Tag Archives: Opal

Agate Expo

Dnosaur Bone Trio-soon to be jewelry.

Many of you know that we are invited to be jewelry vendors at the Agate Expo in Cedarburg, Wisconsin next month. If you haven’t made plans to be there, you might want to!

Just the list of exhibits alone is astonishing, with 111 exhibitors listed. You will certainly see agates and jaspers you have never before heard of or imagined. A symposium will be held on July 7 with 12 agate experts speaking about their research. July 8-10 the show floor and exhibits will be open. You can see great agates, and that’s where you elect your favorite Snob Appeal Jewelry! On July 9 a banquet will feature Brad Cross as a speaker, plus a Live Auction and dance. Brad has “written the book” about Mexican Agates.

Lake Superior Agate with floating agate.

Madagascar Ammonite looks like falling leaves.

An unusual Laker

A coveted black & Red Kentucky Agate

This is the third International Agate Show we have participated in. In 2008 the Wonderful World of Agates was held in Wisconsin. (It was before I started blogging, if you can believe that, so the link will send you to David Von Bargen’s entertaining report on the event. He barely mentions agate jewelry though. Some Agate Lovers hate that anyone would cut and wear these treasures.) You can see some of our pictures from the Celebration of Agates in our Snob Blog July 2012.

If you love agates like we do, this show should be a must see trip. All the leading experts on agates from around the world will be speaking at the show, signing their books, and making themselves available for any questions you might have.

A Laguna Agate Pendant and Earring Set

Here are some of the jewelry pieces we intend to display and sell at the show. We are known for our fine agate Jewelry which earned us a spot as vendors. Our specialty is Lake Superior Agate jewelry but we also create jewelry made from rare and beautiful agates from around the world. We, or course will have our Michigan Greenstones with us, but most of our jewelry will be top notch agate pendants from many different agates. Visit us and count how many different kinds you recognize!

Boulder Opal

A fine Kentucky Agate pendant

Quartz crystal in a Quartz (Lodelite)

Quartzsite-Let’s See What We Got

Olivenite-Caution should be taken with this stuff as it is a Copper Arsenate.

Cheetah Jasper with Apatite inclusions.

Returning to Tucson after 2 1/2 days exploring the Desert Gardens Show and several other locales around Quartzsite, we re-lived our adventures by taking a close look at our spoils.

A few of the very fine Imperial Jasper slabs I selected.

Cobra Stone-India. Some is wet so you can see the color better.

Cobra Stone-India (AKA Coquina Jasper). Some is wet so you can see the color better.

There were several slabs I picked out from at least that many dealers. One was an interesting stone from India called “Cobra Stone”. By looking at it you can see why it got its’ name. In actuality the reddish matrix is filled with a multitude of clams. When the stone is oriented and cut the little clams look like cobras.

I also mentioned the scarce crystal Rhodocrosite from Argentina I stumbled across. There is some left, but I picked the top pieces I saw. You can still find this beautiful pink material around, but is is uncommon. Generally a story comes with a rock purchase. With this Rhodocrosite we were told that Chinese bought the Rhodocrosite Mine from an unwilling to sell miner. The wrote him a check for so much money, he just walked away. The

Crystal Rhodocrosite ( color not enhanced)

Chinese converted this mine into an open pit operation in search of precious metals and rare earth minerals, doing so much damage, and violating so many mining rules, that they got evicted. In the meantime their dynamite destroyed a wonderful gemstone mine.

Coprolite-Yes I did indeed buy this crap.

I found some great Apatite-included Cheetah jasper at T-Rocks. This is actually spoil rock from the Brazilian Apatite Mines. It used to be just left in the discard pile until someone realized what great cutting material it is. The rock varies widely in color and pattern, but nice Cheetah Pattern is what most look for. The beautiful Apatite is a bonus.

Condor. The colors were classic Condor. Some of this is damp, but the Az sun just dried the slabs off immediately.

I bought a couple pieces of Condor Agate. I usually am not excited by most of this stuff, but occasionally I find such beautiful coloration that it just screams “CONDOR”. I found these two pieces, out of the whole box, begged me to pick them out.

Pickings were very good, but there were no crowds. Maybe shoppers are waiting for the week end.

All these rocks we bought with the plan of turning them into the top-quality wire wrapped stone jewelry that we sell. You might not be able to see it yet, but come back over future months to see the results! Like us on Facebook to keep up with new items and all our blogs from Tucson.

A nice slab of Purple Opal (AKA Bertrandite, AKA Tiffany Stone)

Some of the deluxe Aventurine from near Pikes Peak.

Some of the deluxe Amazonite from near Pikes Peak.

A fist sized piece of superb Chrysocolla picked from the 60# I found at the Desert Gardens Show.

Opal Fish Jewelry

One of my favorite unusual things I enjoy wire wrapping are really fantastic fish carved from seam opal. The opal seam is very thin and would be a real challenge to make a cabochon from. These fish are carved overseas and it is one of the few stones I purchase. As most of you know I generally cut my own cabs, but these fish are a whole different thing. They are one of those things I can’t help but buy.

A fine opal fish

Rear of fish

Originally I bought fish with no idea how I was going to wrap them, but after thinking about these for several months I had a dream of how to wrap them using a prong set method. By using prongs, the wrap does not distract from the stone. I find by hiding the bail behind the fish they appear to be hanging from a chain, but all that is seen from the front is the fish. Prong-setting is an advanced wire-wrapping technique, which I developed with some special proprietary methods for this “fishy” jewelry.

These fish are carefully carved on the rear, just as they are in the front, but there usually is no opal on the reverse. Some of these fish have their own personality. The carving is different and the rock appearance is different, giving each one a distinctive look. Different body and tail positions on the carvings convey different attitudes. Some people even name their fish!

The fish come in several sizes and it takes a bit of “fiddling” to set the prongs correctly. Hey if it were easy everyone would do it! Everyone that has acquired a fish raves about all the nice comments they receive. You cannot wear one and expect people not to see it.

I have several fish I purchased in Tucson this year, so expect to see a few on this site after the summer shows. If you need one before then, let me know and I will photograph what I have available.

This one was a special request to add a lure.

Another fish-front side

fishfrt2