Between gardening, yard work, and carpentry projects, I have been cutting a few stones this summer. The video below gives you a quick look at what I have been up to.

Most of the stones are pretty, but one in particular (the fragmented filament agate) looks like a bottle full of eyebrows or eyelashes. You may ask “What the hell is a fragmented filament agate?” Well, I am going to tell you.

Nodules, geodes and agates often form in the inside of gas bubbles that form in lava. The bubbles form while the lava is still hot and pliable. Later, after the lava has cooled, water containing silica and minerals permeate the lava and cracks in the lava entering the ‘bubble’ (technically called a vesicle or vug). Some of these minerals and silica will form a thin layer on the inside of the bubble. This thin layer sometimes scales off much like the mineralization inside your teapot. This mineralization and silica fall to the bottom of the bubble. More silica in solution and mineralization again enters the bubble, this time surrounding the scale (filament) creating the fragmented filament agate. This silica forms quartz and agates within the gas bubble. Many of the nodules and geodes found on The Carver contain fragmented filament and other sagenitic material which creates the beautiful patterns, colors, and shapes of The Carver agates.

Enjoy the video.