Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Rarities


King Cobra Jasper Cabochons
in shades of rare earth:
peach
lipstick brick
light sage green
clear quartz pockets
rich browns
bands of cream...


Because this material is so damn hard to find I feel
so privileged to be here
showing you three cabochons that will go in


later today.


Working this jasper over the wheels feels almost oily in the smoothness of the stone.
I close my eyes and pretend I am on the continent of India, a place I've longed to travel for a while now...
Like any brecciated jasper, it is hard to get a uniformity of polish due to the combination of materials all within one stone, but I am so pleased with how domed and smooth they are!


Secondly we have the beautiful black agate with plume material I showed you upon my return from Minneapolis:
boy is this stuff fragile and amazing!
Pieces of the slab just melted into my hands as I trimmed the shapes out:
in the end, the shape of the cabochon was dictated by the strength and weaknesses of the rock itself.
There are all sorts of pits and pockets and unhealed fractures that go only halfway through the rock, 
meaning they're safe to set - bezel would be best. 


This big guy has a deep drusy pocket that runs along the left side: see it?


The last of the offerings is a pristine Lucky Strike agate I've been keeping close to me for some time now:
the coloration is rare as rare can be - look on google for the agates and you'll see - mostly water lines, reds blacks and yellows in a Lucky - this has coral, pink greens and yellows in tan agate.
I feel its person is out there in the world, waiting to wrap it in a sterling embrace!
It has a really neat matte white inclusion that brings drama and a sense of wonder to the stone:

you never know what you will find in a thunderegg!!

The baby wakes from his morning nap:
see you over at


later today!!

1 comment:

Cat said...

♥♥♥

love and light