Picasso Marble is a really wonderful stone that was first mined in Utah. I cut these using rough material from the big NEW find in China that is noted for it's brick red, forest green and other unique colors. I got ONE chunk of the Chinese rough when I was in Quartzite in January 2011. Not much rough leaves China, for obvious reasons. This material is NOT to be confused with the original find of "PICASSO JASPER" that is from Utah. The UTAH Picasso "Jasper" is really beautiful but it is in shorter supply and has mostly just black, grey, brown, and tan colorings in it that make it distinctive from the Chinese material. The Chinese material is also called "Cherry Creek Jasper" by American lapidaries, but "Picasso Jasper" is used 70 times as often to describe this stone (trust me, I did the eBay searches and I know what I'm looking at!). The rough chunk that I got was very porous and I have heard from a trusted gem dealer friend of mine that much, if not most, of this material coming out of China is treated or stabilized to make it be able to take a polish. I understand why they do this, but I prefer to leave my beads with a satin matte finish rather than soak them in a resin or a urethane just to make them shiny.
The patternings in this material from CHINA are so unique with so many resembling abstract paintings in earthy colors, that there is really nothing quite like it. One of those stones I've never gotten bored with!
A lot of people call it Picasso Jasper, but it is a marble, NOT a jasper. People in the trade use the term "jasper" as if it was interchangeable with the word "stone". Technically it is a metamorphosed limestone occurring in the form of a coarse to medium grained rock of re-crystallized dolomite or calcite. It is now mined in relatively large quantities and is commercially available. It is commonly cut into beads, cabs, donuts, spheres, and carvings. I really enjoy the earthiness and the patterning of this material. For some reason no one else seems quite able to bring the same qualities out of this stone that I do. My Picasso Marble beads are a big hit wherever I go and they have become somewhat of a staple and a signature stone here at DVHdesigns. I think that part of the attraction is that I've been cutting it for years and no matter how much I cut, no two are ever really alike. The rough material from Utah is very similar in "patterning" but it takes a MUCH BETTER polish than the material from China. I've never had any trouble getting a mirror polish on the Utah material using just a muslin buffing wheel with Zam or Fabulustre. Here is a piece from Utah that is currently in my eBay store...
The Utah material has always had the look of bare trees on a dark Fall night! LOVE IT! I've cut more of this Utah material than I have ANY other stone in my life. I bought 100 pounds of it about 15 years ago and I have cut up almost all of it. I may have a pound or two left in scraps! I need to contact one of the few rough dealers that have any left and try and get another couple dozen pounds of rough in stock. It's a staple!
For those interested in the metaphysics of stones, I will include a little bit of information on this stone from Melody, author of Love Is In The Earth. Among the properties she attributes to this beautiful stone are, "facilitates the transformation of intuition into intellectual thought such that one can implement the instructions provided, It assists one to traverse changes , attracting strength and perseverance.....It can help to provide clarity to the inner sight, instilling a passionless peace of imperturability via the annihilations of disturbing thoughts." She goes on to say that, "It acts to stimulate the circulatory system, to reduce anxiety and stress, and to assist in digestions, regulation, and metabolism. It has been used in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, cellular and organ toxicity, and to promote weight loss. " WOW! What a stone!
Thanks for letting me share my work here. I'm having a 20% off sale in my eBay store, with free shipping, until June 6th, so if you're inclined, check it out!
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