I have recently started wire wrapping a group of Abalone doublets acquired in Tucson. These shells are so very amazing, with their variety of iridescent colors. Waves of the irridescent coloration just flow across these shells.
Abalone looks like a clam, but it really is a type of snail. An abalone makes its shell in layers. The abalone grows a layer of a specific kind of protein, and then a calcium carbonate mineral called ‘Aragonite’ crystallizes on the protein layer, until it is much thicker than the protein layer, and then there’s another protein layer, and then another layer of the mineral, aragonite, The protein is like a glue that holds the aragonite mineral crystal layers together. Aragonite and Calcite are naturally occuring calcium carbonate minerals that usually form in a sea environment.
Calcite is the primary makeup of Petoskey Stones and other fossils found in the Great Lakes where we live.
The cabochons I purchased in Tucson were all the same size and shape. The challenge is doing a different wrap for each cabochon. Here’s some samples of my latest pendants. I have one posted on line, but they would all be in the same neighborhood as far as price.
You will enjoy wearing one of these shiny eye-catching beauties .