Sonoran Sunrise

I purchased these Sonoran Sunrise cabs from a fellow jeweler recently. (Thank you, Karen!)  Sonoran Sunrise is the apt name given to the the red mineral, cuprite ( copper bearing) in chrysocolla. It's found in Mexico, and do these colors ever "pop" together! And this batch is probably some of the most intense I've seen! The cut and polish on these stones is excellent. Sized from large pendant/ brooch pieces to statement rings and a pair of earrings. They will be a pleasure to work with! 

  

I can't seem to keep my hands off the stuff...

My philosophy regarding stones has always been that when you see a good thing, you need to jump on it. Even if you just recently bought a slew of pretty rocks. I mean, when you're talking jaspers and agates, each is one of a kind. You just have to keep that in mind. And I don't buy everything I see, I do employ some restraint... well, a little...

This batch of beauties includes Morrisonite at the top, Montana agate, a nice ocean jasper and a bunch of beautiful Willow Creek jasper. See what I mean? How could a sane person pass these up?

And now the fun begins...

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more temptation

There was another mineral and gem show at the Canby fairgrounds this weekend...

My friend Linley and I moseyed on over. Well, Linley moseyed, I approached with long, purposeful strides, my antennae twitching...

The first thing we spotted, was a table about 15 feet long FILLED with hand cut beads. There were gemstone beads, jaspers and agates, just about every cool stone in the world cut into beads. About a bazilloion of them at least... and this was day 2 of the show. What must day 1 have looked like??

Each and every bead was cut, shaped, drilled and polished by a very nice retired gentleman who obviously delights in his work! Not cheap, but definitely worth every penny. 

I chose Hidden valley jasper, bird's eye rhyolite, Morrisonite, holley blue agate, Montana agate.

I have no idea at the moment what I'll do with them, maybe just keep them around as playthings...

I found some really nice Montana agate cabs...

 

...and some Cherry Creek jasper. the top stone is already in process of becoming this week's brooch.

In an earlier post about my trip to central Oregon to dig for polkadot jasper, I mentioned that thousands of years ago the area drew Native Americans who used the jasper for tool making. To remove the material, they would build hot fires next to the rock to cause it to split off. The heat caused the jasper to turn pink. This cab is a remnant of that activity. The two small pieces I found I decided to hang on to as artifacts so I was delighted to find this cab, cut by the mine owner who was also at the show selling.

Of course I also bought a few slabs to add to my collection of those from which I'll do my own cutting one of these days, but I had to share this one. An old timer told me it was fossil algae! I'm sure there are cooler things in the world... but what??

All in all, it was a very good day... as well as a business expense...