My goal is to create interesting, even unusual pieces.
To that end, I often use stones that have cracks and pits as long as I am sure there is no lack of integrity or "fatal flaw" that will cause the stone to break. That is why also, from time to time you can see tool marks in my wire and it may not be absolutely straight.
But I have one rule- Don't work with boring rock!
My two latest pieces bear this out. Both stones are local and both have pits and cracks. But both are super interesting. The first is a piece that packs a lot into its 4 cms of length.
As you can see, it has a crack and I have left two natural edges but it has beautiful green, copper and yellow colouring, areas of clear quartz, fortification agate and brecciated (broken) jasper. I have used an abstract copper wrap with a reddish copper ball to pick up the colour and I can assure you that the person who buys it will spend a lot of time looking at it!
The second piece is also very interesting.
I call this piece Lapis Lignum Polaris because it is actually a piece of petrified wood (lapis lignum) with a little surprise at about 11 o'clock- a small, shiny Polaris (north star) which is actually a cube of pyrite (fools gold) that itself has been broken by pressure at some point and the crack filled with silicate. I have used a wire wrap designed by me to showcase this unusual 4.5 cm stone- cracks, pits and all! Another interesting feature is that you can plainly see remnants of the wood cell structure that has been replaced by several different silicate varieties. Again, the new owner is going to really want to study this piece.
I am back in the shop! Tumbler is tumbling and I will be doing a lot of cutting with the trim saw and glue a couple of other pieces to wooden blocks so they can be cut tomorrow.
Expecting a yarn shipment today so we will have new colours on the shelf before the weekend.
Hope to see you soon!
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