Tag: gemstones

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.  

Yellow Agate Gemstone

Yellow Agate Gemstone

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

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

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

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

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

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 […]

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New Bracelet: The Green Teardrop Agate

New Bracelet: The Green Teardrop Agate

This stone was found by me on The Carver, January, 2018. It appeared to be a yellow agate with some minor inclusions in part of the stone. I cut the stone several times through the yellow agate until I reached the multi-colored green inclusions that you see in the photo. It took a lot of cutting to get to the perfect stone! I like the stone so much and it is unique among stones previously placed into bracelets by me–it had to go into a bracelet. See the Shop for more views of Bracelet 27.

New Bracelet: The Blood Moon Eclipse

New Bracelet: The Blood Moon Eclipse

On January 31, 2018, just before sunrise, there was a super blue blood moon eclipse at the time of moon-set, which was around 6:30 a.m. Central Time. A blue moon is when there are two full moons in a calendar month. A super moon is a moon which is extremely close to the earth at the time of the full moon. The blood moon is an eclipse of the moon when the earth’s shadow crosses the full moon and the darkened moon appears reddish. The concurrence of all three events is extremely rare and so is the blood moon eclipse stone featured in my new bracelet. When this nodule was sliced open, it had the dark spot at the bottom where an ancient sagenite had fallen out of the stone. It reminded me of the blood  moon setting in West Texas. The multicolored yellows in the center of the stone reminded me of […]

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New Year 2018 Diversity Galleries

New Year 2018 Diversity Galleries

Fifteen Agate Types Found in Small Area on “The Carver” A small, approximately 4 +/- acre area of ‘The Carver’ has provided all of the stones that are referenced in this posting and in the New Year 2018 Diversity Galleries (March 2018).  In addition to the citrine scepter, subject of a blog posting dated January 21, 2018, this small area has produced a staggering array of beautiful and diversely colored gem stones.  How all of these stones, including citrine and amethyst, were formed in such a small area is the subject of ongoing geological inquiry with the help of geologist Bill Halepeska of Midland, Texas. Visit the Diversity Galleries to see more examples: Diversity Gallery 1 Diversity Gallery 2 Diversity Gallery 3 Diversity Gallery 4 Examples: