REBOOT. Rock Appreciation Day.

To get back into the groove of these I'm reposting an old Rock Appreciation Day from 2013. As these are all older images please excuse the image quality and old trademark.

For each 1st of the month a different stone or gemstone type will be highlighted and given information on. Jewelry examples using that month's stone will be featured along with current for sale pieces using the stone. As a general disclaimer, I am no lapidary (stone) artist nor gemologist. All information I post here is researched by myself and sources for stone/mineral information can be given upon request. 

For Rock Appreciation Day this month we have:  

King's Manassa Mine Turquoise

Manassa mine turquoise has also been called King’s Manassa turquoise, King’s turquoise, and was originally called the Lick Skillet mine. It is located in South Central Colorado near Manassa. The Manassa mine is reputed to be the oldest turquoise mining deposit in Colorado, and was speculated to have been mined by the Anasazi Pueblo peoples. The mine was “rediscovered”, or founded, by Israel Perviose King when he was searching for gold in 1894. He filed claim on it the next year. The mine has stayed with the King family and is now with his grandson Bill King.

The turquoise from this mine is some of my favourite. It is known for it’s deep greens with host rock rhyolite golden brown matrix, but can produce turquoise in a range of colours.

The turquoise can come in solid colour, bi-coloured, or with host rock webbing. It pairs beautifully with gold and some of the most saturated dark greens are among the most collectible. I love that turquoise from this one area has been used for over 1,000 years and is still seen as a prized and treasured finite commodity.

Below are photos of pieces used with Manassa turquoise that have been sold or claimed.

That's all folks!

If you have any suggestions for a stone or gem to be highlighted for next month please comment below!

Tucson Gem Show!

Alright folks. This is going to be a fairly long post, so hold tight.

To give a brief summary, I'm sharing my experience and rock haul from the Tucson Gem Show this year. Anything marked N/A in the photo is not available for custom orders. All other stones are up for grabs and will ONLY be fully reserved once you nail a design down with me and a deposit for said design has been paid. Please be aware that unless you've sealed a piece with me, I may be showing the same stones to others.

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So. I started in New England, looking at this:

Packed up jewels from my personal collection to sport in the sun:

Took a few planes...

....and entered a region where aliens are abundant. Aliens. Yes. They are everywhere, in bizarre variations that look inviting yet are secretly hazardous...

And yes. I'm talking about these:

I swear these are the weirdest, coolest things. I got so many, "Uhm how many photos of cacti is this girl going to take???" stares. I don't even care.

Oh yeah. There was also the huge gem show all over the city, that was cool too.

(^natural rough Sleeping Beauty mine turquoise)

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Now, onto conquests.

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^Broken Arrow mine variscite. natural. straight from the mine owner.

^Burtis Claim Cripple Creek mine turquoise. natural.

^Royston turquoise and Royston ribbon cut turquoise. natural.

^Royston turquoise. natural.

^White Buffalo turquoise. natural. Straight from the mine owner.

^Blue Moon mine turquoise. natural.

^Royston ribbon cut turquoise. natural.

^ left to right: New Lander mine, Peacock mine, Carico Lake mine, Number 8 mine (!!! truly!), Damele mine.

All natural.

^the amazingly tight webbing in this one is hard to photograph.

^this one has a very high dome.

^ Sleeping Beauty mine turquoise. natural.

^Fox // Cortez mine turquoise. natural.

^old stock Number 8 mine turquoise. natural.

^Royston turquoise. natural. Along with some strays.

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That's the haul folks! I hunted and enjoyed the skies of the Southwest

Then I returned home to a series of snow storms. Fantastic.

Keep a look out as I'll be posting NEW ITEMS to preview here on the blog this coming Sunday before they hit the shops!

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SALE NEWS

From tonight until next Thursday at midnight, enjoy 15% off of your order in the Main Etsy Shop with coupon code:

SNOWVERDOSE

in honour of there being too much snow here and wanting to empty the shelves in the shop a bit for new items! Sale does not apply to custom orders, minimum purchase of $25 required to apply.

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KEEP POSTED FOR SUNDAY.

In the meantime, if you aren't in a sunny land, stay warm and bundle up!

xx Stray Arrow

Giveaway and News!

Well folks, it's the first of the month. I think it's time to bring back the Rock Appreciation Days, what about you? Today VARISCITE will be highlighted. See the feature and photo examples of current and past jewelry pieces using variscite at the END of this post.

For now, I'd like to update you all. Studio access has been slightly limited in the recent past due to construction on the building. A big thank you to all who have placed orders for your immense patience during this time! The studio is now at full speed again and any work in my space has finished. Due to the slower production speed I have solely been keeping up with "made to order" items and custom items. I will finally be updating the main Etsy shop with new items next week. To stay posted on exactly when you can follow any of my social media seen at the right side bar.

In more exciting news,

I will be going to the Tucson Gem Show! 

This is a big deal for me, because it is absolutely huge and spanning a month's time, and I wasn't able to go last year. I will be gone from February 9-13th. Please note that I will keep both Etsy shops open during this time, but some "made to order' items may be deactivated. All orders will ship upon my return. As I am shopping for rocks, I'm giving you all an opportunity to weigh in. What kinds of stones would you like me to use more? Have a custom piece in mind with a specific kind of stone you want me to hunt for? If you have a serious hankering, please list your desires in the comment section below. I'll be adding it to my 'treasure hunt' list. When I return all new scores will be photographed and posted here. For the most up to date Gem Show experience you can follow my Instagram: @thestrayarrow.

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GIVEAWAY NEWS

This giveaway will primarily be for Instagram. Any comments below on THIS post will also be included into the giveaway! Comment with stone opinions! Win the Feathered Band with Arrow Vane below, in your size. Winner will be chosen Feb. 14th.

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On a more serious note...

I want to bring up something that often goes unsaid by most jewelers. It goes unsaid because of backlash. Because of people getting defensive. Because you take something that is "fun" and "aesthetically pleasing" to the general public and shed light on a negative aspect of the industry. That's right. Industry. This is a trade, not a hobby. I've mentioned this before and I want to mention it again. Creative rights are constantly being infringed upon. It is not okay, and should not be supported. It is morally bankrupt. Yes, there are others out there with technical skills, no, they do not have my mind, or the mind of a peer. If you see something that you *immediately associate with my work or think is mine initially* chances are fair that my creative toes are being stepped on. If you see someone using ALL of my main themes I've been working hard to curate for years-

(turquoise.wampum.myth.literature.Native American.Nordic.)

then yes. There's no respect being shown, and my hard work is being stolen. Unfortunately there is little to be done, and speaking with people who clearly have no respect for others OR respect for themselves is most often a dead end. Again. This is a message for you to be aware. Not to dictate whom you should be buying from. When folks purchase my work along with that of my peers I get excited customers enjoy our work all around. There are wonderful, talented, respectful artists out there with some true integrity. They spend years creating work that evolves into a personal aesthetic. I will always fight for my creative rights and the rights of my peers. Please be respectful of the creative rights of other artists. Please be aware of what you're looking at and who you are supporting. Lastly, please take this message as a celebration of those who know themselves and stay true.

ROCK APPRECIATION DAY

[DISCLAIMER: I am not a lapidary (stone) artist, gemologist, mine owner, or any other kind of authority on gems, stones, or minerals. I am simply an enthusiast who likes to share the information I’ve gathered in my goal to attain the perfect rocks for my jewelry pieces].

VARISCITE.

Variscite is an aluminum phosphate mineral, ranking about a 3.5-4.5 on the MOH's hardness scale. It is often confused with turquoise, although more often than not much greener. It is another popular southwestern stone for jewelry use. The most popular can be found in Lucin and Fairfield, Utah, and Esmeralda and Lander counties in Nevada. It also hails from Australia, Brazil, Spain, Poland and Germany. Many kinds of variscite, especially from the USA, can have host rock webbing in them again making it easy to confuse with turquoise.

Below are pieces I've made with different varieties of variscite:

(^from Australia)

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That's it folks!

Have a good weekend~

xx The Stray Arrow

Soon....

Hey folks!

I've been traveling out of state. Rock Appreciation Day will be up tomorrow night with....

VARISCITE.

xx Stray Arrow.

New Stones, Peer News!

New stones scored yesterday at a gem show!

At the bottom of the post find new goodies by a friend and fellow artist, perfect to pair with crispy Fall weather...

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STONES ARE:

Shattuckite (very high grade), Native silver in Cobaltite (very high grade), rainbow moonstone, porcelain jasper, merlinite dendritic opal, pyrite in clear quartz, kyanite (two gems), green tourmaline, watermelon tourmaline slice, carey plume agate, agua nueva agate with druzy pockets! (collector quality), light pink agua nueva agate.

Any of these can be used for custom orders. The darker native silver piece in the bottom left of the first photo is being held for a piece I'm using in a Winter collection...

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Miss Tory of ToryNova has officially released printed leggings of deliciously soft and stretchy lycra featuring more of her own illustrations. These are great and stylish for staying warm in Fall. I've already got the Sea Voyage babies to pair with my new heeled ankle boots!

PREVIEW NIGHT plus Rock Appreciation Day!

Below are some of the jewels that will be going into the shop on Wednesday and Thursday...

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be sure to enter in the discount code if you make a purchase in the shop from now until Monday the 8th at Midnight!

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ROCK APPRECIATION DAY:

For this month, I could only chose one stone. I'll be highlighting Castle Dome Mine Turquoise, as its become a staple for my Mini Cave Lady Rings! I thought about doing black pyrite for a second stone, but don't have enough jewelry pieces to use as examples. I'll have to plot and cook up something big for August!

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Castle Dome turquoise is quite rare as it is a closed mine. Depicting bright light blues as it's signature, it is located near Globe, Arizona. Castle Dome is also referred to as Pinto Valley Mine turquoise, and it is similar to it's close neighbor the Sleeping Beauty Mine. Natural material of this is hard to get as most of the rough from when the mine was closed was stabilized and/or used for beads. It started, like many other turquoise mines, as a copper mine. Because of the mining methods used initially (aka blasting. yikes), many of the veins and structures of the turquoise later uncovered were extremely fractured. There wasn't much solid rough available for lapidary artists to cut.

Personally, I'm not particular to 'plain blues' in turquoise. This mine in particular, (and its similarly hued cousin the Blue Moon mine) has grown on me. There are very subtle hues in a lot of the Castle Dome mine turquoise that you don't find in your standard robin's egg blue or Sleeping Beauty mine turquoise. It has light "watermark" patterns, that aren't webbed or water webs. I adore pairing it with darkened silver, as it gives it contrast to highlight the stone. It also makes for a macabre pairing, and always reminds me of the bottom of pools.

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I'll be using more of this turquoise in fresh designs soon. What's pictured is all I have left!

xx Stray Arrow

Rock Appreciation Day and News-

For this double Rock Appreciation Day we have...

TOURMALINE & EMERALD GEMSTONES

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TOURMALINE:

Tourmaline is one of the most varied gemstones out there. It ranks a 7-7.5 on the hardness scale, and can come transparent to opaque, in any colour (colourless to black). The tourmaline gem is actually a group of mineral species, but because some of these minerals vary with varying colours, they are simply termed “tourmaline”.  Because there are so many colours, tones, and opacities to tourmaline, it can be mistaken easily and is usually termed solely by colour. There are many different varieties, for instance bi-colour, watermelon, chrome, etc. Rubellite tourmaline is a very rare type that was often mistaken for rubies in Russian crown jewels of the past. Tourmaline can hail from many places, including the USA, Russia, Sri Lanka, Africa, Brazil, Australia, and so on. Tourmaline has strong pleochroism, which means you can see different colours or depths of colour when viewed at different angles, such as when you rotate the stone in the light. Different varieties tend to have different clarities. Those of the blue/green variety can be eye clean, while the pinks of reds of the spectrum almost always have eye-visible inclusions. Tourmaline can come natural, or is sometimes heat-treated to bring out colour depth.

Tourmaline is both pyroelectric and piezoelectric. If a specimen is put under a pressure or temperature change, it will generate an electrical charge (how cool is that!?). When this happens, dust particles become attached to the crystal ends. For a long time tourmaline was known in Europe as aschentrekker (ash puller) as the stone was used by the Dutch to pull the ash out of their meerschaum tobacco pipes.

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EMERALD:

May birthstone, ranking a 7.5-8 on the MOH’s hardness scale. Personally one of my all time favourites… but being a May baby with green as a favourite colour, I’m biased. The colour of emerald (aka ‘emerald green’) is so unique it earns its status as one of the four “traditional” precious gemstones, along with diamond, ruby, and sapphire. The colour of emeralds is caused by small amounts of chromium and vanadium. It is in the Beryl family, and is essentially just the highest quality of beryl that can come transparent to opaque. Emerald is a particularly brittle gem. Natural emeralds almost always have inclusions and should be handled more gently. They are also almost always treated with oils, resins, or waxes. Exceptions are made for this treatment and for inclusions more than other gemstones. Inclusions and flaws are not always seen as negative, and can be an assurance that the gem is natural. Quality is determined by colour, and occasionally geographical origin. Emeralds can come from Africa, India, Russia, Brazil, Peru, among other places. Columbia is the center for mining emeralds, and South America in general produces the highest qualities. There a many stories and myths circling the emerald. The Egyptians mined it near the Red Sea, and it was said to be a favourite of Cleopatra. The Aztecs and the Incas both collected and valued emeralds, possibly regarding them as symbols for good luck and foresight.

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OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS:

My work load has become exceptionally large, and I can no longer be accepting any custom orders from May through the end of July. Unless I have already started conversations with you regarding a project, I simply don't have the extra time for them right now. This doesn't include "made to order" items. Essentially what is listed in the Etsy Shops is what's available. This hiatus does not apply to wholesale or consignment orders.

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A congratulations to the two winners of my Instagram Giveaway! For those of you unfamiliar with the application, you can do a little snooping and follow me @thestrayarrow, or check updates by clicking on the photo below.

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LAST BIT OF NEWS:

10% OFF ALL OF MAY!

For the entire month in the Main Shop, there is a 10% off deal on your order with the coupon code in the photo below. PLEASE do not forget to apply the code at purchase. I cannot issue refunds for those that forget to do so. Enjoy!

Merry May all!

xx Stray Arrow