Cabochons

Five Hot Memorial Day Freeform Cabochons

Five Hot Memorial Day Freeform 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 […]

Read More

Carver Agate Field Variety, January 2023

Carver Agate Field Variety, January 2023

January in Maine is about keeping the wood stove full, dealing with ice and snow, and best of all, some time to cut and polish remarkably varied colors and types of agates, geodes, and jaspers that continue to come from The Carver Agate Field in Alpine, TX. As a group, these 11 cabochons (cabs), as well as the 7 rock specimens which will appear in the next blog posting, again tell the tale. Individually there are several quite unique and interesting stones for the rock enthusiast. I would recommend you view these specimens as large as possible. You can open each image and enlarge it by clicking on it. Rock # 4972 : Slab from a geode! Notice a portion of the crystal lined geode pocket at lower left side of stone. Rock #4951 : Carnelian (red quartz) fortification agate cab Rock #4937 : I suggest you enlarge this photo […]

Read More

Carver Agate Field Cabachons: New Video

Carver Agate Field Cabachons: New Video

I have been cutting more agates from The Carver. A few are cool enough to make me “make them shiny”! I have made a short video of some of the new cabs and hope you like it. Examples Be sure to click on each one to see the larger version! Rock #4629 Rock #4618 Rock #4616 Rock #4626

Free-Form Designer Cabochons (Cabs)

Free-Form Designer Cabochons (Cabs)

Pictured above is a free form designer cabochon, or cab, from ‘The Carver’. Free-form means that I have shaped and polished the pictured stone to maximize its natural beauty. The stone is not cut and polished to a specific shape–oval, square or round–or to a specific size. Most cabs are of a uniform shape (oval or round and sometimes rectangular or square) and usually these are cut to a size predetermined to fit easily and exactly into a mass-produced stock jewelry setting for a ring, bracelet, pendant, belt buckle, or whatever.  These stock settings are machine made, inexpensive, and widely used to make jewelry designed to take a single specifically shaped and sized cab. The free-form designer cab is a stone cut without a specific standardized shape or size and it requires a metal setting, usually silver or gold, that is individually designed and constructed to fit the specific size […]

Read More

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #9

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #9

Gallery #9 is the final entry in the Designer Gem Stones Galleries set and is another great example of the wide array of stones to be found in the “Carver”! Photo #2376 – Geode with small plume agate Picture #2381 – Picture agate with sun setting  

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #8

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #8

Gallery #8 of the Designer Gem Stones Galleries contains a variety of colors and designs, as you will see! Two examples: Photo #2183 – Flower garden agate Photo #2373 – Plume agate, three dimensional plume of black edged in red.  The prettiest plume I have ever seen!

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #7

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #7

There is a rather astonishing array of diverse stones in Gallery 7. See for yourself! Details: Photo #2312 – nodule cross-section with plume agate at the bottom and fortification agate above. Photo #2329 – agate nodule cross-section. Photo #2531 – This is a gorgeous sagenitic agate reminiscent of the West Texas range.    

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #6

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #6

Gallery #6 offers great examples of the diversity of the Carver. Some of these polished stones are truly unique! Details: Photo #2293: Yellow/green/red jasper suspended in silica which formed the agate to the left: a jaspagate Photo #2294: Vein agate with plume inclusions on left side Photo #2302: Fabulous yellow inclusion in chalcedony

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #5

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #5

We are about halfway through the new Designer Gem Stone Galleries, with Gallery #5 going live today! Be sure to visit and check out these new polished stones. Details: Photo #2267:  Red and yellow jasper with green/blue silica agatization and lots of inclusions.  A wonderfully complex and beautiful stone. Photo #2276: “West Texas baconite.” I found it, I named it. This agate is part of the rind of a broken geode. Note the crystals from the geode center on the bottom. Photo #2281:  Cross-section of nodule, red/orange/yellow fortification agate with lots of mossy or bread-moldy-looking inclusions to the right.

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #4

Designer Gem Stones Gallery #4

Another new Designer Gem Stones Gallery is up! Be sure to visit and check out these new polished stones. Details: Photo #2250: Cross-section of carnelian nodule with white crystalline center.  For as yet unknown reasons, nearly 100% of red carnelian nodules from The Carver are heavily fractured.   Photo #2249:  “The Sun Flowers”.  This sun burst pattern is the result of cutting a slab from a silica nodule which contained starburst-like formations formed from zeolites.  They are observed in many different colors on The Carver.