indonesia. Most of the Bumblebee we saw was just yellow and black, but I was lucky to find one dealer that went to Java and hand-picked some of the best material that I have ever seen. These Cabochons were bright pumpkin orange and black.
Treebeard the Ent.
I bought some wonderful Yellow Feather Dendritic Jasper from Utah. Dendrites are tree-like Manganese inclusions in a rock, and make wonderful pictures. The Pendant I show you in this blog stood out when I cut a slab off the host rock. I am a big Hobbit fan and I actually saw what looked like the Ent named Treebeard in it. “Hroom, hm, come my friends.” He’s taking Merry, Pippin, and the Ents in a charge on Isengard. Now where else can you get a totally natural depiction of a Lord of the Rings character for your stone jewelry?
Blue Biggs.
Biggs Jasper is a long-time favorite with lapidary types. It is quite scarce now but back in the 60’s the famous Blue Biggs was very popular. Biggs was re-discovered while building a road, and the best that came out was Blue Biggs. The reason I say it was re-discovered is that Native Americans made arrowheads from this Jasper for many years. Some Biggs was also used for landscaping. I found a nice chunk and this pendant is one cab from this spectacular picture Jasper.
Dinosaur Bone-WOW
There were many sellers of Dinosaur Bone at all the shows, but when I saw a D-Bone slab with a red agate inclusion, I just had to have it for a special piece of fossil bone jewelry.
Royal Imperial Jasper
Royal Imperial Jasper has just such spectacular patterns and pastel colors. I really like this stuff, found in Zacatecas, Mexico about 50 miles north of the city of Guadalajara. Does is remind you of Edvard Munch?
Smithsonite
Smithsonite from the famous Glove Mine in Arizona caught my eye. These stones had unusual colors, and made some really lovely jewelry.
It was a real pleasure to find the oldest living thing in Middle Earth in my stone pile. One of the reasons I cut rocks and make jewelry is because I love these unexpected visions. Stay tuned for the next finds!