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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 4, 2019 22:46:40 GMT -5
I've finished a bunch of wraps in the last week. I haven't gotten good pics, yet, but I wanted to share this one that I finished today with some quickie pics. I LOVE it! Morgan Hill Poppy Jasper with Ant Hill Garnet (Arizona). These garnets are super cool. They are literally mined by ants as they excavate their hills. The raw garnets roll to the bottom of the hills where they are collected for making gems and jewelry. In my opinion, they are some of the absolute best pyrope garnets. This one is almost 6mm, which is a good size for one of these. The color is just phenomenal.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Aug 4, 2019 23:28:43 GMT -5
Beautiful pendant! Love the MHPJ and the Ant Hill. Laughed out loud and had to show Vince your pendant because we picked up a pile of Ant Hill garnets with a bunch of rock we bought from the folks we were helping to sell equipment for.
Vince sorted them out and filled little glass vials with them. We were selling them at our show this weekend. We printed out an article on them from geology.com and put it out for people to read. It was really funny watching people react to the story. Vince even made some signs up for them with the the tag "Mined by little Arizona ants".
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Post by MsAli on Aug 5, 2019 7:49:15 GMT -5
Absolutely gorgeous and I learned something new today.
I am in awe of that wrap
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 5, 2019 7:59:32 GMT -5
Beautiful pendant! Love the MHPJ and the Ant Hill. Laughed out loud and had to show Vince your pendant because we picked up a pile of Ant Hill garnets with a bunch of rock we bought from the folks we were helping to sell equipment for.
Vince sorted them out and filled little glass vials with them. We were selling them at our show this weekend. We printed out an article on them from geology.com and put it out for people to read. It was really funny watching people react to the story. Vince even made some signs up for them with the the tag "Mined by little Arizona ants".
I saw a couple videos on YT about them. Very cool. I had known about them before, but the vids were neat. I've had this a very, very long time. I just love the color and clarity. It's small enough to be really bright, but big enough to be seen. I wish our fire ants produced gems. LOL! |
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 5, 2019 8:01:09 GMT -5
Absolutely gorgeous and I learned something new today. I am in awe of that wrap Thank you! After doing that custom wrap, I decided I needed to get back to wrapping for fun. I got caught up in the production loop. It can suck the creativity right out of you. I have done one before with this wire, but this is much nicer. |
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Post by miket on Aug 5, 2019 10:05:24 GMT -5
Wow, that one is super beautiful, Tela.
I love what you did, they go perfectly together!
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Aug 5, 2019 11:38:44 GMT -5
Beautiful pendant! Love the MHPJ and the Ant Hill. Laughed out loud and had to show Vince your pendant because we picked up a pile of Ant Hill garnets with a bunch of rock we bought from the folks we were helping to sell equipment for.
Vince sorted them out and filled little glass vials with them. We were selling them at our show this weekend. We printed out an article on them from geology.com and put it out for people to read. It was really funny watching people react to the story. Vince even made some signs up for them with the the tag "Mined by little Arizona ants".
I saw a couple videos on YT about them. Very cool. I had known about them before, but the vids were neat. I've had this a very, very long time. I just love the color and clarity. It's small enough to be really bright, but big enough to be seen. I wish our fire ants produced gems. LOL! One gentleman who was at our booth told us he found a coral bead that the ants had pushed out of their hill. Can't remember where he was from though. They also push out gold if you happen to live in an area where gold can be found. I'll be paying more attention to all the dang ant hills around here from now on.  |
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller 
Member since June 2011
Posts: 4,060 
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Post by gemfeller on Aug 5, 2019 14:40:35 GMT -5
That's a super-nice piece rockjunquie . Love it! Anthill garnets from the 4 Corners area of the U.S. are interesting beyond their unusual "mining" method. They're a pyrope garnet variety that contains chromium (the same coloring agent as ruby) which gives them a pure red hue. Most pyropes are colored by iron which results in a brownish overcast. Chrome pyropes are also one of several "indicator" minerals for diamond pipes (diatremes). While there are known diatremes in that region, so far no diamonds. But they make for very interesting mineral associations like peridot and several others. |
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