Tiger Eye

Tiger Eye Rough - Image Courtesy of www.crystalsrocksandgems.com

Tiger Eye (or Hawks eye as the blue variety is known), a member of the quartz family, gets its chatoyant  nature (a cats eye type effect) as a result of its crocidolite content. Crocidolite is a mineral which is essentially fossilized asbestos fibres and is a blue colour.

African Tiger Eye Pendant - $30

How does Tiger Eye Form?
Tiger Eye is a member of the quartz family. It begins as blue mineral called crocidolite (Asbestos). This blue mineral is made up of iron and sodium components. The formation of Tiger Eye begins when quartz slowly replaces the crocidolite over time. The quartz embeds itself between the fibrous material. Once the process is completed, the resulting stone is either a golden brown (Tiger Eye) or a brilliant shimmering blue (Hawks Eye). As the stone forms, the iron and sodium content is completed removed. The replacing quartz takes on the same fibrous structure of the original material giving the stone its parallel lines. Because of the crystaline nature of the quartz, the movement of lights across the stone and its luster results. It is this property that makes tiger eye so popular and sort after.

African Tiger Eye Pendant - $45

What gives Tiger Eye its colour?
Although quartz replaces the iron and sodium content during the formation of the stone, trace amounts of iron oxide and other inclusions remain within the material. These trace amounts embed themselves between the remaining crocidolite and quartz. This composiyion creates the yellows and golden browns that are common in the stone. The blue Hawks Eye is a more 'pure' form of the stone having little inclusions remain but is rarer than the more common yellow. The third form of tiger eye, being red tiger eye, does not occur naturally. It comes about by heat treating tiger eye.

West Australian Tiger Eye Pendant - $20

Where Does Tiger Eye Occur?
The largest deposits of Tiger Eye are generally found in Africa, particularly South Africa and Namibia. Other deposits of this gemstone occur in Australia (particularly Western Australia), Burma, India, United States, Brazil, Canada, China, Korea and Spain. 

Tiger Iron
Tiger Iron is another common form of Tiger Eye which occurs mainly in South Africa and Western Australia. Tiger Iron is a banded gemstone comprising of lineal bands of Tiger Eye, Red Jasper and Black Hematite.
 

West Australian Tiger Iron Pendant - Custom made pendant

Lapidary Point of View
From a lapidary point of view, Tiger Eye is fantastic to cut. It is relatively hard measuring 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs hardness scale (some of the iron stone surrounding tiger eye can be a lot harder). In saying this, it can be somewhat frustrating at times as there is often differences in hardness between layers/bands which can cause a endless undercutting - something that can be very irritating. I have started plenty of Tiger Eye cabochons that have been discarded half way through as a result of this. The final product comes up with a magnificent shine with a beautiful chatoyant/lustres finish - This is what keeps me coming back to cutting the stuff!

All the pendants in this article have been cut by Jaka Gems. I am happy to consider custom orders of this gemstone as I currently have a reasonable supply of rough. Thanks for reading my blog! I would love for you to share this, or other articles on this blog, so feel free!

Until next time!

Custom Piece - Blue Lace Agate Earrings

I had a customer contact me late last week asking if I could put together a particular item for her.  She had seen the Rhodochrosite pendant and earring set I recently did and quite liked it, particularly the earrings. 

Rhodochrosite and Sterling Silver
Pendant and Earring Set

She asked me if it were possible to make a set of earrings similar to the rhodochrosite ones, but with blue lace agate as she preferred the colour of the Agate. The agate has a very similar pattern to that of the rhodochrosite, but with a nice light blue colour.

The result is a custom made set of Blue Lace Agate cabochons measuring 10mm round each. Each cabochon has been set into Sterling Silver Bezel setting earrings in a Kidney Wire style. This has made a very simple but attractive set.

Custom Made Blue Lace Agate and Sterling Silver Earrings

Blue Lace Agate is a fairly common form of agate which is a form of chalcedony. Blue lace agate was originally discovered in Namibia, which today is still the main source of the gemstone, although South Africa also has a large deposit. In the past, blue lace agate has also been known as the 'Gem of Ecology' because of its blue and white banding, which can quite often look like clouds in the sky. The material is great to cut, it is relatively hard (Blue lace agate rates approximately 6.5 - 7 on the Mohs hardness scale) and finishes with a magnificent shine.

 

Blue Lace Agate Cabochon on
Leather Cord Necklace

The earrings are hopefully being delivered today. I hope my customer enjoys them as much as I enjoyed making them! I am more than happy to consider most custom orders - If I am able to source the material, I should be able to cut it for you. You can contact me via email (jakagems@hotmail.com) or via my facebook page if you want to discuss a custom order.

Until next time!

What is Opal?



Coober Pedy Jelly Opal - $90

Opal is one of the most popular stones in the world today. Its colour variations can be spectacular with bright reds, blues, greens, purples and everything in between. But what is opal and how does it occur? What process creates these brilliant colours that we see?

Boulder Opal Pendant & Earring Set - $125

One of the ways science defines a mineral is that which has a crystalline structure; Opal does not have such a structure, however it is generally referred to as a mineral. Despite this, Opal is in fact a 'Mineraloid' which is essentially a term that describes a geological substance which is lacking in a crystalline structure. Most mineraloids are still referred to as 'minerals' even though this is not strictly the case.

Queensland Boulder Opal Pendant - $95

Opals colour was a mystery for quite some time, with many theories being put forward in the early days. It wasn't until the 1960's, with the invention of the electron microscope, that it was discovered that opal was made of up of billions of tiny silica spheres all arranged in an orderly fashion. These spheres are roughly between, in the case of precious opal, 150 to 400 nanometers in diameter. This collection of silica spheres is formed via water mixed with silicon dioxide making its way through cracks and voids in the earths surface. Most of the water then evaporates (opal does have a small water content) leaving behind the tiny silica spheres. It is said that it takes some 4 million years for 1 centimetre of opal to form at a 45 metre depth.

Queensland Boulder Opal Cabochon - $295

The tiny spheres that make up the stone then diffract the light that enters the stone and divides it into the spectral colours. The colour shown is dependant on the size and arrangement of the tiny silica spheres present within the stone, and the colour patterns changes with the angle of the piece. If the spheres become too compact or unaligned, then the light will run straight through, without diffracting, creating opal with no colour play (this is commonly known as 'potch' or 'common opal').

Boulder Opal Pendant - $65

Coober Pedy Jelly Opal - $150

Pure opal is generally colorless, with impurities giving each piece its background colour. black opal, and opal with an orangey look to it have Iron, manganese oxides and organic carbon impurities giving them their background colour, whereas 'milky' or 'jelly' opal (such as that common in Coober Pedy) has tiny air pockets within the stone.

Coober Pedy Jelly Opal - $90

It is interesting to note that 97% of the worlds opal is mined in Australia with 80% of that coming from the mines of South Australia including Coober Pedy, Andamooka and Mintabie. Other opal deposits around the world can be found in the US (Particularly Nevada), Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Turkey, Indonesia, Brazil , Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Ethiopia. In an amazing announcement back in 2008, NASA also indicated that there were opal deposits found on Mars!

From a personal point of view, opal is one of my favourite stones to cut, although certainly comes with its own difficulties which can be somewhat frustrating. The colour play can quite often only be found within thin bands running through the material. Given the soft nature of the stone, this can quite often result in cutters grinding away too much material looking for better colour and ending up with no colour at all! This alone has proved enough to make a lot of people shy away from cutting a good bit of opal. My suggestion for those just starting out is to try your hand with some potch first, before going for the good stuff. At least this can give the cutter some sort of idea of how the stone runs across your grinding wheels and can give you a 'feel' for the material. The end result of a well cut opal can be stunning and makes the frustrating nature of the stone very much worthwhile!

I have put up photos of a few of my opals on this post, but you can see more of my work with this amazing material by checking out my store here. Until next time!

Etsy versus Storenvy

My wife, having used Etsy to purchase a few things over the years, recieved an email the other day offering 20 free listings on the site.

 I figured that since it was basically a 'Free Trial' type offer, I would give it a go and see if it was worthwhile running an Etsy store on a permanent basis. So I set up my brand new Etsy store a couple of days ago

I looked at Etsy when I first set up Jaka Gems, but what concerned me the most about the system was the fees involved. Basic costs involved with Etsy are 20 cents per listing, then they take a 3.5% cut of each sale. Add to this the charges that Paypal adds, and you are getting hit with quite a few fees from your sales.

My thoughts so far (compared with Storenvy):

1. I appreciate that I have only just set up the shop, but considering that this is a paid platform, I honestly would have expected more traffic to my items when they first went up. On my Storenvy store when an item is first listed, it tends to have quite a bit of visibility, I see a spike in store visits which correlates directly with the time the item is listed.

Etsy stats screen shot

Storenvy Stats screen shot

2. The dashboard information on Etsy is far more comprehensive than the Storenvy dashboard. The shop stats and visitor information are far more detailed and show me exactly where people are visiting from and how they found my store. You are also able to break down the information easily to get a comprehensive idea of what people are looking at.





3. Etsy allows me to list my items in Australian Dollars which, as it stands at the moment, is a clear advantage over Storenvy as this platform currently only allows listings in American dollars. I am based in Australia so would much prefer to be listing my items in $AUD. I should point out, however,  that there are whispers floating around that Storenvy is looking to add a feature that allows international currencies.

4. Storenvy is still completely free. I know the old adage 'you need to spend money to make money' is probably ringing in your ears (as it is with me!) but Storenvy is FREE, and you get similar features as those that are offered to you on Etsy. Paypal are still taking their small cut of my sales, but on its own, this is very little. The thing I dislike the most about the payment system that Etsy use is that it seems to be a double up. They take a listing fee, then take a cut of the sale as well. Why not pick one and stick to it? This is something that has bugged me with Ebay as well for some time.

5. Both platforms have a very 'Community' based ethos, with store owner forums and the ability to follow users or shops. This is a fairly important feature of both platforms with each having similar ideas behind how they run it, although I think Storenvy does it slightly better with a more impressive 'news feed' of those that you are following. I think this feature has a lot to do with the spike in visitors when a new item is listed.

6. Both platforms can easily be linked to my Facebook page within a couple of minutes.

It is very early days, so I am not going to give you a final opinion on which one is better just yet. At first glance I would say that Etsy is a superior platform compared with Storenvy in some respects, but this is to be expected for something that you are paying for as opposed to something that is free. In saying this, however, the fees associated with Etsy (when added to that of Paypal) is somewhat of a turn off. I will certainly be giving Etsy more of a run than that of the couple of days that I have had it so far. I will wait and see how it pans out over the next few months before I decide on my final opinion.

What platform do you use? Have you used Storenvy or Etsy to sell your wares? What are your thoughts on the two platforms? Do you prefer a completely different platform? I would love to hear from you!