Petrified Wood Jewelry Archives

I’ve been ahead of the curve as it relates to this isolation. In January, I opted for an Ankle Fusion (not as much fun as it sounds). I was in three different casts in 6 weeks, than a boot for another 6 weeks, now a walking boot. During that time I could not get out and about.

This isolation allowed me to be pretty much home bound in an RV in Florida. You cannot imagine how much jewelry a person can manufacture with so much time. I took the opportunity to up my jewelry game by making not only more jewelry, but more complicated and innovative jewelry.

This blog will be things I’ve made just the past month. All are for sale, but may not be on line or in our show inventory yet. If you are interested in any of these, call or message me.

I love reaching into a vug at one of the Amethyst Mines near Thunder Bay, Ontario, and feeling the sharp points of mud-encrusted Amethyst. Careful prodding and pulling will often dislodge an excellent specimen. this one had set around for a decade in my shop, finally attracting my attention.

Condor Agates, from remote mountain areas in Argentina, are some of the most colorful agates on Earth. You have to wade through a lot of Condors to find exceptional ones. This designer cut beauty came out very nice, and sports some remarkable colors and patterns.

A couple custom rings were recently made for a couple awesome ladies. The top is a Pink Topaz, while the bottom one is Isle Royale Greenstone with assorted Copper and Silver Beads.

Yellow Cat Petrified wood is a rare limb cast wood from Grand County, Utah. Back in the day all of this material was bought up by Tiffany and made into jewelry. Parts of this wood glow green under the UV light. Small amounts at large prices are sometimes found at the major Gemshows in Tucson or Quartzsite.

I found this piece of Dinosaur Bone at the Tucson Gen Shows a few years back. I was attracted to it because of the scenic picture, and unusual Agate/D-Bone mix.

The top is an Actinolite mix from Canada, and the bottom is extremely rare Oppu Rhodochrosite from Japan. Oppu is easily recognized by its Raspberry color.

A Centennial (Mine), blue Datolite and a Silver-Copper Nugget. Centennial Datolite is very rare, and is one of the most coveted varieties of Datolite. This one has so much Copper in it that it has a beautiful pink sheen.

I found a large (2 1/2″h x 1 1/2″w) Fordite that had a wavy, gray surface. I thought to just his the high spots of the surface. WOW! How amazing is this? The rear (shown below) is also very fine.

The rear of the above Fordite. Hey; I wrapped this one so you can wear either side to the front, as your mood suggests!

Ruby in Fuchsite is a beautiful stone primarily from India. The striking combination of red Ruby and pastel green Fuchsite makes this stone very sought after.

Under a UV light, the Rubies just glow like fiery embers. Ooooh!

I love these little Silver-Copper and Silver Nuggets from Michigan’s Copper Country. They are not so easy to find since many of the waste piles at the Copper mines have been hauled away for road fill. A fun reminder of the Copper Country.

A blue, pink, and orange Petoskey Stone. It’s got a lot going on.

Chrysocolla, Azurite, and other things combine to make a stunning gemstone.

Just a really nice Pink Petoskey with a simple Unisex wrap.

Drusy (Druzy) Quartz’s are natural Quartz pockets that are sometimes dyed, sometimes treated with Titanium Vapor Depositions; sometimes both. They’s always popular and attention getting.

Chrysoprase is the most expensive member of the Quartz family. Most of the “Prase” is scarfed up by the Asian markets and is known as Australian Jade. It rivals jade in beauty, if you find a fine pure piece, like this one.

Big and bold, these Elrathia Kingii Trilobites from Utah, are in my opinion, one of the finest types of Trilobites. Most still have their “cheeks”, and make great jewelry.

Lastly a large custom pendant, I made for a special lady. The large Silver-Copper was hers, and I added a large Greenstone and a smaller nugget of silver and copper. This one was over three inches and is a real stunner.

I found Victoria Stone!

Ammonite. Love the Iridescence.

Perfect Natural Crosses are scarce in this Russian Material.

This scarce Russian material features perfect Natural Crosses.

I started to take photos of things I found yesterday, but ran out of daylight last night. Ammonite from Canada, Staurolite from Russia’s Kola Peninsula, and the very rare Victoria Stones from days gone by.

Happy Bonnie looking for spare parts.

I promised Bonnie I would take her to a bead show today, and since I wanted to go to Kino Complex we found that the “Best Bead Show” was open. Both inside and outside the Kino Community Center on Ajo Way right across the street from where I wanted to go. I was surprised there were other things at this show other than beads.

I’ve been looking for some additional lighting for our show tent and found just the right LED fixtures. I bought a new LED lamp with a flex arm for using in my shop to check cabochons for scratches . A bit pricey, as are most LED’s, these had very sturdy vice-type metal grips to attach to table edges. I was pleased to have found them.

I'm closely examining these opals.

"Yawah Nuts" hold a real possibility of treasure inside. Beautiful Opal that a picture does no justice to.

I did not take any photos at that show. We headed off to Electric Park where we had a few errands. Bonnie needed some beading supplies. I needed a part at Diamond Pacific. I scratched away in some bins I had not seen before.

I discovered some rare Yellow Cat Petrified Redwood at Larry Walker’s Booth. I purchased several smaller pebbles for cutting/jewelry. Yellow Cat is the most red of any petrified wood. Back in the day Tiffany treasured this vibrant wood for his top-notch jewelry. The booth that had the Yellow Cat also had Dinosaur Bone. Larry admired the D-Bone Pendant I recently made, and I was literally blown away by a bracelet he had on. We had a mutual admiration society going down right there.

Larry's mind blowing Dinosaur bone bracelet

My pendant--The Boneyard

I discovered some nice opal Yowah Nuts. Yowahs are a matrix opal with unique patterns. These can contain real treasures at times. They aren’t nuts, but brown roundish rock, with thin seams of color waiting to be uncovered by skilled lapidary work.

Jasparella Jasper from mountain near Quartzsite. I loved the red. It looked like red Dino Bone.

Why has this table not collapsed?

A massive semi came and dumped tons of rocks since last I was at Electric Park--Kino Sports Complex.

Look at those Labradorite Skulls in the sun!!!!

I think I’ll just let my pictures do the talking about our adventures today.

Tag Archives: Petrified Wood Jewelry

Making Socially Independant Jewelry

Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Shows 2014-Bones & Nuts