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Year: 2023

Carnelian Agate and Sheaves of Wheat

Carnelian Agate and Sheaves of Wheat

By /December 6, 2023 /0 comments /Cut Rocks

Rock # 5370This carnelian agate is a likely candidate for a newly designed piece of jewelry. Rock #5364 Rock # 5364 This reminds me of sheaves of wheat and, when enlarged, shows hollow shaft-like crystals surrounded by agate swirls. While the ‘sheaves of wheat’ in this stone are interesting, they do not make this stone a candidate for jewelry. Rock # 5365What was the formative process that made this ‘mess’? Rock #5373This caught my eye because it is not visually similar to the other ‘stuff’ that I found on The Carver. I don’t know what it is but it is an interesting outlier. Rock #5379 Use your imagination! Isn’t agate great!? Rock #5369 Agate in basalt matrix. Rock #5374This is another cab from the agate in basalt matrix as seen in photo of Rock #5369. This stone looks ‘post-apocalyptic’! I love finding and highlighting the obscurities found in The Carver […]

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I liked this stone in May 2023 and have now featured it in a handmade sterling silver bracelet

I liked this stone in May 2023 and have now featured it in a handmade sterling silver bracelet

By /December 6, 2023 /1 comment /Bracelets

In my May 2023 blog posting, I featured this stone along with 5 others and said: “This stone may be in my next bracelet.” I loved this stone six months ago and still do. I make my bracelets to highlight the uniqueness and beauty of a particular stone. That is what this bracelet represents. Orange/yellow/red agate swirls frame a sparkling crystal-lined geode pocket—and a gold/black sagenitic formation that made this stone different from any other stone in the world. This is a Carver Agate Field original to be seen and enjoyed on only one wrist. I designed a sterling silver crown to highlight the colorful sagenite. Note also in the image below the small sterling silver ‘mirror’ in the geode pocket designed to reflect light out of the stone’s crystal-lined pocket back toward the eye. Everything about this new bracelet is thoughtfully, intentionally, yet subtly designed to enhance the reflectivity […]

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Unusual black chalcedony geode and other anomalies

Unusual black chalcedony geode and other anomalies

By /October 26, 2023 /0 comments /Cut Rocks

This is only the second black geode I have encountered on The Carver. This is dense black chalcedony, not basalt. Other photographs shown here are of the cabs which I cut from this black geode. Rock #5343I have never before encountered pitch black chalcedony in a Carver geode. Chalcedony is a micro-crystalline quartz (silica) common in many agates. It can be many colors but is most often translucent or transparent. Pitch black coloration is, from my experience, very rare. Click on the images below to view enlarged versions of this examples. Rock #5336 Rock #5248 Rock #5241 One stone yielded a slab that I turned into this fancy-cut designer free form cab (Rock #5325), as well as stone #5258 below. Rock #5325 Rock #5258 Last but not least. . . This small flat-topped cab features a crystal filled vug and the ‘fill tube’ (term likely not geologically correct) all from […]

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Newest cuttings reveal four agate nodules, one geode, and one fortification agate in a single cabochon! ...And many more cool stones

Newest cuttings reveal four agate nodules, one geode, and one fortification agate in a single cabochon! …And many more cool stones

By /October 24, 2023 /3 comments /Cut Rocks

Click on the images below so you can zoom in on the details! Here we go: Rock #5300See enlarged photo below Detail of Rock #5300See four agate nodules, one geode, and one fortification agate in a single cabochon Rock #5291Reminds me of Lloyd Bridges and Sea Hunt — an underwater scene (for those too young to remember Sea Hunt) Rock #5293A fancy free-form agate Rock #5299Looks cracked but it is not. It’s brecciated jasper with silica between the fragments Detail of Rock #5299 Rock #5298My favorite type of stone for cutting — jasp-agate with crystal lined vug Rock #5305The white top and bottom of this stone evidencing another ‘Bullfrog’ agate, named by me Rock #5337Geode in vein agate Rock #5338Designer free form agate cab cut from the above vein agate (Rock #5337) Rock #5308Spectacular flat topped jasp-agate cab with two blue fortification agate inclusions The three stones below — #5317, […]

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Blue Light Refraction

Blue Light Refraction

By /September 21, 2023 /6 comments /Cut Rocks

Rock #5258Light refraction causes electric blue agate I have never seen anything quite like this before from The Carver Agate Field.  The presence of the sagenitic growth seen in this specimen no doubt is largely responsible for the electric blue color.  While the sagenitic golden material obviously is not blue, I believe that it captures certain wave lengths of light that enter the stone, while in this case leaving the blue light wave lengths to refract back out of the stone and make it appear deep blue.  The refraction of light by the internal characteristics of a stone is not unusual—think of diamonds and opals.  On page 27 of his book Gemstones of the World, 1977, Walter Schumann explains as follows: “color is produced by light;  light is electromagnetic vibrations at certain wave lengths.  This visible light falls into six parts, each of a particular color (the spectral colors: red, orange, […]

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Summer Harvest from The Carver Agate Field: 15 Stones

Summer Harvest from The Carver Agate Field: 15 Stones

By /September 1, 2023 /2 comments /Cut Rocks

These beauties show the wonderful and unique geological agate varieties I have been fortunate to ‘happen upon’. This variety is illustrated, once again, by these 15 different stones which I cut in August, while not needing to tend my garden or mow grass. These stones were particularly fun for me because I hit a hot streak of remarkably interesting stones while simultaneously cutting rough material with two separate diamond saws. These beauties seem to appear one after another (sure, I have lots that I cut that go to the reject pile for many various reasons). But, my August work had very little rejected material and kept me busy doing what I really like to do—making stones shiny. Here are the results of my August harvest. To get started: Both of the stones below, #5208 and #5215, were cut from the same piece of rough. Eye popping beauty or just interesting? […]

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More Brand New Geodes from The Carver Agate Field and My Bullwheel

More Brand New Geodes from The Carver Agate Field and My Bullwheel

By /July 28, 2023 /4 comments /Cut Rocks

Through the winter, I have cut many geodes and other cool stuff. You have seen many of the cabs that I have cut and polished but the geodes, while cut open, have not been yet been published here yet. This is because the cabs are small enough to process on my Cabking, but the geodes are in many cases too large for processing and polishing except on my Bullwheel. The Bullwheel Because of the larger size of the geodes, they do not easily polish well on the Cabking, which only has a 2-inch wide polishing surface. The Bullwheel (see photo above) has a 4-inch wide abrasive belt which is much better for the larger specimens. The Bullwheel takes interchangeable 4-inch wide belts in 80, 100, 220, 320, 400, and 600 grits. The polishing of the larger specimens occurs utilizing increasingly finer grits, beginning with 80 and ending with 600 grit. […]

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Paisley Agate?

By /June 28, 2023 /1 comment /Cut Rocks

The winter storms tree damage is all cleaned up, processed to saw logs and split firewood. Three large fires that I lit burned up all the brush. So, I had a bit of time to cut and polish more of The Carver agates. Rock #5171 : Paisley AgateI found it, cut it, and named it The paisley agate was named by me. It is a bit dark for inclusion in jewelry, but I liked it because the pattern reminded me of the paisley so popular in my childhood. Rock #5161 Photo 5161 is a heel grind of a small agate nodule which yielded ‘sunflowers’ in a pretty blue-appearing stone. The blue color of the stone was enhanced greatly from a pale white to the blue that you see due to my photographing the stone on a very foggy Maine day. When photographed in my shop on a sunny day, the […]

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Five Hot Memorial Day Freeform Cabochons

Five Hot Memorial Day Freeform Cabochons

By /May 29, 2023 /8 comments /Cabochons

While I have been busy getting my garden in and cleaning up the disaster from the last storm that took down over 12 trees, I squeezed in enough time for five distinctly different but super interesting designer freeform cabochons. Cab #5136: Crystal lined dendritic agate geode Cab #5150: Brecciated sunset agate in lava shards Cab #5150: Note the lava shard below the sunset Cab #5141: Crystal filled agate geode—may be in my next bracelet! Cab #5148: Teardrop flower garden agate. I love the shape and pattern of this stone. Rock #5144: An immensely complex agate. See close up below. 5144: Check out the colors, patterns and the very cool ‘blob’ nearly surrounded by the white area of the stone. This stuff really fascinates me. Hope you enjoy it. And have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend, too! PS. This is the clean-up project I was working on after a […]

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From Western Europe to Northport, Maine

From Western Europe to Northport, Maine

By /April 21, 2023 /0 comments /Geology

Eons ago, the featured stone was part of western Europe. It was part of the European plate which, according to plate tectonic scientists, crashed into the North American plate. When this occurred, a small portion of the European plate broke off and was left stranded. It attached to the North American plate when the two plates subsequently parted again. This plate movement slowly increased the distance between Europe and North America, which created the Atlantic Ocean. As these plates continued to move apart, there was a ripping of the ocean floor in the Atlantic, which explains the volcanic activity that is still going on in Iceland and the mid-Atlantic Ocean area. Amphibolite / Rock #5142 So……what about this stone? The featured stone is from that part of the European crustal plate which rammed into what is now Northport, Maine, where my son Josh lives and I have a small camp. […]

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