sticksinstones
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Member since February 2012
Posts: 117
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Post by sticksinstones on Mar 21, 2012 20:43:28 GMT -5
OK, this has got to be out of bounds and I apologize in advance to anyone that doesn't like waiting - but I'm actually pre-anouncing a photo that I haven't even taken yet!
I just finished drooling over what may be the single most beautiful piece of petrified wood I've ever seen. It just came off the laps and it is beyond breath taking. Seriously - if you've seen some of my pics you can imagine that it takes a bit to get me this excited. But alas, it's snowing outside and has been for 2 days. I don't know when the sun is coming out again for photos, so until then you'll just have to be patient. But trust me, it's going to be worth it!
Stay tuned...
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 21, 2012 20:46:53 GMT -5
What a tease you are!! Looking forward to seeing your latest gem!
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
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Post by adrian65 on Mar 22, 2012 0:39:17 GMT -5
Knowing what stunning specimens you use to post regularily, that must be something really special. Can't wait.
Adrian
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Post by Toad on Mar 22, 2012 2:48:06 GMT -5
You can at least tell us what kind of wood...
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Post by Donnie's Rocky Treasures on Mar 22, 2012 6:51:11 GMT -5
Ohhhhhhh what a tease! Looking forward to the picture!
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unclestu
Cave Dweller
WINNER OF THE FIRST RTH KILLER CAB CONTEST UNCLESTU'S AGUA NUEVA AGATE
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Post by unclestu on Mar 22, 2012 8:18:35 GMT -5
Steve with the caliber and scope of your operation I think it is time to invest in some indoor studio lighting LOL ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) Seeing as though this piece of pet wood has taken millions of years to be produced one would say "Whats an additional couple of days?" Well in the eyes of all of us INSTANT GRATIFICATION JUNKIES it is going to seem like an eternity. Let us pray for a sunny day I am going to take a Zanex now as the anxiety is killing me LOL Stu
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sticksinstones
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Member since February 2012
Posts: 117
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Post by sticksinstones on Mar 22, 2012 19:12:15 GMT -5
You are right about the indoor lighting Stu. One of the things I settled on early and never seriously revisited was that the biggest advantage I have with shooting a stone outdoors is that we all have the same sun, so a stone can always be viewed in a common light source. Some of the pieces I sell look so dramatically different with variations in artificial light sources that they don't even look like the same rock. When you sell online, you're always trying to represent the pieces as accurately as possible, but it's tough to do that when the light source itself is a big variable in the appearance of a translucent stone.
BTW - it was snowing here still this morning. Woke up to about 3" of wet heavy snow on the ground and more in the trees. A huge branch broke off of our willow tree and landed on one of our cars. Better weather in the forecast though so stay tuned!
I can tell you it's Madagascar wood but I promise that won't set your expectations properly. If you saw the "flaming" petrified wood bookends I posted in the creations board it gives a hint, but only a hint...
The only good thing about the wait is that it's allowed me to finish a couple of more pieces from the log!
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Post by tntmom on Mar 22, 2012 19:19:56 GMT -5
Really? ![???](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/huh.png) That's not nice.... I don't like waiting ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png)
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Post by helens on Mar 22, 2012 19:23:03 GMT -5
Ooh.. Madagascar... is it irridescent?!!!!
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 22, 2012 19:27:19 GMT -5
:drool: :drool: ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) ;D
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by carloscinco on Mar 22, 2012 19:35:36 GMT -5
I hope you don't in Antarctica. The days are getting shorter there.
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Post by MyNewHobby on Mar 22, 2012 20:57:24 GMT -5
HEY!!!!!! You are pulling my all time favorite stunt (saying I am going to post pictures and then oooopsy) !!! Ask anyone around here ![:P](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/tongue.png) I have done that many times ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) only to have a few get on me about teasing them. YAY As long as you post eventually, the rockhounds (big bad doggies) will not bite. Enjoy!
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Post by susand24224 on Mar 23, 2012 11:34:39 GMT -5
So how's the weather out your way today? Good enough for photographs? Not that I'm interested, or anything . . . ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png)
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Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Mar 23, 2012 12:12:44 GMT -5
man, what a tease.
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sticksinstones
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Member since February 2012
Posts: 117
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Post by sticksinstones on Mar 23, 2012 23:37:06 GMT -5
So how's the weather out your way today? Good enough for photographs? Not that I'm interested, or anything . . . ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) Heck, it was even good enough for a day of spring chinook fishing! Caught our first of the season. But everything is set, including the weather, for a good photo session tomorrow. I promise, it really is worth the wait.
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
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is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
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Post by surreality on Mar 24, 2012 5:36:09 GMT -5
Definitely looking forward to seeing this one, since I recall a lovely amount of highly gorgeous green in the bookend set mentioned! ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
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sticksinstones
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Member since February 2012
Posts: 117
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Post by sticksinstones on Mar 25, 2012 1:27:23 GMT -5
The sun finally came out today and I was able to get in a very productive photo session to show off some of the work completed this month. I made a new contact last year with a fellow who owned a mine in Madagascar. The petrified wood he was digging was better quality than what I often saw from other dealers, but I knew from experience that buying logs from even this source was a bit of a crap shoot. I ended up with some duds, but also ended up with some really nice logs and I've enjoyed working with them to produce some really amazing and brilliantly colored specimens. Here are a couple of the rounds from the logs I purchased this year: ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/mad86.jpg) ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/mad36.jpg) The color is really quite nice and the wood preservation is very good. I love how they turned out, but to I started this thread to show what I honestly think may be the most beautiful wood I've been lucky enough to cut in 20 years of cutting, so you know it's going to get better than that... The color spectrum I've been getting is incredibly broad. Greens and reds and yellows are everywhere, but I'm also seeing purple in some of the logs like this mantle piece: ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/madsu77a.jpg) A lot of the logs are incomplete rounds, but they make fabulous bookends and the somewhat "woody" sections in the center of many of the logs help create some really cool geometric shapes and figures. The colors are pretty amazing as well. This is just a sampling of what these logs have produced so far this winter (this is where I advise you to go slowly or you'll risk sensory overload and quickly become numb to what you're looking at): ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/pwbk16a.jpg) ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/pwbk54a.jpg) www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/pwbk78a.jpg[/img]![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/pwbk19a.jpg) ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/pwbk19b.jpg) ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/pwbk21a.jpg) ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/pwbk78a.jpg) And with our mouths already watering, we move on to the really good stuff... like this one with the great shapes and patterns in it: ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/pwbk50a.jpg) or better still, how about one with tubes of agate stalactites revealed in the cut face! ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/pwbk53a.jpg) But as cool as all of that is, can it really be the best I've cut? To do that requires something pretty unique and grandiose. Something you might only see once in lifetime. And that deserves a bit of a prelude as well... I selected the logs I purchased based on color, shape and lack of fractures - the typical stuff you always use to sort rough wood. But a couple of them caught my eye because they appeared to exhibit a unique brecciated pattern in the wood grain that looked quite intriguing in the rough. When I first saw this I couldn't really tell how good the color in the log might be, or even if the incomplete logs that exhibited it would be good slabbers or not. But it looked promising so I purchased them. It proved to be a good decision, to say the least. And it brings us to a piece that might have been able to claim the title of the best I'd ever cut on its own, but in fact is "only" the runner up in this story. I have slabs from this log that aren't polished yet, but this mantle piece deserved to be finished first (besides, it takes a lot of gas to chase salmon on the Columbia river this time of year). ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/madsu60a.jpg) Yeah, those pockets are all sparkling quartz cavities, and the color in person is even better than it turned out in the photo. The breccia pattern is just incredible, and was a prelude for my personal favorite. When I saw the first cut from this next log, I couldn't believe it. I'd already been immersed in such beautiful material that I was having a hard time managing my excitement. But when this one came through I was truly overwhelmed. I hope the photos do it justice. First, the rounds: ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/mad31.jpg) ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/mad27.jpg) ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/mad32.jpg) The log tapered into a pretty bad porous section that suggested a mantle piece was the best use of the end: ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/madsu40a.jpg) But this is what will likely live on my mantle for the foreseeable future: ![](http://www.sticks-in-stones.com/preview/images/pwbk23a.jpg) Thank you for indulging a bit of fun. I hope you enjoy the photos!
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pporky
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by pporky on Mar 25, 2012 4:59:40 GMT -5
Thats well worth the suspense and wait, incredible wood, pieces like that don't come by often
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Post by Donnie's Rocky Treasures on Mar 25, 2012 7:07:13 GMT -5
:drool: :drool: ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) :drool: :drool: SPEECHLESS!!!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!! God's Glorious Natural Beauties!!!!!!!!!
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Post by rockjunquie on Mar 25, 2012 8:39:23 GMT -5
STUNNING!!!!!! Worth the wait, I'd say. Incredible pick! I'm sure you feel like you've won the lottery.
I have to ask, because, well.... I have to ask... Are you cabbing it or keeping as specimens? I see some knockout cabs there. ;D
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