HANDMADE STONE BEADS
Rocks collected in "Jaguar Country" in the southern Arizona mountains.

BEADS are individually drilled, carved, sanded, and polished by hand.
HOLES are large (to fit cord up to 4 mm) and beveled for smooth appearance, lighter weight, and to minimize wear on the cord.
Compared to glass beads of the same size, the beads are harder and slightly heavier.
The polish is slightly softer than that of commercial beads.
MY BEAD ROCKS include several varieties of hard stone that are rarely or never cut for lapidary use.
Stones are collected as pebbles or outcrop fragments in bajada gravel and dry washes.

Spring Forest  $225
Unusually large beads with strong uniform color and subtle patterns.
All are igneous rocks from the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson, Arizona.
Purple, 25 x 19 mm:  Volcanic composed of silicified welded ash and rock fragments.
Dark green, 16 x 17 mm: Intrusive dike composed of iron and magnesium silicates.
Light green, 17 x 15 mm and 10 x 12 mm:  Epidote, a Fe-Mg silicate mineral.  Larger bead also contains quartz.
White, 15 x 17 mm, and pink, 17 x 15 mm:  Granitic rock known locally as "ore porphyry" since it hosts copper mineralization.
Plum, 10 x 14 mm:  Rhyolite flecked with white sanidine feldspar and black metallic hematite.

Looking North from the Great Mountain $185
Central bead, 17 x 18 mm:  Pinkish brown rhyolite from the summit of Mount Wrightson, the highest peak in the Santa Rita Mountains (9456 ft.).
The other beads are from several localities in the northern Santa Ritas.
Large speckled green beads, both 13 x 15 mm: andesitic volcanics.
Small beads, both 9 x 12 mm:  green epidote and black porphyritic basalt flecked with white plagioclase feldspar crystals.
Medium striped beads, 12 x 13 and 11 x 14 mm:  Tremolite calcsilicate hornfels (contact metamorphosed thin-bedded dolomitic silty limestone).