Monthly Archives: February 2009

Ghostbusters

“Ghostbusters” is another pendant of the “Debbie Collection”, one of her earlier purchases. When Halloween time comes around, you often see her showing off how her ghost seems to fly through the air!

My inspiration on this one came as I was cutting slabs from a very unusual Lake Superior Agate. The agate had distinctive eyes as well as some fortification structure with unusual coloration, mostly white but including some yellow, which is quite rare in Lakers. I immediately saw a face on the second slab, and the pattern continued through the next three slices.

I cut a calibrated oval 30X40 mm cab with the eyes in a position showing the face of the ghost. The position of the eyes toward the side of the cab made me think of a flying ghost.

I took this cab to William Holland School of Lapidary Arts in Young Harris, Georgia for an advanced wire wrapping class I was taking. The first incarnation of the ghost came into being at that time. I thought the piece was quite whimsical and artsy. I kept that piece of jewelry around for a couple of years and my wife wore it at Halloween time each year. Debbie was looking through my pendants one day and fell in love with the ghost. By the time she looked at the original piece I had made a second, less extravagant ghost pendant, but Debbie wanted the wild unit I had created at lapidary school. p12600032 I re-wrapped the original ghost simply because my skill level had progressed substantially and I could see some flashier things to do! This is the pendant that Debbie loves.

The ghost appears to be flying rapidly through the air throwing up a trail of smoke. I really enjoyed creating this extra-ordinary apparition.

Where Can You Buy Snob Appeal Jewelry?

I am often asked if I have my jewelry in any retail outlets. Yes, you can see and purchase our products at selected stores. The Floating Cow at 113 E. Main, Madison, Indiana is the premier gift shop in Historic Madison (812 273-4939). They feature a full line of my designer jewelry. If you can’t find a nice gift for someone at this friendly and charming boutique, you probably are just not looking!
My Datolite, Thomsonite, and Lake Superior Agate pendants are featured at the unique Copper World at 101 5th Street, Calumet, Michigan (906-337-4016). Copper World is the finest gift shop in the Keweenaw Peninsula, featuring products from throughout Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

In scenic Elk Rapids, Michigan you can find a unique boutique, the Viola Gallery which also carries my pendants. This is a wonderful shop with beautiful hand-crafted items.

A limited number of pieces can also be seen at Korner Gem at 13031 Fisherman Cove, Traverse City, Michigan (231-929-9175). Korner Gem is the finest custom jewelry designer and repair shop in Traverse City. They also are a wonderful rock shop. Kevin Gauthier who owns the shop is the person I always recommend for lost wax settings of our greenstones. (Lost wax casting is the process for making rings and pendants.)

Our jewelry can also be seen and purchased at the fine arts and crafts shows listed on our home page. The jewelry we sell at the shows is separate from our website jewelry. Our craft/art show product line is much more extensive. This is why if you want something unusual, or a particular stone that you do not see on our website, you should call us. We may have what you want even if you do not see it here on our website.

Muonionalusta Meteorite

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 pb1003001with 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.

Debbie’s Bluegill Pendant

While cutting an interesting Lake Superior 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.p12600021

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.