Happy Thanksgiving!!

Here's a pretty ridiculous set of Rutilated Quartz pieces made for a dear client. The unique thing in this set is not only the clarity of the quartz but the red tint to the needles. Pretty rockin if I do say so myself. One of the hardest things with Rutilated Quartz is making pairs match. Usually you have a main area in the Quartz point where the Rutile "sprays" from. The hard part is splitting the piece so that the density of Rutile in each plug is similar. I think this piece allowed for a very balanced set.

Before and After...

Here at The Rancho Relaxo, we work with a lot of high end Condor Agate Geodes. It's one of things that I am most proud of. Condor Agates are some of the most vividly colored, intricately banded agates on the planet. The best part for me in the whole process is the planning stage; Figuring out what the stone in front of me will become. Since this particular pair was to be a set of 1 1/2" teardrops, I had a few options. The obvious choice is to center the geode in the plug. Since the central quartz crystallization of this piece was arched like a crescent, it just didn't work. It seemed to work against the natural flow. In the end I decided to offset the geode to compliment the shape of the teardrop. My only hope is that all of you approve :)