Home / gemstones

Tag: gemstones

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

How I Selected These Stones for This Post

How I Selected These Stones for This Post

By /January 29, 2025 /3 comments /Cut Rocks

Note: Please click on each photo below to see an enlarged version! Two of my favorite selections, Rock #5801 and Rock #5782 pictured below, are unique but different plume agates. The featured stone, Rock #5801, is just plain interesting when enlarged, as you can see: Rock #5801 Rock #5801 Enlarged Rock #5782 The next cab, Rock #5799 below, is a geologically rare rose quartz geode. Rock #5799 Another selection, Rock #5793 below, was to me reminiscent of a scene from my childhood—a fish bowl agate (named by me). Rock #5793 One of my photo selections below was to me just a beautiful agate. Rock #5758 Other specimens are representative of my favorite type of stone to cut and polish into cabs. The three rocks below are plume/jasp-agates. Rock #5796 Rock #5785 Rock #5784 The last stones I just plain like a lot, are Rock #5777, a brecciated agate, and Rock […]

Read More

Design Challenge Leads to New Design and First Pendant

Design Challenge Leads to New Design and First Pendant

By /February 24, 2020 /2 comments /Jewelry

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.  

Yellow Agate Gemstone

Yellow Agate Gemstone

By /December 10, 2019 /0 comments /Cut Rocks

I wrote an article for Rock & Gem Magazine, August 2018, which you can check out here at the website, about yellow agates. The article describes in detail that the number of yellow agates found on a very small portion of The Carver was a geological oddity. Pictured here is one of The Carver yellow agates, handcrafted into a gemstone suitable for setting. Yellow agates within the world and family of agates are quite uncommon and yellow agates in jewelry are even more rare.  Enjoy.  

New Bracelet: The Bloodstone

New Bracelet: The Bloodstone

By /May 3, 2018 /0 comments /Bracelets

The Bloodstone, a green mossy red plume agate–and a new find from ‘The Carver’. This stone is very difficult to identify because it has the clear look of bloodstone, eg., green with red inclusions. Yet under magnification, the green portion of the stone closely resembles a green mossy agate with red plume-like inclusions. It came from very fractured material which dictated the shape of the finished stone which I have included in a new sterling silver cuff bracelet. This is #29 produced. Check the shop for more views of this unique stone and bracelet.

New Bracelet: West Texas Mountain Sunset

New Bracelet: West Texas Mountain Sunset

By /April 28, 2018 /1 comment /Bracelets

The last of the three new bracelets has just been completed: West Texas Mountain Sunset. This is a geode slab from ‘The Carver’ agate field in West Texas. I designed a unique cuff bracelet to highlight the beautiful sunset scene depicted in this stone. The peak is a crystalline geode center bounded by a deep red banding and surrounded by orange and gold citrine which gives the appearance of a twilight sunset. This bracelet, #32, is available in the Shop. Enjoy!

New Bracelet: The Strawberry

New Bracelet: The Strawberry

By /April 28, 2018 /2 comments /Bracelets

Here is the second new bracelet: The Strawberry. This is a carnelian (red quartz) geode cross-section from ‘The Carver’.  It has a white crystalline center which contrasts beautifully with the red carnelian. This bracelet, Cuff Bracelet #31, is available in the Shop, so be sure to check it out.  

New Bracelet: The Carver Carnelian

New Bracelet: The Carver Carnelian

By /April 27, 2018 /1 comment /Bracelets

Here is the first of three new bracelets coming your way: The Carver Carnelian. This new bracelet is designed to show off an intense red carnelian designer stone, cut from a nodule found on ‘The Carver’. It is most notable for its intense color and lack of fracturing. This bracelet, #30, can be seen in the Shop, so head over there and take a look!

New Bracelet: Houdini Agate

New Bracelet: Houdini Agate

By /March 13, 2018 /1 comment /Bracelets

New bracelet! The 4+/- acre part of ‘The Carver’ discovered and shown in the 2018 Diversity Galleries produced the surrealistic stone featured in this new bracelet. This stone is a cross-section of a geode (a hollow center stone), which after being formed with a crystalline lining in its hollow center, somehow filled with a densely yellow-colored chalcedony (a micro-crystalline quartz, e.g., you can not see the quartz crystals with the naked eye). After the yellow center filled and hardened within the hollow of the geode, a fracture or crack formed in the yellow center. This fracture, or crack, was later filled (healed) by a thin layer of red silica which somehow got through the outer stone wall of the geode and the yellow center of the stone. In short, it took three different steps to form this beautiful and extraordinary, inexplicable stone. The photo below shows the rest of the stone from […]

Read More