Snakes and Stones

[Lord Sorril]

I thought that was varnished wood for a second. Tiger's eye?

I was thinking along the same line, petrified wood? but Tiger's Eye is a real good guess too.

Bogertophis called it! Petrified wood. There are some jaspers that look similar, but, petrified wood is much more common and is hugely varied in color and pattern--depending upon the original source and environment in which it was formed.

Fun fact: It can take millions of years to form a natural piece of petrified wood. Scientists can replicate the process in a laboratory and can accelerate it to days...it isn't quite the same quality, but, it can be done.

As for the possibility of tiger eye: red in tiger eye is extremely rare in nature. The red tiger eye that is most often sold on the market is yellow tiger eye that has been heat treated. Due to the process you will almost never see any yellow/red variegation in a piece. I haven't worked with red tiger eye yet, but, I am told that is much more prone to internal stress fractures which decreases the odds of a near perfect piece.

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #213

Bumblebee Het Hypo.

Fun fact: Granite forms in underground magma chambers, as it slowly cools crystals form (commonly quartz).
As granite is rich in quartz and feldspar and these two have different hardness (quartz: 7 vs. feldspar ~6): it is difficult material to tumble/polish and often results in a mottled sheen.

[Bogertophis]

Allow me to go on the record & just say that you're forgiven for any & all "mottled sheen". (I suspect you're the only one to notice it.)

[Lord Sorril]

Allow me to go on the record & just say that you're forgiven for any & all "mottled sheen". (I suspect you're the only one to notice it.)

Thanks! But, I am sure it is noticeable.

The quick photo below has a brazilian agate on the left, and a type of granite on the right. You can see my ceiling lamp and smoke detector reflected on the mirror polish on the agate, and nothing on the granite.

Many lapidary artists will steer clear of any type of stone that does not guarantee them a high polish.
It is taboo in Rock Tumbling: I am not concerned with getting a high polish on every stone.
I really manage to get people in lapidary forums 'irate' with my philosophy.

[Bogertophis]

Thanks! But, I am sure it is noticeable.

The quick photo below has a brazilian agate on the left, and a type of granite on the right. You can see my ceiling lamp and smoke detector reflected on the mirror polish on the agate, and nothing on the granite.

Many lapidary artists will steer clear of any type of stone that does not guarantee them a high polish.
It is taboo in Rock Tumbling: I am not concerned with getting a high polish on every stone.
I really manage to get people in lapidary forums 'irate' with my philosophy.

That's where I was going with my comment too- I'm not into stone-polishing, & to me, beauty doesn't require a high shine. In fact, I collect antique trade beads, & I prefer that they look like they were worn & well-loved, with a softer patina- not thrashed but not "new" looking either. It's all rather subjective as far as I'm concerned. Besides, I want to see the stones, not your ceiling fan!

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #214

Superfly: held back a bunch of them last year so I can pick the 'best' for integration into my Axanthic combos when they reach maturity.

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #215

Orange Ghost/Spider (aka HoneyBee)
and a Brazilian Agate that reminds me of a Cowrie seashell.
The patterning was a little different on this one (as opposed to the other blues) so I put this one aside for a separate photo.

Pictured below is a group of Brazilian Agates (including the one above: before/in progress).

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #216

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #217

I had the opportunity to buy some odd-shaped assorted lapidary scraps for a little over cost of shipping...a bunch of the pieces were too thin or heavily pitted and broke apart during tumble, but, the majority of them survived. Shown above are a few that made it out of polish recently.

Python morph is a single gene GHI.

[Albert Clark]

Really spectacular arrangements LS. Is photo # 216 a lavender albino?