Fresh Rocks 2/24/2014

New Rough Posted!

Includes:

37.68ct Aquamarine 

140ct peach topaz

186ct Aquamarine

197.5ct Bi-color Tourmaline

Hans Durstling & Silver Chalice

Hans Durstling share his amazing story of turning this:

into this:

See his gemology online post for the full story!

New in the Faceter's Gallery: Jim Kropp

We have added Jim Kropp, carver and silversmith, to the Faceter's Gallery.    Welcome Jim! 

Need a stone cut? Want to see what other cutters are up to? Check out the gallery!
Potential Clients: Please note, you are working directly with the faceter and PrettyRock is not involved in anyway. This is not an endorsement. Always do your research before choosing someone to cut your stone.
Cutters: We would love to have you join the gallery. It's free! The only rule is that you must do your own cutting.  It is just our way of trying to support our faceters. Contact us for details.

New Rough Posted: Oregon Sunstone and Etched Spessertites

See all the new rough here!

Includes:

27.76ct Oregon Sunstone

36.89ct Spessartite Garnet

25.7ct Oregon Sunstone

Monday Funny: Social Networking the Early Days

New Rough Posted 2/14/2014

New rough up.  Click here to see it all.   

56.91ct Rubellite Tourmaline

93.32ct Aquamarine

177ct Ametrine

Wallpaper: Valentine Tourmaline

Happy Valentine's Day from our heart to yours

These are faceted tourmalines.  The center stone is a 1.57 watermelon tourmaline, and the center is naturally shaped like a heart.  It's a tiny thing, but I love it!

You are welcome to share the image above, and I also made wallpaper for you without the quote.  You can find the wallpaper here:

http://prettyrock.com/free-wallpaper-minerals.htm

Here is a close up of the heart stone by itself.  I bumped up the contrast a bit so you could see it better.  As I said the stone is tiny and not easy to photograph! (this is not for sale..it's mine! ♥ )

Got any heart related rocks or jewelry?  I would love see them!  Share the photos or a link in the comments.

Bling! Sculptured Jewelry by Jim Kropp

I love seeing what artists do with the stones they purchase from us.  Jim Kropp took a hunk of  CZ and created this amazing work!  I can't decide which photo shows it better, so here are both. Click the photo for a larger image:

What Jim has to say about his work:

Been sculpting wood, metal and stone for over 65 yrs and still do.  Got tired of big stuff and decided to do miniatures that can be worn.  Everybody else does traditional jewelry, so how about sculptured jewelry.  About 10 yrs ago I saw an article by Woods out of Texas and tried my hand.  Again most people use more traditional settings for carved stones, so I added a more sculptured look to my settings.  Now I also design, carve and cast my settings in Argentium Sterling silver.

All of my work has been self taught.  Having previous experience working with stone and metal, it was easy to scale down to jewelry sizes.  One just has to learn the influences of stone hardness, toughness and grain which point to the proper tools to use.  All of my initial roughing out is done with diamond burs on a rotary grinder.  Then small discs of silicon carbide sandpaper is used with stone softer than 7.  Starting with 200 grit and going to 2000 grit.  Then a final polish with 14000 diamond paste usually finishes the task.  Stones harder than 7 require diamond paste all the way.  My current carborundum (hardness of 9) project fits this harder sequence nicely.  The largest challenge is to uniformly polish each curved facet from edge to edge and top to bottom.  All of my shapes are nonlinear and free formed.  They are generally nonsymmetrical concave surfaces and It takes a lot of practice to freehand polish the bottom of a those holes.

The only advice I can give to someone starting out is first to thoroughly understand all lapidary procedures to make a polished stone.  Then to practice, practice, practice.  Start carving the easier soft materials like wood or calcite and work your way to harder stone materials.  In the process, read every published article around.  If at all possible, contact an experience carver and take some lessons.  Don't know of any schools that teach carving.

My favorite materials are any pretty rocks, be they transparent or opaque.  The light reflected is generally from the front surface showing off the curves.  My favorite metal is silver, but gold, bronze and copper work well depending upon stone color and design.  Since all of my stones have original shapes, all of my settings require original designs.  However, the basket cage is favored to grasp the stone itself.

You can see more of Jim's work here: http://www.carvedgemstonejewelry.com/

On My Desk Today Feb 7 2014

Some gorgeous ametrine!

On My Desk Today Feb 6 2014

Weighing some of the rocks from Tucson.

A few cat hairs won't make that much difference...

Back from Tucson!

Here are just some of our treasures!  I will post some more photos of our trip in the next few days..just wanted to give you a sneak peek!

Learning: UltraTec's Faceting 101 Tutorials!

If you have ever wanted to learn to facet, check out this new series on faceting:

Part 1, Introduction, Parts of the Faceting Machine -http://youtu.be/oD6ZlNmtwmM

Part 2 Dops - http://youtu.be/xli8iqW5ciU

Part 3 Laps - http://youtu.be/zdhgT0B6jT4

I will keep you posted when the next ones come out.

Planned for the future:

Part 4 Choosing Rough - Size, shape, color 

Part 5 Preforming 

6. Dopping

7. Faceting the Pavillion 

8. Faceting the Girdle 

9. Prepolishing 

10. Polishing 

11. Transferring 

12. Cutting The Crown 

13. Cutting The Table 

14. Undopping The Stone 

15. Closing

Football players are even competitve about their rings!

Football players are even competitve about their rings!

GIA - Photo courtesy Tiffany & Co.

Great article about their design and some of the interesting facts and stories about the rings.

Read  here:   http://www.gia.edu/gia-news-research-super-bowl-rings

Monday Funny (not rock related)

This is Chief, one of our cats.  He found full bag of catnip.  Enough said.

Big Blue Diamond Found!

Philip Mostert / Petra Diamonds Limited via AFP - Getty Images


From worldnews.nbcnews.com article: A 29.6-carat blue diamond, one of the rarest and most coveted in the world with a possible price tag of tens of millions of dollars, has been discovered at a South African mine by Petra Diamonds. 

(Thank you to Clara for pointing out this article!)

GIA on :The Smithsonian Gem and Mineral Collection

GIA posted an excellent article on the The Smithsonian Gem and Mineral Collection including great behind the scenes photos and interview with the curator-in-charge Jeffery Post.  Read more here!

This raspberry-and mint-colored tourmaline—nicknamed the “Steamboat”—is one of the world’s finest and most valuable mineral specimens. Photo by Duncan Pay © GIA, courtesy The Smithsonian Institution http://geogallery.si.edu

$20 off $100! January Coupon

Baby it's cold outside!  So here's a little something to warm your heart:

$20 off any order over $100!   

Just put : SnowDay2014

in the discount coupon box at check out.

Valid from Jan 15 2014 to Jan 31 2014

 Discounts can not be combined.  

No cash value. Can not be used on Ultra Tec Machines

Okay..so maybe it's not so cold in Charlotte NC as it is where you are.  But I did have to put a sweater on this morning ;)   Stay warm and don't let your opals crack!

New Rough Posted - Jan 12 2014

We have posted a bunch of new rough!  Check it out here!

Jus a few highlights:

8.8ct Paraiba Tourmaline

45.71ct Watermelon Tourmaline

 28.4ct Indicolite Tourmaline

3.35ct Bastnaesite

Great Blog Post on Quartzsite!

image from: http://www.quartzsitebusinesschamber.com/town.html

Wish you were in Quartzsite?  Check out the great blog posts over at Snob Appeal Jewelry:

http://www.snobappealjewelry.com/blog/2014/01/quartzsite-rocks-and-redneck-guitars/

We will be in Tucson at the end of the month..can't wait.  Looking forward to all the gorgeous stones and more importantly, catching up with  many old friends!

On My Desk Today: Emerald Preforms

Sorting a bag of emerald preforms...

sort of sorted!

  now to bag and label and weight and measure and photo and describe and post...