Category Archives: jewelry from the Sea

Custom Jewelry-FOR ME!

Sometimes Kharma appears on my workbench!

I recently was working on some silver-copper nuggets from the Keweenaw, when I discovered a beach-tumbled nugget that I forgot I had.

A beach-tumbled Copper Nugget. It looked amazingly like a Penguin.

I thought “that little nugget looks exactly like a penguin”. This got me thinking of what I could do with this small discovery. I love penguins; they are so cute, and I really enjoy watching them at the Jacksonville Zoo, at the recently visited Tennessee Aquarium in Chatanooga, or in documentaries (or the cartoon movies adds my wife).

I thought of the Emperor Penquins, and their lives. nesting in their harsh Anarctica environment.

Rough Tampa Bay fossilized coral.
Examining a nice piece of Fossilized Coral.
There are infinite possibilities here. Botryoidal agatized Coral fromTampa Bay.

At this same time I found some beautiful Fossilized Coral from Tampa Bay. (Fossilized Coral is the State Stone of Florida). This was the perfect environment in which to set my copper penguin. He (or she) fit right in to this ice-cave-like Petrified Coral.

I’m going to reveal this piece of jewelry at our annual rock club show this month in Traverse City. But since you are reading this blog, you deserve the reveal.

I have claimed this for myself (for now). I have been wintering in Florida, and lived in Michigan all my life, so this is my Florida/Michigan piece.

The Amazing Colors of Abalone

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 .