SOUTHWESTERN FLAIR - Turquoise with some Tiger Iron and Crystals !

Turquoise can be combined with almost any other gemstone, and still retain that Southwestern look, because the Indians of the Southwest used whatever they could find or trade for to make their jewelry pieces.
Three large Turquoise rondels form the center of this 18 inch necklace. They are highlighted by copper and Czech Crystal faceted beads.
Tiger Iron barrels and rondels, Turquoise beads, copper highlights and Czech Crystals complete the sides of the necklace.

A 2 1/2 inch extender is used with a silver plated S-hook Clasp.
Matching silver plated French Hook earrings complete the set.

Tiger Iron is a composite gemstone of black Hematite, red Jasper and Tiger's Eye. It has rippled wavy bands of color often which resemble a scenic view. It usually has a greenish cast with shades of golden yellow, brown and reds. Marra Mamba is a form of Tiger Iron that was found only in a specific area of Australia near Mount Brockman. It is a very rare type of Tiger Iron that contains shades of green, red, blue and yellow. Since the area has been mined out for many years, very little of the "true" Marra Mamba is available in todays markets. If you want to see some, find a good collector or a museum that might have some.

Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium. It is rare and valuable in its finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue. In recent times Turquoise, like most other opaque gems, has been devalued by the introduction of treatments, imitations, and synthetics onto the gemstone marketplace. The substance has been known by many names, but the word Turquoise was derived around the 16th century from the French language 'turquie', for a Central Asian material which was a very early imported through Turkey from Persia. Today, Persian and certain southwestern United States Turquoise, especially Sleeping Beauty, commend some of the highest prices paid for this gemstone. Many times on the edges of the Turquoise fields, other minerals and stones become interwined into the Turquoise or Turquoise pieces are encapsulated into the surrounding rock, thus creating unique and interesting patterns.

Czech Crystals are also used in this set.

Tiger's Eye, Tiger Iron or Hawk's Eye - you select your choice !

If these three gemstones were placed in front of you, could you pick them out immediately? I hope so by the time you finish reading this Blog.

Tiger’s Eye is a chatoyant gemstone that belongs to the Quartz family. It is normally a metamorphic rock which is yellow to red-brown in color with a silky luster. Chatoyancy is a changing in the luster or color of a gemstone as light is reflected within the thin parallel fibrous bands. The fibrous structure of the material is what causes this effect to happen. Tiger's Eye gemstones are normally cut into various cabochon shapes to best display their chatoyancy. Tiger's Eye can also show a Cat's Eye effect.

Tiger's eye is derived from Crocidolite (a mineral comprised of iron and sodium) which has been oxidized to a golden brown from its original blue color and the Crocidolite has been totally replaced by Quartz. An incomplete silicified process producing a blue variant is known as Hawk’s eye.

Even though the iron and sodium dissolves when the Quartz becomes imbedded between the fibers of Crocidolite, there are traces of hydrated oxide of iron that are left between the Quartz and Crocidolite, thus creating the golden color that is common to the Tiger's Eye gemstone. How golden brown, red, blue or green the Tiger's Eye and Hawk's Eye ends up is determined by how much of these varying amounts of hydrated minerals are deposited. The rarer blue Hawk's Eye will have only the slightest amounts. Tiger's Eye is also called a Cat’s Eye Quartz when the color is greenish grey. It is called Tiger’s Eye Cat Eye when the brown stone reflects a golden yellow stripe and if the stone is bluish or blue gray, then it is known as Hawk's Eye Cat Eye. The rare mahogany or any redish colored stones are known as Ox Eye or Bull's Eye.

Tiger's Eye is also a pseudomorph. Pseudomorphs form when one mineral replaces another. Since Tiger's Eye is a Quartz replacement of Crocidolite, therefore it is a pseudomorph of Quartz after Crocidolite. The same thing happen when Quartz replaces wood to produce Petrified Wood. Tiger's Eye is also considered as one of the most popular chatoyant gemstones.

Now we throw in a confusion factor for identification. Tiger Iron is a composite gemstone of black Hematite, red Jasper and Tiger's Eye. It has rippled wavy bands of color often which resemble a scenic view. It usually has a greenish cast with shades of golden yellow, brown and reds. Marra Mamba is a form of Tiger Iron that was found only in a specific area of Australia near Mount Brockman. It is a very rare type of Tiger Iron that contains shades of green, red, blue and yellow. Since the area has been mined out for many years, very little of the "true" Marra Mamba is available in todays markets. If you want to see some, find a good collector or a museum that might have some.

Tiger’s Eye is often heat treated in which any changes are permanent, therefore no extra care is needed, but just like any other gemstone it should be protected from sharp blows, heavy scratches and large temperature changes. Quartz dust can be hazardous to breathe according to several recent research studies. Since the fibrous mineral in most Tiger's Eye has been completely replaced by Quartz, it is best to take adequate precautions to avoid breathing any of the dust when cutting or polishing Tiger's Eye, or any oher Quartz stone.

The fibers in Tiger's Eye are very thin and may only be an inch or two long. Most are only 0.001 millimeters, in diameter. Since Tiger’s Eye normally has bend or twisted fibers, sawing can be tricky and cuts must exactly parallel to the length of the fibers in order to get the full chatoyant effect. You will end up with a lifeless, dark brown to black worthless stone if the saw cut is perpendicular to the fibers. Very careful cutting and polishing is required to line all the fibers up to get a true cat-eye effect.

Red Tiger's Eye is not a natural occurrence in most cases. It is usually a result of deliberate heating. Honey-colored Tiger's Eye have been used to imitate much higher valued Cat’s Eye Chrysoberyl. The most common man made imitation of Tiger's Eye is an artificial fiberoptic glass and/or resin that is produced in a wide range of unusual colors.

Tiger’s Eye commonly comes from South Africa but also can be found in Burma, Australia, the United States and India.

Gemstone Sets - some new designs !

As the summer moves along, one can sit and think about the various gemstones one has acquired in the past and what might be interesting to try and find for future designs. Here are a couple new designs that have been enhanced by suggestions from customers and created from existing necklaces or from some existing stock.

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Turquoise tear drops & rounds, Tiger Iron rondels & barrels with Crystal highlights

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Spiderweb Agate pendant, Black Agate and Carnelian rounds with Silver highlights

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Stone Patterns !

One of the things one looks for when picking out a slab to make pieces for jewelry out of is an outstanding or unique pattern within the outline of the shape one is going to design. An excellant example is the following pendant made from Red River Jasper from Australia. Here you see two very well defined colors streaking across the stone.

Some times the piece of stone or slab is not large enough to make several pieces which would become a pendant and earring set. But sometime one is luckly enough in the pattern presented by the stone, to be able to make a pendant and earring set from multiple pieces, as seen in this Tiger Iron set from Australia.

Then there are times when one is able to make a large pendant out of a slab, only to have the finished piece break into pieces, hopefully only two, because of a fracture line in the stone or a bit of rough handling when cutting or polishing. Many times the crack occurs when trying to drill a hole for hanging the piece from a necklace or placing a bail on it. But sometimes when this occurs, one gets very lucky and where the crack occurs allows the piece to be repolished into a matching set as seen in this Cappucinno Jasper double-pendant.

Sometimes it takes a bit more imagination to come up with a design after a stone cracks, but as can be seen in these Cappuccino Jasper pieces, the original stone patern is still very much present although the two pieces no longer actually fit together.

At other times there is no real pattern but similar areas make for an interesting double pendant design. Again Cappuccino Jasper from Poland fills the bill for this double-pendant.

We close out with another great pendant made out of Seraphinite or "Russian Angel Stone" where Silvery Mica is encased in the Seraphinite makes for a very interesting pendant pattern and a very unique piece.

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ADDITIONAL NEW DESIGNS !

The following new sets use combinations of Agate, Arizona Turquoise, Bronzite, Ceramic Beads, Czech Crystal, Arizona Magnesite (Wild Horse), Onyx and Tiger Iron in varying designs with silver and gold highlights and clasps. All the sets have matching Earrings.

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All these sets will be placed on the web-site over the next week.

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