Two children were kicking rocks around one day in 1906, when suddenly one kicked out a very rusty, heavy rock, which seemed so strange and out of place that they took it home.  The Muonionalusta area is in northern Sweden north of the Arctic Circle.  Scientists did not study this rock until 1948 when it was discovered to be a piece of an iron meteorite.  Since then, numerous pieces of the now famous Muonionalusta Meteorite have been found.  These meteorites are famous for their fantastic etched patterns (Widmanstatten figures).  These patterns are not visible until the meteorites are acid etched.

I first discovered slabs of these meteorites at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Shows in 2008.  I had an inspiration that I could make jewelry out of these slabs.  I showed Debbie this material and being the adventurous type,  she wanted a pendant and ear rings from this material. 

It actually took me a few months to think about how I could work with this material.  Fortunately my neighbor, Mike, is a tool and die maker, and has a fantastic machine shop.  I had Mike cut two rectangular cabs as well as four smaller rectangular cabs for earrings.  For the earrings I had him halve the almost quarter inch slab in order to lighten these small cabs so they were suitable (light enough) for earrings.  Muonionalusta’s often have small stone inclusions, and metal saws do not like rocks!  I watched Mike’s expensive wire-feed saw spark its way through the meteorite, but every time it hit an inclusion it would stop and shut itself down.  Then the saw would have to be backed out and start all over down the same cut line.  Usually the second cut would make it through the inclusion and continue until the cut was done or it hit another inclusion and shut itself down again, in which case the cut would have to be restarted.  This was a very expensive computer-controlled machine, so I owed Mike Christmas jewelry for his two daughters and his wife.  Nice that he is a good neighbor and likes to barter.

I rounded the corners of these rectangles on my Genie, then coated the iron with epoxy to make them shiny and seal them against rust.  I drilled a small hole in the corner of each earring cab.

I wrapped the pendant cab with Argentium and added two violet CZ’s and a Mystic Topaz to one side.  I thought they reminded me of stars and they definitely gave the pendant sparkle.  I hung the unit at an angle to simulate the meteor tumbling into the atmosphere.  The silver wire was the obvious choice, matching the silvery patina of the meteorite.

This jewelry set is one of my favorites and I’ve never seen anything like this before.

Believe me, Debbie loves this set and I see her wearing it often.  It is one of the newer additions to the “Debbie Collection”.  I’m going to make at least one more similar set in the near future and post it up on this website.  

While cutting an interesting eye agate one afternoon, I saw a fish eye develop.  I had an inspiration that if I cut an oval cabochon, then backed that agate with a thin sheet of Jade, I could somehow make a fish come to life.  The dilemma then became how to do it.

I first cut a thin slice of mottled green Jade from a rock I found in my collection, then cut it out in a fish shape using my Taurus Ring Saw.  A Taurus saw has a continuous circular, diamond coated wire that allows cutting in any direction.  It’s a machine that I use occasionally, but on those jobs nothing else works as well.  One of the uses for the Taurus is cutting Christmas tree ornaments.  Another use is cutting the State of Michigan shape out of Petoskey Stone.

I used two-part Epoxy to bond the fish-eyed cab to the Jade.  I then continuously wrapped a frame from Sterling silver, finishing the wrap at the bottom of the fish.

I left extra wire at the bottom and ran that extra wire up the rear of the fish to lock the wire to the fish frame.

Debbie always likes matching earrings for her pendants.  In this case I used the same piece of Jade as I used for the backer, and using the Taurus Saw again, I cut the blue gills.  With a Foredom  and diamond bit I drilled tiny eye holes in the earring fish as well as hole to hang the drops.

Debbie is an enthusiastic rock hound, has eclectic tastes, and claims many of my unusual pendants.  This was one of the early pieces in a growing collection, I refer to as the “Debbie Collection”.  I have a lot of fun designing pieces with her, and she graciously has agreed to have her jewelry in the next few blogs.  I expect when I become “Rich and Famous” (right!) Debbie should be able to open up a museum of my strange, unusual, and weird stuff.

You can see some of our available agate pendants on several pages: Various, Crazy Lace Agates, Lake Superior Agates, Petrified Wood, and Queensland Agates.

For my first blog about past projects, I have to feature Beth’s Isle Royale Greenstone.

Beth’s husband John is a good buddy of mine and I have been mentoring him for a few years in wire artistry.  John is now a superb wire-wrapper in his own right and could have easily wrapped this Greenstone if he had chosen to do so. 

John had a HUGE Greenstone that he had found on Isle Royale in the early 1960’s.  (Chlorastrolite or Greenstone did not become the Michigan state gem until March 30, 1973.  Today collecting Greenstone on Isle Royale National Park is strictly prohibited.) The original Greenstone was approximately 3 ½ inches by 2 inches.  Considering the average Greenstone is half the size of a pea, this specimen was amazing.  This Greenstone was larger than any I have seen anywhere, even at the Seaman Mineral Museum, which is considered to have the best collection of Michigan rocks and minerals in the world.

The rock was face polished in Houghton years ago, but by using Foredom and rushing the job the lapidarist ended up with divots in the stone and a poor polish. 

John asked me to make a pendant for his wife, and my first response was, “Are you sure?”  This, after all, was a great specimen.  John had thought about it and was certain this was what he wanted to do.  John did not have the lapidary equipment to cut and polish the stone properly, so that job was also mine.

I was concerned about cutting this stone, not unlike striking a diamond to split it.  There is always a chance of ruination.  Greenstones, especially large ones are not solid through and through.  The Chlorastrolite often forms in a very thin layer and normally not in a clean pattern.  Not many lapidarists can cut greenstone properly.  There is a fine line between getting out the bad spots and going completely through the sometimes micro-thin pattern layer.  I have cut several thousand greenstones myself, ruining a lot of them in the learning process, so I am well aware of the potential pitfalls.  Cutting this beauty was a daunting and exciting task.

The process was pretty much routine until the final cutting and polishing, at which time the best prospect area was marked out for a pendant, and two other areas were marked for potential earrings.  John had already suggested an area for the pendant that I agreed was correctly chosen.  I roughed out the shape and started cutting on the Genie.  I was amazed and pleased that the stone was so solid, having experienced soft Greenstones on numerous occasions. 

Greenstones have to be worked on worn wheels to get the best results, so it takes a long time to work one up.  This stone had the afore-mentioned divots that had to be meticulously worked out on the 600-grinding wheel with hopes that the Chlorastrolite layer would not be penetrated.  Luck was again on my side as a small, classic, Greenstone pattern gradually presented itself.  The finished stone turned out to be approximately 1½ inches high and 1 inch wide.

John asked me to wrap this stone for Beth, and it was my honor to do so. I used 22Ga 14/20 GF.  It is always my policy that the stone is the star in any wire wrap.  I only wire to enhance the gem and not to do anything that distracts from the star.  I think there are too many wire artists that get carried away in their own artistic abilities and over-wrap their gems.  Why distract from a perfectly good gemstone?  OK, I’ll get off my bandwagon for now, and get back to the story.  I topped off the pendant by wiring Beth’s name on the reverse.

I thank John and Beth for allowing me the honor of making this glorious piece of jewelry.

Oh, by the way, I finished this whole project in one day.  Sometimes I just can’t help myself!

Greenstones for your projects and wire-wrapped Greenstone pendants are available for your purchase.

Customer Review:

   I thank you for an exceptional pendant.  Don took a dark, unassuming specimen greenstone and turned it into a beautiful work of art.  The stone has been sitting on a shelf for 40 or so years and now is a bright and beautiful necklace that I will enjoy wearing–I love it!  With many thanks,  Beth