I've been away, I'm making a rocky return!

I've just returned from a ten day trip to California. I worked on a few new jewelry pieces while I was there, but mostly it was a pleasure trip. I've missed my friends at Creating the Hive http://www.creatingthehive.com and Facebook. I hope you guys can catch me up on all the happs. I stopped by Quartzite on the way home and paid a visit to my favorite rock shop (Watch for Rocks below).

 This is Azurite in Chrysocolla; each stone is about 2" by 2-1/2".
All I could say when I saw this stuff was "WOW"!

 

I found some great Turritella fossil slabs

 

I got this nice Bloodstone, It's got some great red on one end.

 

I needed some Ocean Jasper for a gallery order. I cut the smallest of these stones today, it has a beautiful crystal structure with small green and orange orbs, very cool!

 

The next two pics are Montana Agate. These slabs are small
(about 1" by 1-1/2" for most of them), but they're choice!

 

 

This stone is called Red Freckled Dolomite. I don't know anything about it yet, but it looks like it might make some pretty nice cabs. This stone is about 3" long by about 2' thick.

 

Rounding out the group are three round Petoskey Stones, about baseball size. If you look closely you can see the coral structure on the surface. I hope this cuts well, it's kinda the "box of chocolate" thing with this material but . . .  Question: What would life be without a certain amount of risk? Answer: Wonderful.

My ArtFire Store: http://www.artfire.com/users/lunarskies
My Etsy Store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry?ref=pr_shop
My Jewelry: http://www.lunarskies.com
My Sculpture: http://www.lunarskies.com/pages1/fineart.html
My Cabochons: http://www.gemalchemy.com
Creating The Hive Artisans Group: http://www.creatingthehive.com

Bloodstone (also called The martyr's gem)

My quest to update my gemstone website continues. This is interesting material to cut; kind of like that Forest Gump thing, you never know what you're going to get. I was hoping for some bright patches of red mixed with green but got a kind of specked red and yellow-orange, still very pretty.

Bloodstone is a green jasper dotted with bright red spots of iron oxide; an attractive chalcedony quartz is also known as heliotrope because in ancient times polished stones were described as reflecting the sun. Medieval Christians often used bloodstone to carve scenes of the crucifixion and martyrs, for which reason it was also dubbed the martyr's stone. According to the legend about the origin of bloodstone, it was first formed when drops of Christ's blood fell and stained some jasper at the foot of the cross. Even today, finely pulverised bloodstone is used as a medicine and aphrodisiac in India. Perhaps that explains why it is now rather difficult to find fine specimens of bloodstone on the market. In ancient times, bloodstone was thought to be able to stop hemorrhages with the merest touch. Some believe Bloodstone relieves stomach and bowel pain, and strengthens blood purifying organs and improves blood circulation. Bloodstone has a positive influence on a bladder. Bloodstone is also believed to be a very magical stone. Bloodstone is found in Australia, Brazil, China, India, Kathiawar Peninsula and the USA (Wyoming).

 

My ArtFire Store: http://www.artfire.com/users/lunarskies

My Etsy Store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry?ref=pr_shop
My Jewelry: http://www.lunarskies.com
My Sculpture: http://www.lunarskies.com/pages1/fineart.html
My Cabochons: http://www.gemalchemy.com

Creating The Hive Artisans Group: http://www.creatingthehive.com