Category: Lapidary
-
Guatemalan Blue Jade
A few months ago, a friend gave me two pieces of Guatemalan “Olmec Blue” jade for carving. It is a a muted translucent bluish-green, like seawater. Guatemala has produced green jade since ancient times. The source for the dusky bluish stone of Olmec carvings remained a mystery until 1999, when flooding from Hurricane Mitch revealed outcrops of…
-
Archean Banded Iron Cabochons
I recently bought a vintage lapidary machine on Craigslist. It’s for cutting cabochons, and includes a trim saw, grinding wheels, sanding drum, and buffing wheel. I mostly want it for making beads and cutting preforms for gem carving. Wyoming Archean Banded Iron Double-sided drilled and polished pendant, 31x21x5mm. Matched pair of triangular cabochons, 20x16x4mm. This is…
-
Moon Pebble Necklace
I’ve been collecting round white quartz or chalcedony pebbles for many years, and for a long time I had an ever-changing series of them them arranged on a round “Dark Moon Turtle Shell” mandala in my studio, to represent the 13 moons of the year. I have been (and still am) drawing the more interesting ones for the…
MINERALARTS: 