Drusy from my collection

Drusy, druse, druzy, drusies – are just a few of the ways you’ll see Drusy spelled online and off. But, no matter how it’s spelled, Drusy is the term used to describe the tiny quartz micro-crystals that form on or within the surface of stones.

Some of the natural minerals found in this form are agate, jasper, chrysocolla, malachite, hematite, garnet, black garnet, psilomelane, cobalto-calcite, uvarovite, and carnelian.

Titanium drusy is agate drusy that has been coated with titanium in a vacuum chamber. It bonds with the drusy crystals and produces a permanent metal coating in spectacular shades of bright purples, dark blue or an iridescent white.

Platinum, Copper and 24kt Gold Drusy is coated with  those exact metals: Platinum, Copper and 24kt Gold.

Care of vapor coated drusy: This terrific-looking coating is permanent, but the coating is thin. Clean by swirling through soapy water, rinse in distilled water, and blow-dry. Coating on drusy crystals can become scratched if not careful.

Chrysocolla Drusy Cabachon Shot On Freshwater Pearls and Faceted Aquamarine

Chrysocolla Drusy is a prized gemstone known for it’s exquisite Robin’s egg blue color – unlike that of any other gemstone. It’s most often confused with Turquoise – I call it Turquoise’s second cousin – Chrysocolla is found wherever copper deposits occur and is often found with other minerals such as malachite, azurite and turquoise – which are also found in copper deposits.

The sparkling crystals of Drusy quartz adds substantial hardness and stability to this otherwise soft stone. Pure Chrysocolla is between 2.0 and 4.0 of the Mohs Scale of hardness.

Chrysocolla Drusy occurs as crusts, small stalactite like masses, and/or botryoidal clusters. You can see the botryoidal clusters (spheres) very clearly on the Cabachon above.

Drusy, druse, druzy, drusies – are just a few of the ways you’ll see Drusy spelled online and off. But, no matter how it’s spelled, Drusy is the term used to describe the tiny quartz micro-crystals that form on or within the surface of stones.

Chrysocolla is known as a healing stone among Native American Indian cultures where it was used for strengthening the body’s resistance and bringing about calm feelings where there is upset.

Metaphysically, Chrysocolla is associated with serenity, tranquility, peace, patience, tolerance, acceptance, unconditional love, calmness, hope, gentleness and sensitivity.

Natural Blue Moon Turquoise Cut, Cabbed & Polished

This Blue Moon Turquoise is even more beautiful when it’s cut and polished!  In the picture above, you can see the beautiful black chert spider web veining, and the variety of colors this mine is producing. Below is a smaller picture of the rough turquoise I wrote about in a previous post  so you can see how rough turns into a beautiful collectible gem by seeing the “before” and “after” photo’s of this gorgeous stone.

*Natural Turquoise is turquoise that has not been altered, colored or dyed, stabilized, enhanced or treated in anyway. High Grade and Gem grade stones are cut and polished just as they have been mined.

1lb of Natural Blue Moon Turquoise Rough Nuggets purchased directly from the miner. This turquoise is photographed dry, but it still demonstrates the beautiful light blues, soft greens and dark blues that the mine is capable of producing.

2050 Carats Of Natural Blue Moon Turquoise

1lb of Blue Moon Turquoise Rough Nuggets purchased directly from the miner. This turquoise is photographed dry, but it still demonstrates the beautiful light blues, soft greens and dark blues that the mine is capable of producing.

Natural American Turquoise – True “Gems” From Nevada

After hearing Dean’s excitement as he talked about the beautiful colors he’s finding in the “Blue Moon” turquoise mine on our way to the Royston Mine this summer, I could hardly wait to see Dean’s material when we got back to the shop. What I saw was so unbelievably beautiful, I just had to have some (ahem – a lot) to use in my designs!

The beautiful range of colors coming out of the Blue Moon Turquoise mine are breath-taking. You’ll see everything from powdery blue to robin’s-egg blue, to sky and medium blues, to a soft sea-foam green and darker blue-greens.

Blue Moon Turquoise is high grade and gem grade turquoise with and without the beautiful black chert spider-web matrix. Some nuggets also have the hard brown matrix of the native host rock mixed with the black chert.

Otteson’s Blue Dream Mining Company, Located in Esmerelda County, Nevada, started working the old Blue Moon mine in the very recent past. Blue Moon Turquoise hasn’t been seen much for many, many years and it’s considered to be very rare and hard to come by.

I’m absolutely positive that turquoise and jewelry collectors alike are going to fall head over heels in love with this beautiful natural* material… Produced by nature and mined in America!

*Natural Turquoise is turquoise that has not been altered, colored or dyed, stabilized, enhanced or treated in anyway. High Grade and Gem grade stones are cut and polished just as they have been mined.

Next up… Pics of the stones after they’re cut and polished!

Celebrating her 70th birthday on a road trip to Virginia City and surrounding gold and silver towns back in 2006 – Mom and I discovered Tonopah, NV much like Rhett and Link did: through a windshield, it was our midpoint and Turquoise surprise just waiting for us to discover it on U.S. Highway 95.

This summer – we shared a much needed 2 days of fun between Mom’s surgeries and recoveries, so I took her back up to Tonopah – a short 3 1/2 hour drive from Las Vegas. Our friends, the Otteson’s showed us this spot over coffee  – after Dean and I got back from the Turquoise mine (Mom excluded – she parked herself in the Otteson’s coffee shop with Donna and played with her Kindle while I was on the mountain!) – and it had us rolling on the floor!

“There’s A Dot On The Map Between Reno And Vegas…” – Dean Otteson

In yesterday’s article, The Las Vegas Review-Journal thinks this “ad” will put Tonopah on the map. And yep, it will! Rhett and Link have a great sense of humor and they’ve really captured the spirit of the town, and it’s people. As a recovering Creative Director, it’s refreshing to see this level of creativity amidst all the droning, boring commercial clutter we see on TV these days.

“Mine Your Own Turquoise And We’ll Make You A Ring…” Donna Otteson

Tonopah is a quirky, colorful, historic and nostalgic town on the Nevada Silver Trail right in the middle of Nowhere, Nevada! This is one “dot on the map” that’s very dear to my heart! Beyond Tonopah’s”silver mining” past, they’ve got a lot of friendly warm and wonderful people in this town, and I’m not clowning around!

Stay tuned! I’ll have more on Tonopah’s Turquoise in another post!

The Orthoceras has become one of my favorite fossils because of their color and interesting markings. These guys are actually ancient mollusks that lived and hunted in the oceans over 400 million years ago during the Paleozoic period.

The name Orthoceras means “straight horn” referring to the long, straight, conical shell which is all that remains of the ancestor to our modern day squid. It could propel itself backwards through the ocean and it actually grew feet out of it’s head.

Orthoceras can be found in sizes ranging from less than a centimeter to more than 14 feet long. The fossils pictured above range from 1 1/2” to 2 3/4” – a size that’s far more suitable for jewelry. They’ve also been polished with Lapidary equipment to make them shine.

Harrisberger's Lapidary Rough: Slabs, Nuggets and Drusy

A recent EXTREME Makeover in the studio’s “Lapidary Division” resulted in all the lapidary rough organized by color in “see-through” containers. (Be gone you dusty old cardboard boxes!)

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that all those gemstones start with this. It’s the eye for color and the patterns in the stone that inspires the beautiful custom cuts by Lapidary’s which differ so much from the calibrated stones you see sold in the mass market.

Pictured above is everything from Amazonite to Zoisite, Turquoise, Labradorite, Sugilite, Charoite, Petrified Wood, Dino Bone (And Dino Dung – Petrified that is) Jaspers, Drusy and more…

The rockhounds did a good job supervising the effort, but still managed to step on, and scatter a few as they wound there way through the maze of rocks waiting for sorting on the floor.

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras, 1942

There are also days that you have to take the whole thing back to the drawing board, like yesterday – although it may end up being a happy mistake! (Cufflets anyone?)

The next step will take me back to the drafting table to play with some rocks and finesse the rest of the designs. And yes, there are some additional models to be made to test the fit and the tension.

This beauty arrived on my doorstep yesterday as I was leaving for a Gallery opening. Boy was I ever tempted to open that box and get going right then and there! (Oooooh the temptation!)

Using a flat lap will take some getting used to since I’m accustomed to cutting on vertical wheels. So, just for grins… I’ll document the good, the bad and the ugly as I learn the process of cutting gemstones with a flat lap.

Now it’s time to get it out-of-the-box and set up so I can rock and roll! Then I’ll figure out how to set up my “lap cam” so you can see the process in action.