Howdy folks! I'm keeping it cool here in the studio in Portland this
Summer. My landlord installed an air conditioner about a month ago and
I'm really liking it. We've FINALLY had some 90 degree days here in
Portland and I'm hoping for more. I know y'all have been baking in the
rest of the country, and I shouldn't complain, but it's soooo moist and
grey here for 9+ months of the year that I really, really need me 6
weeks of sunshine to dry out my soul and my life, as well as get my
natural Vitamin D generators supercharged for the next 9 months!
Whilst in the studio I've taken a quick dive back in to a lovely chunk
of Sonora Sunrise.
(quick note: 25% off sale in my
DVHdesigns Etsy store through the night of Sunday the 12th. Coupon code LEOFEST2012 thanks!)
As many of you know, since I've posted some work in this stone
before, Sonora Sunrise is one of my favorite materials to work with! It
only showed up on the market about 5 years ago from a small claim in
Mexico and I've seen the price range from $40 to $160 a pound. Most of
the material does NOT have such vibrant colors and there is no certainty
of how much of the material is still there. When it's gone, it's
gone! In 35 years of cutting stones, I can honestly say that it's one
of my favorite stones and that I have never seen anything that has such a
lovely contrast of colors. The blue-green is chrysocolla, the
orange-red is cuprite, and the black is tenorite. I especially love
when I can find a piece that has a nice vein of the cuprite running
between nice veins of chrysocolla. The black tenorite often works as an
amazing kind of framing and accent color to the coolness of the
turquoise blue colors and the warmth of the orange cuprite.
Recently I got a good price on this piece of rough in an eBay auction
from a dealer I know well. The weight was 0.9 pounds, or 410 grams....
from one view, and see how different the patterning is on the other side....
from this one chunk, I cut the 22 stones below. 5 large focal beads
and then a nice mix of smaller focal beads and creative cabs. The 410
gram chunk above, once cut up entirely, yielded 150 grams of stones, so
about 65% of the material got ground up into dust during the sawing and
shaping! And I'm careful to make interesting shapes that MAXIMIZE the
amount of stone I use! 2/3 waste of the rough rock is the price I pay
for not making everything right angles and flat faces, but a slightly
domed stone with curves is so much more pleasing than flat faced, flat
edged, triangles and rectangles, don't you agree?
On a number of pieces I left a partial natural face of the
stone. I did that primarily because I think it's cool, but is also
helps to show that this material is natural and has been untreated. A
lot of people mistake this rare, natural, gemstone material for
"turquoise & red coral together" which is just CRAZY! 90% or more
of the turquoise in the world has been treated and stabilized, if not
completely reconstituted and dyed. When stone are stabilized in the
rough state, prior to cutting, it leaves a resiny-plastic like coating
on the surface that can't be removed, because it permeates the stone.
So my natural faces are a part of promoting the naturalness of this
rarity!
6 of these pieces have already gone to a collector in Europe and I'm
showing the others to a local gem dealer on Monday or Tuesday. The 16 I
have are all in my Etsy store.
And finally a word on fakes and simulants of this stone. A quick
search on eBay shows 584 items listed under Sonora Sunrise. Of these,
about 180 are the real McCoy and they make up 98% of the items priced
over $5. Of the remaining 400 plus items under $5, ALL of them are
fake, dyed, stabilized, mass produced in China fakes. Take a look for
yourself. For semi-precious stones like this, looking at a large batch
on eBay is a good way to see the diversity of the material, compare
prices, and see what the fakes clearly look like! Here's a prime
example of a fake "sonora sunrise" that I pulled from a listing on
eBay....
and I pulled this image from an eBay listing a while ago. I don't
see anything like it currently listed. To my experienced eye, I think
it should be clear to everyone that this is definitely reconstituted,
dyed, stabilized material. It's a better fake than the one above, but
still clearly a fake, although one that could give pause to a person who
has not seen much of the real material, or is unfamiliar with all the
faked turquoise out there.
One
last thing people. There are over 700 listings on eBay in loose beads
for "orange turquoise". There's no such thing as orange turquoise.
Nor purple. Nor emerald green. Nor white. Even a lot of the natural
stones that look like turquoise aren't necessarily turquoise. The
chrysocolla in the Sonora Sunrise is often mistaken for turquoise.
Anyhow,
that's if for now. I'm currently working on more fossil walrus and
fossil mammoth ivory (available ONLY in my Etsy store or through direct
sales, NOT on eBay) and some more fabulous feldspars, along with a nice
crystal jelly opal bead. I've got a lot of cutting to do to get caught
up on bills but I head out on a 5 day vacation next Wednesday!
Have a great weekend and thanks for letting me share.
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