It’s been a while since I posted any new stones. I have just been very busy with other things, but now I’m getting back to the cutting wheel full steam ahead! Here’s a few of the latest stones. The first one is an Oregon Sunstone. This one is really nice color, with a very glassy clean crystal.


This next one is a Grossularite garnet from Tanzania, in a nice deeper yellow orange color. This is kind of a modified Asscher cut.


This last stone is cut for a client, it’s one of the new pink spinels from the rough parcel shown a few entries back on the blog. I’m cutting a matching yellow sapphire to go with this stone as a set for a special ring.

Tags: Oregon Sunstone

Here's a few photos of some Oregon Sunstone. This is how the stones look in the rough after a little cleaning up. A few of these I have saw cut some of the extra clear material away, just to save on some grinding time.

These first two pieces are from the Dust Devil Mine in Oregon. The stone on the left should have a really nice color once cut. The right could be interesting, or a mess. Sometimes when a stone show 2 distinct colors they mix and turn to a muddy color, or they can remain isolated and the stone could be a real winner. That half the fun of cutting.

These two stones have excellent color and very good crystal. They should cut will no schiller, and a deep saturated color. I'll grind all the outer clear material away first.

These are pretty typical for how the stone look in the rough, with all the color in the center. The top left looks to be the best of these 3.

These two stones are examples of the sunstone from Tanzania. Much different than the Oregon material. The specs are larger hematite flakes. The left stone could be faceted, the right one has so much hematite it will need to be cabbed.

Tags: Oregon Sunstone