Tag: designer gem stones

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 […]

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Why did I cut that stone that way?

Why did I cut that stone that way?

Cutting and polishing a stone is often a matter of the stone’s pattern and coloration. The larger the pattern of the stone to be cut, the larger the finished stone will need to be. A very petite pattern will physically fit into a small cut stone, but will be so small in a piece of jewelry when set that you can’t see the pattern from the distance it is viewed. So, the pattern of the feature you want to highlight must be large enough to be seen by someone standing next to you. The shape of the cab being cut, e.g., oval, round, triangle, rectangle, square, or free form, will limit what part of the pattern can be captured in the finished cut stone. Accordingly, I do many designer free form shapes and sizes and I also cut a great many large cabs in order to capture the maximum part […]

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TexasAmethystAgate Islesboro, Maine, Studio Tour

TexasAmethystAgate Islesboro, Maine, Studio Tour

I recently joined the Islesboro Arts Collective and participated in the group’s first annual studio tour held July 9, 2022. While Texas Amethyst Agate is dedicated to researching and documenting The Carver Agate Field of West Texas, I expanded this focus to participate in this event by adding Maine gemstones to my lapidary/jewelry works. The main stones featured included two handmade sterling silver cuff style Maine tourmaline bracelets. as well as jewelry incorporating three other gemstones found by me on Islesboro. These included green plasma jasper, brown/beige jasp-agate, and white Pripet Wharf marble included with ‘fools gold’. I crafted fancy designer freeform gemstones from each of these Maine stones and set them in a gold fill wire wrap to create pendants. I really loved the green plasma jasper which contrasts beautifully with the wire wrap. The three pendants prepared for the studio tour as well as the Maine tourmaline cuff […]

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Lava Lamp Agate

Lava Lamp Agate

Lava lamp agate. I found it. I named it. Here is what you are really looking at. Rock #4526 This is agate on the right side and lava matrix in which it is formed on the left side, cut and polished and set as a pendant in gold-fill wire wrap. This is a free form designer cut of an agate nodule still attached to the lava in which the nodule formed. If you rotate the specimen 45 degrees counter clockwise, you will see the classical amygdaloidal shape. Rock #4526 rotated 45 degrees For those who may not have the word amygdaloidal on the tip of their tongues or in their lexicon, “amygdaloidal” generally means almond-shaped, typically with a flattened bottom and rounded top. This shape comes from the gas bubble pocket formed in lava which filled in with silica material which formed the agate. This specimen is natural and not […]

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Design Challenge Leads to New Design and First Pendant

Design Challenge Leads to New Design and First Pendant

If you follow my work, then you know I design sterling silver settings to highlight the unique characteristics of each designer free-form Carver gemstone that I cut. I previously have made sterling silver bracelets which I have thought were best at emphasizing each gemstone’s beauty.  The setting is secondary to the stone! Recently, however, I  cut a Carver geode with several unique characteristics, including a striking petite red feature and a crystalline lined geode center, which begged for something different.  The challenge was to design a setting to highlight the stone’s crystalline pocket which, without doubt, is the most unique feature of the stone. A mirror and the decision to create a pendant, not a bracelet, was the answer!  Viewing the creation will explain this choice.  This is a totally new design and the first pendant which I have offered for sale. Visit the Shop to learn more.  

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 […]

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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