Merry Christmas To Everyone

We wish all of our friends, family, many customers, and followers a very Merry Christmas; may it be a safe and wonderful holiday season for you all.

It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart." ~Marjorie Holmes, American writer.

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas." ~W. C. Jones

Let this Christmas season be a renewing of the mind of Christ in our thinking, and a cleansing of our lives by His pure presence. Let His joy come to our weary world through us. ~Gerald Kennedy

Best Year in Wired

Wired designs are very fun, they give me the ability to really create and highlight the stones I’m working with. Designs are accented with either links, wire wrapping, or pendants that have been wired with different bail techniques. So, after deliberating long and hard on this one, here’s this year’s best in wired designs from our collection.

(to the left) Brazilian Ocos Agate wired brass

Spiderweb Agate Kyanite Pearls Crystals (to the right)

(to the left) Onyx Crystals Pyrite/Onyx Pendant wired Black/Brass

Sardonyx Agate Black Jet Crystals Black Coil Links (to the right)

Our Best Year the Sea Offered

Another posting of this year’s best of our collection; this time we are highlighting our best designs using what c comes from the sea; pearls, mother-of-pearl, and shells in all shapes and sizes.

(to the left) Black Agate Pearls Silver Mother-of-Pearl Pendant

Philippine Shells Pearls Dragon Skin Pendant (to the right)

Purple Spiny Oyster Ivoryite (to the right)

(to the left) Turquoise Pearls

Natures Birthstones December

The idea that certain precious stones were associated with certain months goes back at least to the 1st century CE; however the custom of wearing the precious stones began in Poland during the 18th century. Though it’s associated with the month you were born in may have been around for centuries, the wearing of jewelry containing your birthstone is a little more recent or modern.

The wearying of one's birthstone is traditionally thought to be lucky, which gemstone does one chose; modern, traditional, zodiac, planetary, talismanic, or maybe Ancient Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, or Roman stones. For example, there are thirteen different stones associated with December, or as Sun/Star, Planetary, Talismanic stones for the Zodiac sign of Sagittarius or Capricorn, because the Zodiac for December crosses over two months. So with the month of December the gemstones are turquoise, blue topaz, tanzanite, zircon, lapis, onyx, ruby, and chrysoprase. The Zodiac signs for Sagittarius and Capricorn include five more stones of agate, garnet, amethyst, sapphire, and beryl.


Here’s a list of the stones associated with the month of December.

Turquoise Modern BirthstoneSun Sign (Star Sign) - Sagittarius Ancient Russian December Birthstone Ancient Polish December Birthstone


Blue Topaz Modern Birthstone Ancient Hindu December Birthstone Zodiac Sign - Sagittarius Sun Sign (Star Sign) - Sagittarius



Tanzanite Modern December Birthstone



Zircon Traditional December Birthstone



Lapis Traditional December Birthstone Planetary Stone - Capricorn



Onyx Mystical December Birthstone Talismanic Stone - Capricorn


Ruby Ayurvedic Birthstone Sun Sign (Star Sign) - Capricorn Ancient Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, and Roman December Birthstone



Agate Sun Sign (Star Sign) - Capricorn


Garnet Sun Sign (Star Sign) - Capricorn




Amethyst Sun Sign (Star Sign) - Sagittarius



Sapphire Sun Sign (Star Sign) - Sagittarius



Beryl Talismanic Stone - Sagittarius

Chrysoprase Ancient Russian December Birthstone Sun Sign (Star Sign) - Gemini


No matter what your choices, all of nature’s creations are beautiful and look at it this way, there will always be something to wear or accent your attire; reflecting your personality and style.

*Research by several websites, mineral/rock books.

Our Best Year in Turquoise

Working with Turquoise is one of my favorite stones, the verisitly it has and the many different looks that can be designed; casual, dressy, and classy; Turquoise sets a trend no matter how you look at it and will always be a staple in any collection. Since I do a lot of designs in Turquoise, this was a hard collection to narrow down, they are all so beautiful!

(To the left) Turquoise and Amber



Turquoise Landscape Jasper Onyx (To the right)

Turquoise Onyx Dichroic Pendant (To the right)

Turquoise Landscape Jasper PendantWired Brass (To the left)

Some of the Years Best In Fossils

With the Holidays near, we will be spending time with friends and family, getting re-energized, re-focused and re-generated for next year! But until then as always, we’ll recap some of our favorites from the past year’s collection….though I’d like to say that everything is a favorite, some are more than others!

I got the opportunity to challenge myself more in the area of wire working; these fossils and agates are some of my favorites…..

Orthoceras from Morocco (to the left)

Ammonite from Madagascar (to the right)

Goniatite from Morocco (to the right)

Ocos Agate from Brazil (to the left)






As we pause for the Holidays and New Year, we will begin creating new unique custom natural stone designs after the first of the year; so check back often here at the blog or on the website.

Heard of Polyhedral Agate

My father-in-law at Jewelry by CnC researches and collects some of the most unusual, unique and awesome mineral and rock specimens. Here is one that he found at Tucson a few years back and is now hitting the market at incredible prices, due mostly in part because it difficult to get and also for its unusual form and uniqueness.

A very unusual form of Agate comes from Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is known as a Polyhedral Agate and is formed by silica replacing the normal calcite resulting in a highly angular form within the rocks instead of the usual sub-spherical forms as normally seen.

These polyhedral quartz pseudomorphs without calcite were mined during the 1970’s and have since then become increasingly uncommon in today's market, with most examples appearing as thin slabs, normally polished front and back to show off the natural beauty of the agate. It's sharp polyhedral form is entirely natural in origin.

Many of the beautiful Agates coming from Minas Gerais today, like the one seen here to the right, will have some slightly pointed sections to their designs, indicating that there is still some silica within the calcite in the Agate itself.

Collectors scramble to obtain samples of a Polyhedral Agate, especially one that still is made up of most of the rock as in this example to the right from an upcoming Australian mineral auction.


Thanks to Lee at Jewelry by CnC for the research and pictures.