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Five Hot Memorial Day Freeform Cabochons

Five Hot Memorial Day Freeform Cabochons

By /May 29, 2023 /4 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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Carver Agate Field Variety, January 2023

Carver Agate Field Variety, January 2023

By /January 21, 2023 /4 comments /Cabochons

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 […]

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Yellow Fortification Agate Geode Cabochon

Yellow Fortification Agate Geode Cabochon

By /September 25, 2022 /2 comments /Cut Rocks

Rock #4876Click to enlarge This is a beautiful cab cut from a cross cut slab from a Carver geode. The crystal-lined geode center sparkles in the center of the yellow fortification agate. The sagenitic material (green and brown stuff) along the top edge of the stone indicates that this was the bottom of the geode when formed in a lava gas pocket. The sagenitic material likely fell off the inside top of the gas bubble pocket to the bottom of the gas bubble pocket where it was encapsulated by bluish agate (silica) as it filled the gas bubble pocket. See photo 4877 below which is the same stone photographed with the sagenitic material on the bottom of the stone as it would have been formed. Rock #4877Click to enlarge

Lava Breccia in Agate Matrix

Lava Breccia in Agate Matrix

By /September 21, 2022 /1 comment /Cut Rocks

What a unique and interesting cab! Close-up shows lava shard at top centerClick on the image to view an enlarged version Another cab from the same stoneNote the same lava shard (top center) These two cabochons were cut from a single stone. The lava shard (top center in both stones) shows their common origin. Above is another agate breccia with banded agate (top and lower right shards) with a lava shard in the lower center of the stone. Note the eye agate on the left center edge of the cut stone. While this stone is not pretty, it sure is interesting—at least to an old rocker like me.

Two Completely Different Triangular Free-form Cabs from The Carver

Two Completely Different Triangular Free-form Cabs from The Carver

By /June 26, 2022 /2 comments /Cut Rocks

These stones are all Carver agates, but completely dissimilar in their appearance. The First Stone The first stone looks like a deep blue underwater scene with multicolored sagenitic (cool stuff!) that look like underwater plants in an undersea cavern. Put your imagination to work and, if you are old like me, think of Lloyd Bridges and Sea Hunt! Rock # 4727 Click to enlarge Rock # 4727 detail Click to enlarge More Stones The next two stones are blue and white banded agate, one of which is a pyramidal free-form. While I have recently cut several other stones, I like these best. Rock #4711 Click to enlarge Rock #4711 Click to enlarge Rock #4713 Click to enlarge

New Free-form Cabs from The Carver

New Free-form Cabs from The Carver

By /June 24, 2022 /1 comment /Cut Rocks

The pictures tell the story of the fascinatingly unique and diverse agates I continue to find and cut. It is important to remember that all of these stones came out of the same geologic formation, yet they all look very different. Fun for me and, I hope, interesting for you. Rock #4705: Angular free-form agate Rock #4708 Rock #4709

Carver Agate Field Cabachons: New Video

Carver Agate Field Cabachons: New Video

By /March 6, 2022 /2 comments /Cabochons

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

Metallic Mystery Agate

Metallic Mystery Agate

By /April 1, 2020 /2 comments /Geology

This agate formed in association with a yellow jasper (which is predominantly comprised of silica). Before I cut this Carver find, it displayed a curious metallic sheen which was in fact what initially drew my attention to it.  The sheen was very different from the sheen observed from other quartz and jasper materials.  This metallic sheen appears quite clearly on the bottom of the pictured cabochon. The rounded surface of the cabochon shows agatization and two visible “vugs.”  The stone from which this cab was cut also had a curious and unexpected heft (weight) that, combined with the metallic sheen, suggested a metallic component had mixed with jasper and formed  a metallic mystery agate that had not been previously observed on The Carver agate field. If I can find out what metal is involved I will update you.  

Chaos vs. Orderly Perfection

Chaos vs. Orderly Perfection

By /March 18, 2020 /0 comments /Geology

Formed within tuff, a white volcanic ash which has been compressed and hardened, over millions of years, to a very limited extent, is what I describe as a “chaos agate.” That is not an official agate designation, however.  Apparently, a hodgepodge of mineralization mixes with and in a silica-rich solution which subsequently hardens within the tuff. Since this type of agate forms in a ashy mass, the agate has no orderly shape or form. Chaos Agate On the other hand, here is the orderly perfection  of a cabochon from a cross section of a geode.  If you follow this website, you are probably aware that the orderly shape is from the gas bubble in the lava in which geodes form.  A silica-rich solution and mineralization fill the gas bubble and create the geode’s shape.  The gas bubble fills with silica and mineralization through the ‘fill tube,’ so called, which is […]

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Free-Form Designer Cabochons (Cabs)

Free-Form Designer Cabochons (Cabs)

By /April 11, 2019 /0 comments /Cabochons

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 […]

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