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The Latest Addition to the Islesboro, Maine Jewelry Collection

The Latest Addition to the Islesboro, Maine Jewelry Collection

By /April 18, 2026 /0 comments /Jewelry

Islesboro Jewelry #21 Check out the newest addition to The Shop: Islesboro Jewelry Pendant #21! I loved this east shore Islesboro, Maine stone so much, I created an angled, beveled, free-form design and a new style setting to make it exceptional. Another view The large sterling silver bail design was created to draw attention to this stone which is beautiful, yet subtle in its coloration, reminiscent of Maine’s coastal sunsets, black ledges, and granite headlands. This stone is a fine example of the totally unique colors and patterns found in a few exceptional Islesboro gemstones. And another view I hope you like it as much as I do. This was really fun to cut, design, and set. And, Spring is coming to Maine, which hopefully means more beach time for rock combing and potential beautiful rock discoveries!

Islesboro, Maine Stones and Pendants added to The Shop

Islesboro, Maine Stones and Pendants added to The Shop

By /April 15, 2026 /0 comments /Jewelry

       Islesboro jewelry piece #20 I have just updated the About Section of this website to explain when and why I left Texas and moved back to an island off the coast of Maine. I took hundreds (thousands?) of pounds of rocks I collected from The Carver Agate Field which I continue to cut, polish, and explore as my primary focus and lapidary effort.  But since Islesboro, Maine has a varied and interesting geology, I have been collecting, cutting, polishing, and designing Islesboro jewelry to showcase what I have found on this island off the coast of Maine where my studio/shop/museum is now located.  These Islesboro Jewelry pieces are now in The Shop for your viewing and, if you like, can be purchased, along with my Texas Carver Agate Field jewelry. Islesboro jewelry piece #3 Islesboro jewelry piece # 12

New Product! Islesboro, Maine Gemstone Jewelry

New Product! Islesboro, Maine Gemstone Jewelry

By /April 10, 2026 /0 comments /Jewelry

This website was initially established and dedicated solely to the gems and geology of The Carver Agate Field of Far West Texas. While that focus remains as I continue to explore stones from The Carver Agate Field, I am also fortunate to be on an island off the coast of Maine which has beautiful, unique and interesting gemstones. Islesboro Jewelry #03 I have collected, cut, polished, and set some of these gems and hope you will enjoy seeing them and, perhaps, will choose to purchase a fragment of the Maine coast set in a handmade piece of jewelry. Visit the Shop to view the 20 new Islesboro Jewelry additions! The collection begins on Page 3 of the Shop. Enjoy! Islesboro Jewelry #17

Odd/Rare/Perfect: How I evaluate Agates and Geodes

Odd/Rare/Perfect: How I evaluate Agates and Geodes

By /March 20, 2026 /2 comments /Cut Rocks

This posting highlights several Carver agates/geodes cut in the winter of 2026. I have selected stones that are either odd or rare (seldom found or observed) or perfect or near perfect in one or several regards. Some I will merely categorize, and I will provide a short explanation of my categorization criteria for others. If I merely categorize a stone without explanation, feel free to contact me for more explanation. This posting is also available as a Carver Report so you can locate it easily in the future. ODD Images 6791, 6792, 6793 below—3 different aspects of a rock I call Deep Pit Rock—represent well my “odd” category. This is a hand ground and polished blue agate nodule (could be a geode, but without cutting it I can’t tell) from the, so called by me, “Deep Pit” area of The Carver Agate Field. The Deep Pit area was featured in […]

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I have never seen this before and I cannot explain it!

I have never seen this before and I cannot explain it!

By /February 8, 2026 /1 comment /Cut Rocks

Rock #6707 Twenty years of cutting literally thousands of nodules, geodes, agates, jaspers and jasp/agates from The Carver and, in February 2026, something new and different appeared. This was an unimpressive typical looking nodule (see above). The agate banding in the three areas—right, left, and center—are typical of agate formation in Carver nodules. And then, the geological oddity. Red appears to bleed into the blue of the original color of the stone, but then suddenly there is a dark blue/black band, and then the lighter blue coloration of the original stone. The 3 agate areas of the stone are clearly colored somehow. Rock #6707 DetailClick on the image to open a new window for better viewing If the coloration followed the bands, this would not be unusual. In fact, it would be typical. If the coloration followed or flowed along a crack, this would be very common and is what […]

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Midwinter Cutting of Agates and Geodes from The Carver Agate Field

Midwinter Cutting of Agates and Geodes from The Carver Agate Field

By /February 4, 2026 /0 comments /Cut Rocks

It is January 25, 2026, slightly above zero in temperature, snow storm in progress. It is a good day to post my newest cut and polished agates and geodes from The Carver Agate Field. This post involves several of the most interesting material. I am including a new photo gallery to accompany this post. The gallery is titled, January 2026 Blizzard Gallery, and it contains a lot more of what I have been up to this winter. Be sure to check it out! Texas Amethyst Agate World Headquarters Shop Museum and Gallery Rock #6647 First up: #6647 is a brecciated sagenitic fortification agate geode. Wow, what a mouthful! The greenish blobs in the bottom third of the stone, in the center, are the sagenitic part. The geode part in the detail above is the red crystal lined cavity. The brecciated part is comprised of the several brown colored shards of […]

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The Perfect Citrine Plume Agate Geode

The Perfect Citrine Plume Agate Geode

By /December 22, 2025 /1 comment /Cut Rocks

Rock #6504 While cutting Carver Agate Field geodes this summer, I saw what to me was the perfect citrine plume agate geode. Some explanation: Natural citrine, which is normally a yellow silica (quartz), is quite rare. This is because much of the citrine seen in jewelry today started out as amethyst which was then heat treated to turn it the yellow citrine color. Natural citrine is quite valuable. So if natural citrine is fairly rare, nearly transparent citrine comprising the entire geode is doubly rare. This citrine geode has added rarity—a perfectly formed golden plume agate. It is also of considerable interest that the nearly transparent citrine allows one to see into the citrine surrounding the geode cavity which glows white from the quartz crystals lining the inside of the cavity. In very bright light, other plumes can be seen deeper in the citrine surrounding the cavity. Lastly, while fractures […]

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Blue Agates Appear Again at The Carver Agate Field

Blue Agates Appear Again at The Carver Agate Field

By /December 10, 2025 /0 comments /Cut Rocks

Blue agates are fairly common and, as these photos show, blue agates from The Carver appear in many beautiful and often times interesting configurations. These photos attempt to show the very interesting blue agates that I discovered during my cutting and polishing of new material from The Carver Agate Field. I hope you appreciate seeing the interesting ways blue agates have appeared this summer. And don’t forget to visit the newest addition to the collection of Galleries here at Texas Amethyst Agate.com: The Summer 2025 Gallery. There you will see many of this summer’s finds and work which I hope you will also enjoy. Rock #6163 Rock #6163 Detail Rock #6164 Rock #6164 Detail Rock #6067 Rock #6069 Rock #5883 Rock #5885 Rock #5917 Rock #5918 Rock #5950 Rock #5953 Rock #5994 Rock #6052 Rock #6082 Rock #6101 Rock #6133 Rock #6300 Rock #6317 Rock #6318 Rock #6412 Rock #6421 […]

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The Parachute: Acicular Black Goethite Crystals

The Parachute: Acicular Black Goethite Crystals

By /December 3, 2025 /0 comments /Cut Rocks

I have previously noted my surprise at finding goethite crystals appearing inside of Carver geodes. As these photos show, they are usually seen appearing within geodes having a quartz crystal central cavity, with only one or sometimes two goethite crystals growing out of a purely quartz matrix. The “parachute’ photo shows the goethite crystal growing through the quartz crystal matrix which was apparently covered by a secondary yellow mineralization through which the goethite crystals grew! So, we have three separate crystallizations occurring in apparent succession. The goethite crystal as it grew lifted up part of the yellow mineralization which in the photo looks like a yellow hot air balloon or “parachute”. That is why I conclude that the goethite was the last crystallization to occur. Why goethite, which is an iron family mineral, forms out of an otherwise pure quartz crystallization is indeed curious. I hope you enjoy seeing this […]

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Newly Found/Cut Green, Red, Yellow, and Blue Geodes/Agates

Newly Found/Cut Green, Red, Yellow, and Blue Geodes/Agates

By /November 24, 2025 /1 comment /Cut Rocks

My last two posts were “Two Decade Photo Gallery,” displaying the 1,356 Carver Agate Field polished specimens, followed by a second gallery highlighting 20 years of approximately 1,000 Carver Agate Field cabs. After these exhaustive compilations of approximately 2,300 Carver Agate Field “beauties” came summer chores and gardening. The gardening was challenging and time consuming, but ultimately very successful. I have taken short breaks from my gardening and now, following the killing frost, I am ready to show you some of the beautiful and interesting specimens which I have cut and polished this summer during my breaks. It will take several posts over the next several weeks to bring the best of these new stones to this website. I continue to be amazed and delighted to find new and different material taken solely from the wonderfully diverse and geologically astounding Carver Agate Field of West Texas. The following photos are […]

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