These gemstones are hand picked from the surface of ‘The Carver’ agate field near Alpine, Texas.

They are 100% natural, sustainable, and collected without any mining or digging of any kind, therefore, they are environmentally friendly.  Because these gems are 100% natural, the color you see in each stone is exactly what nature produced. There are no artificial enhancements.  These gemstones contain natural flaws, imperfections, and inclusions which is exactly how nature created them.

I do not produce perfect stones, but rather natural stones that are individually one of a kind PIECES OF ART created from ‘The  Carver’ agate field in the far West Texas desert. You can read about ‘The Carver’ agate field on this website.

TYPE I Gemstones

Details regarding the nodules and agates:

These stones form in a gas bubble in lava that is filled over time with silica and mineralization that determines the color and inclusions (the cool looking stuff) that appear in the stone.  This ‘cool looking stuff’ is usually described as sagenitic material.  Over millions of years of weathering, the silica-filled gas bubble containing the nodule was left behind when the lava in which it was encased eroded away.  The nodule is left lying on the surface of the desert floor, while the lava turns to soil and is blown away as dust.  The nodule which took the shape of the inside of the gas bubble is cut cross-wise into a slab (analogous to cutting through a tree trunk and seeing its bark and rings).  When the stone is cut in this manner, its coloration, agate bands, and sagenitic inclusions (the cool looking stuff) are on full display.

In many of the stones on this website, the outside rind of the cut stone is utilized to create the unique free form shape of the stone.  Where possible and advantageous to enhance the beauty of the stone, I retain the rind or shape of the rind.  Look for this rind along the outer edge of some  of the cut and polished gemstones.  While you can’t always see the rind, most of the time the shape of the rind determines the size as well as the shape of the finished stone.

TYPE II Gemstones

Details regarding jaspers/jasp-agates/breccia:

‘The Carver’ agate field contains many types of jasper and jasper-like material.  Jasper is generally opaque (it does not let light through) and colored by mineralization found in the silica (from volcanic ash) that makes up this type of gemstone.  Because there are many colors of volcanic ash found on ‘The Carver’ agate field, there are a great many colorations and patterns found here.  In many cases, the jasper after formation was fractured or broken, probably when subjected to heat or volcanic episodes.  These cracks and shards of the broken jasper (and sometimes the lava in which the jasper formed) are sometimes re-cemented together by silica solutions (from the volcanic ash) which flowed into the cracks between the broken shards. This silica later hardened.

In many of the gemstones on this website you can see the shards of rock and cracks filled with a semi-transparent or bluish-tinted ‘glue’ (silica).  Sometimes this glue forms into small agate formations in the cracks between the shards of rock.  These fractured shards of rock when re-cemented by silica are geologically called “breccia.”  Sometimes the broken and re-cemented rock is again re-fractured and all or partially re-cemented multiple times.  Some unhealed fractures remain in these stones, being a natural and beautiful part of nature.

Geodes and “vugs”:  Some of these gemstones have small hollow spots or other surface imperfections which often contain sparkling quartz crystals. These small hollow areas are sometimes called “vugs” or, if the hollow spot is large in size, they are called “geodes” (a partially hollow stone).  These vugs or geodes are incorporated into the design of many of these stones and give them their totally unique natural beauty, and some say ‘the healing powers’ of the crystal.

Enjoy all of these natural features which I have carefully preserved and displayed in these designer free-form gemstones.

Questions? Please visit the Contact Page and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.