This blog is now hosted on my website at mcfarlanddesigns.com/blog-posts; please update your bookmarks to follow the latest posts. Thanks!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Pietersite!

Remember those new cabs I posted about a while back? Well, I finally got around to wrapping one, and I like it so much I'm not sure if I can sell it!



For now, it's for sale in my shop, but if it sits around for very long I might just have to snatch it up for myself. I still don't own one of these fancy wrapped necklaces yet, and I've been wanting to choose one to keep. Hmm...



I left the sterling silver shiny this time, but I'm somewhat tempted to oxidize it (like in this piece) - what do you think?



The stone is pietersite, which is new to me, and I'm so impressed with it's gorgeous swirls and color patterns; I'll definitely be working with it again when I can find some more of it. It was difficult to photograph though, and I'm afraid my pictures don't do it justice. I bought it from Ed at stonesinmotion - an Etsy seller who I highly recommend to anyone looking for unique cabochons. A quick Etsy search brought up several other pietersite items - I think this is my favorite:




And here's what Wikipedia has to say about pietersite...

While Pietersite has the lovely chatoyancy of tiger eye, it is not found in continuously structured bands or fibers, more in swirls, swathes and fibrous (sometimes linear) segments. Thus the structure of the fibrous streaks in Pietersite may appear rather chaotic, and can flow or exist in many directions side-by-side like bold paint strokes.

Colors include various blues, golds and reds, that may appear together or alone. Blue is the rarest color, followed by red. The blues range from a baby blue to dark midnight hue. Golds can be light to very deep and rich, sometimes having a reddish hue. All fibrous color variations will have a superb and striking chatoyancy, the bright and subtly changing shimmer of color that moves along the surface of a gemstone as it is viewed from varying angles.

3 comments:

Rach said...

That wrapped necklace is gorgeous!

JudyM said...

The stones are really beautiful. The wrapped necklace is just gorgeous, with all that detail around the stone. I'm not sure about oxidizing the silver...it looks really pretty as it is, but I wonder if the bright, shiny silver almost "overwhelms" the pendant? Maybe I just like the oxidized look a little more. Have you decided for yourself yet?

Tamara said...

Yes Judy, I think you might be right. I tend to like the oxidized look better too, and I think maybe the shiny finish does overwhelm the stone. In all honesty, I think gold would have been a nicer match for this stone but I just can't bring myself to invest the money in buying all the materials I would need to start using gold. Maybe someday...