Local lapidary artisans gemstones

As many of you know, along with being a Realtor, I am also co-owner of Silverhawk's Creations. While we do everything from webdesign to jewelry, one of our biggest claims to fame are our designer stones. Yep, my very talented Sam and I (and even my 16 year old son Chris and Sam's equally talented cousin) cut gemstones for a living. My clients often ask me to update them when I put up new gemstones so I figured my blog is the perfect way to do just that.

Rocks are fascinating, and are often named for the area in which they are found. I can go through just about any place in the U.S and recognize little towns because at some time someone found a really neat jasper or agate there. The earth provides us with little works of art formed by millions of years of harsh conditions (which I am so glad to have missed). There is nothing like waking up and doing a job that you love every day, and it is our distinct pleasure to be able to grind rough rocks into cabochons for jewelers, gold and silversmiths, beaders and collectors to use and enjoy.

For those of you interested in my passion, please come see our gemstones and learn a little about them.

This week we have posted the following stones at http://www.samsilverhawk.com/gems1.html

Tahoma jasper, from the slopes of Mt. Rainier in Washington state

Ocean jasper, from Madagascar

Exotica porcelain jasper, from Mexico

Mexican crazy lace agate, from Mexico

Owyhee jasper, a long recognized classic from Oregon

Priday moss agate, from the long-famous Richardson Ranch agate beds in Oregon

Rainforest jasper, from Australia

Biggs jasper, from Oregon

Blue lace agate, from Africa

Pilbara jasper, a recent Australian find

Tube agate (looks like Ochoco to me, but we can't be sure)

Turquoise, from Kingman, Arizona

Bruneau jasper, from Bruneau Canyon, Idaho

Botswana agate, from Africa

Pigeon blood agate, also known as cornelian, from Utah

Royal Sahara jasper, harvested in the North African Sahara desert

Rhodochrosite from Argentina, cut from a slice of stalactite base

Willow Creek jasper, from Idaho

For a little ancient sea life we have fossilized horn coral, from Utah

Laboratory grown white opal

Agua Neuva agate, from Mexico

Purple jade, from Turkey

Luna agate, from Mexico

Apache jasper, a rhyolite, also known as Mimbres Valley jasper, from New Mexico

Seraphinite, from Russia's Lake Baikal area in eastern Siberia

Tabu tabu, also sometimes called 'smoke and embers' jasper, or forest fire jasper, from Africa

Chrysoprase, from a newly discovered find near Yerilla, Australia

Sweetwater dendritic agate, from Wyoming. One of the few known agates that fluoresce in UV light

And we have a mystery plume with manganese-based plumes agate out of Texas. If you happen to recognize this one, let me know.