Agate

[bluebirrrd]

Hmmm, not sure if agate is considered fine enough to be here but I see some really beautiful and unique pieces from time to time. One late night on e-bay, I stumbled into the agate world and ended up somewhat impulsively winning 4 different lots of polished beads and drilled cabs to make a necklace. I needed each of the 4 lots, but the seller had double listed one and wanted me to choose a substitute. It was ooak, and I declined and asked for a refund instead - twice. The seller ignored the request, and it was such an inexpensive purchase I kind of forgot about it. This weekend the items arrived, two months late. The seller did her own substitution. The pieces I first chose were better, but still I think it turned into a great necklace. The beads are incredibly smooth and shiny. They have a nice heft and some of the color layers are transparent when held to the light.

I would love to see anyone else's agate, jasper, etc. pieces or inspirations. I especially think dendritic and moss agates can be lovely.

 

[Enerchi]

Hey now THAT"s a cool necklace, bluebirrd!!! I love the presence of that necklace - really a statement piece and the depth of colour is very appealing to me. I like it a LOT!

YEah, late night eBay bidding --- you never know what you've won in the morning!

 

[innerkitten]

I love statement pieces like that and agate is such a fun stone. I was on this site the other day it some interesting types.
http://www.azbluerockers.com/

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Great fan of Agate. Admired Dr. B Smiegal's dendritic (former of ACS) agate and was a fool never to obtain any....

Gurhan has some gorgeous pieces set in 24K, in case you need another lot!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Starzin]

Loved seeing this posted Bluebirrrd, I've just started wire wrapping at a local lapidary club and am finding HUGE fascination with all sorts of stones such as agate - you've made a terrific job of the necklace, it looks great on you!

ETA: I also love rutile quartz and some of the picture jaspers

 

[bluebirrrd]

Thank you, Enerchi! It's been warming up quickly here and big necklaces are great for summer

Canuk-gal, I'd love to see agate pieces by Gurhan! Look at these that I found in an old thread: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/scenic-agate.20733/





Thank you, starzin! I agree about rutilated quartz and picture jaspers. Here are two jasper pieces I saved as inspiration pics. I believe they call this type picasso jasper:

 

[bluebirrrd]

innerkitten, I forgot to say thank you for posting that link. I went through it and they have ALL types of cool things there. I must say I like the ebay pricing better, but ebay doesn't have such a big selection from our own western states.

 

[Starzin]

I agree that they become more fascinating the more you look into them (forgive the pun). Thanks for posting more and I gulped at the prices on that other site! Whew! There are more reasonable prices if you look around - this site has a very good selection of cabs for wire wrapping but I don't think many of them are drilled http://www.justcabs.com/Zen/index.php?main_page=products_all&disp_order=2&page=1.

Here's a picture jasper set in black jasper (intarsia) that I have bought to do something with sometime and a couple of pics from Andante Designer Jewelry who has inspired me with some of the lovely stones she's used and is now also setting faceted stones in her pieces.

 

[JewelFreak]

You have a real talent for spotting cool stuff! Love that necklace -- your seller did you a favor! And the other ones -- the blue necklace & the agate/intarsia piece. Very pretty & interesting. And I agree w/you on rutilated quartz, looooove it!

--- Laurie

 

[movie zombie]

i have a "thing" for jasper.

i have about 13 different jasper rings from this guy:

http://robertsilversmith.com/

all are very large...... and they are statement pieces.

my husband even has a poppy jasper [morgan hill mine] ring from robert that he wears when we're out.

 

[T L]

I love agate, I wish more people would show off agate here. When I was a little girl, agate was one of the first gemstones I collected. I loved the intricate banding, and patterns, and there was a stone that I would carry with me everywhere that it was so fascinating to me. Yes, I was one of the first people to actually have a 'pet rock.'

I wish I still had it, I would love to have posted it here.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Gorgeous pieces that are posted!

This is the only Gurhan piece I could find--all was sold on that site...

http://oakgem.com/Products/New_Gurhan_24k_Gold_Moss_Agate_Charm_Pendant_4022.aspx

cheers--Sharon

 

[Starzin]

Can't believe I forgot to put a link in for Andante http://www.andantedesignerjewelry.com/CATALOG/catalog_1.htm - everything from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand. If you click on the pictures, you get closeups.

JF- unfortunately I'm finding rutile quartz tends to be expensive for focal stones

MoZo - Me too Wow! some gorgeous pieces there. 13 rings? Lucky lady.... Love the Chinese writing/poppy jasper on the bottom row. I can imagine everything he makes is a statement piece!

TL - Who wudda thunk it? I wish you could have posted your pet rock too. There are so many different types of agate and jasper, I'm continually coming across stuff that amazes me.

I tried to find an amazing piece of (I think) Wild Horse jasper that was a complete picture - sun, water, hills, shoreline - but I don't appear to have saved it and I think it was on a photographer's site rather than a gem site.

I agree the moss and dendritics are gorgeous too - thanks for hunting those out BB and CG.

 

[Starzin]

Forgot to say that some of our cutters have this stuff in the back of their sites. Barry and atggems come to mind and I often go into those sections and have a little poke around.

In fact doing that recently got me pulling the trigger on one of Barry's "dimple" garnets - I love carved stones too. I'd been oogling it for months and when one sold, I guess it was the push I needed. I wonder if another PSer got the other one? Barry tells me he also had a round one up in January but pulled it to keep for himself. It should be here at the end of the week! Can't wait to see what it looks like in hand.

 

[Quantz Studios]

I love agate, I wish more people would show off agate here.

I could show off all sorts of great agate materials and fine cabochon materials if you want. Most are not for sale or sold already so I think it would be okay with the rules. They are under appreciated and overlooked too much, I think.

 

[T L]

I love agate, I wish more people would show off agate here.

I could show off all sorts of great agate materials and fine cabochon materials if you want. Most are not for sale or sold already so I think it would be okay with the rules. They are under appreciated and overlooked too much, I think.

You could email the mods to ask permission first. They have requested in the past that they allow vendors to post pieces for educational purposes if they are first asked for permission.

 

[Quantz Studios]

Thanks. I'll do that. There are a lot of attractive and rare materials out there that are generally overlooked because they are cabochons. Some stuff people dont even know it exists! Thanks TL

 

[chrono]

Lovely necklace you have there! I am delighted to see something different from what is usually posted. I am also a fan of cabochons (cat's eye, star, or even plain cabochons), and other types of translucent and opaque gemstones which don't seem to be posted here often. It is a shame because they are very beautiful and interesting in their own right.

 

[Arkteia]

Beautiful necklace! I am so happy for you, it lies on your neck so beautifully! I love agates and while most of my jaspers are in large pieces, like ashtrays, penholders, etc, I should find some nice agates in my collection...

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Count me in among the jasper, agate and cab lovers in general. I love the caramelly colours of Biggs, the patterns of ocean jasper and the amazing colours of Sonora Sunrise/Sunset, chrysacolla and chalchedonies. And Marra Mamba, with its beautiful chatoyance and patterns.

 

[Enerchi]

Thanks. I'll do that. There are a lot of attractive and rare materials out there that are generally overlooked because they are cabochons. Some stuff people dont even know it exists! Thanks TL

I'd really be interested in viewing cabs - hope you get a thumbs up from the mods that will allow you to post examples as a teaching tool!!

 

[movie zombie]

Count me in among the jasper, agate and cab lovers in general. I love the caramelly colours of Biggs, the patterns of ocean jasper and the amazing colours of Sonora Sunrise/Sunset, chrysacolla and chalchedonies. And Marra Mamba, with its beautiful chatoyance and patterns.

you would also love australian forest jasper! its a stunning stone. mine is set in a ring and has a large quartz crystal. always gets noticed.

my chrysacolla ring gets mistaken for turquoise......it was the first ring i bought from the robert [see link above in my original response].

i just cannot understand why anyone would overlook a cab! i'm so glad there are many here that appreciate them as much as the fine semi-precious stones.

i envy the OP's ability to make her own signature pieces.

 

[bluebirrrd]

Wow, I'm so surprised by all the other agate, jasper and cab fans! I've always loved picking up stones and I suspect more than a few of you have too. Here are a few from ebay that I think stand out.

This would be fantastic bezeled in a bracelet. http://www.ebay.com/itm/55ct-AAA-Me...565?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4164c1dbd5

These two look like paintings. http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCENIC-Succ...634?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256f8c3d32

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PICASSO-JAS...055?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3345773f

 

[Arkteia]

Bluebirrrd, fantastic stones!

 

[movie zombie]

OMG, bluebirrd! that 2nd picture is just to die for!

 

[bluebirrrd]

I know, right?! I hope I was clear that they're not mine.

I did buy something though...a moss agate. I can't say I'm impressed with the seller's ratings, but for $5.50 I figured I would take a chance. If I receive it and it's nice, I can just remove it from the horrible silver plated setting. It's 25x18mm.

 

[Quantz Studios]

I contacted the Admins, haven't heard back about showing you all some nice agate and cab stuff.

 

[chrono]

Patience....(at least that is what I am telling myself )

 

[Starzin]

The picture jaspers are amazing - I love so many of them.

Wow - that does appear to be a good moss agate - very "mossy"

Hopefully permission will come soon Stonebender - I'm looking forward to seeing what cabs faceters collect too

One stone that I love and didn't know produced dendrites is Mookaite. It's only found in one place in a remote area of Western Australia. People are calling it jasper and it certainly polishes to a wonderfully "waxy" feel but I can't make head nor tail of the info on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mookaite - hope it's enlightening to somebody

But the stuff itself is gorgeous! Everything from cream to yellow to pink to brown and all shades in between. I'll post these for posterity because I honestly didn't know they "did" dendrites too! Found at http://topgems.homestead.com/gemstone_information_mookaite.html.

 

[minousbijoux]

It is so hard for me to believe that these aren't somehow little collages of dried flowers - they are beautiful.