Stone
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Alabaster
Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use is in a wider sense that includes varieties of two different minerals: the fine-grained massive type of gypsum and the fine-grained banded type of calcite. Geologists define alabaster only as the gypsum type. Chemically, gypsum is a hydrous sulfate of calcium, while calcite is a carbonate of calcium.
Both types of alabaster have similar properties. They are usually lightly colored, translucent, and soft stones. They have been used throughout history primarily for carving decorative artifacts.
Calcite
Honeycomb Calcite is a beautiful and impressive form of calcite mined exclusively in the state of Utah. Honeycomb Calcite, much like onyx and marble (in general characteristics) can provide a colorful replacement or dramatic accent stone for architectural and artistic applications.
The name ”Honeycomb Calcite” comes from the remarkable honeycomb appearance when viewing a polished surface. The growth of long fibrous or tubular cells and crystals of honey-yellow calcite outlined by white membranes surrounding each cell form the “honeycomb look”.
Fossil Stone
Orthoceras fossils are between 150-500 million years old. Mined in Europe, they have become an important stone in crystallurgy. It is believed to heal and protect as well as promote emotional healing, a sense of worthiness and success in business.
Granite
Granite ( /ˈɡrænɪt/) is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be predominantly white, pink, or gray in color, depending on their mineralogy. The word "granite" comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock. Strictly speaking, granite is an igneous rock with between 20% and 60% quartz by volume, and at least 35% of the total feldspar consisting of alkali feldspar, although commonly the term "granite" is used to refer to a wider range of coarse-grained igneous rocks containing quartz and feldspar
Jade
Wisconsin Jade was discovered in Wisconsin in 1958 and 2007.
Estimated age is 1.6 to 1.9 billion years old!
This carving stone is quite hard and will hold a lot of detail. We recommend diamond and carbide tools. It will take a high polish as well. The natural beauty seeps from its surface which is a good lead in to the mystic powers of jade!
Rare. Unique. Preciousish...
JADE HEALING STONES
Jade is one of the oldest known semi-precious stone believed to promote peace, balance and wisdom.
Keep your precious gemstone close to your body, home or where you seek the benefits of Jade.
healing, stability, purity, serenity, reduced anxiety and a greater energy balance in their body.
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of
skeletal fragments of marine organisms such
as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are
the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal
forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3).
About 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, in which water erodes the limestone over thousands to millions of years. Most cave systems are through limestone bedrock.
Limestone has numerous uses: as a building material, an essential component of concrete (Portland cement), as aggregate for the base of roads, as white pigment or filler in products such as toothpaste or paints, as a chemical feedstock for the production of lime, as a soil conditioner, or as a popular decorative addition to
rock gardens.
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble may be foliated.
In geology, the term "marble" refers to metamorphosed limestone, but its use in stonemasonry more broadly encompasses unmetamorphosed limestone.[1] Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material.
Obsidian
It's like carving glass -this stone must be abraded not carved. Once polished though - there is no stunning black like it!
Obsidian can be used to make extremely sharp knives, and obsidian blades are a type of glass knife made using naturally occurring obsidian instead of manufactured glass. In fact it was used even to carve stone.
It is said that Obsidian blades were used to make the Easter Island Heads...
Please use diamond tools and respiratory protection.
Onyx
Onyx is a banded variety of the oxide mineral chalcedony. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The colors of its bands range from white to almost every color (save some shades, such as purple or blue). Commonly, specimens of onyx contain bands of black and/or white.
Pipestone
Pipestone (Catlinite) is the sacred red clay stone that American Indians use for making prayer and ceremonial pipes. It is found in only a few places in the world. The best quality pipestone comes from southwestern Minnesota. It ranges in color from pale pink to brick or blood red and normally has small lighter spots - referred to as "stars" - scattered throughout. Pipestone is smooth to the touch, can be easily carved and takes a high polish.
Rhyolite
Rhyolite is an extrusive igneous rock, formed from magma rich in silica that is extruded from a volcanic vent to cool quickly on the surface rather than slowly in the subsurface. It is generally striated in color and it is typically very fine-grained. Always use a mask when carving this stone.
Sandstone
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates)because they are the most resistant minerals to weathering processes at
the Earth's surface, as seen in Bowen's reaction series. Like
un-cemented sand, sandstone may be any color due to impurities within the minerals, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, certain colors of sandstone have been strongly identified with certain regions.
Soapstone
Soapstone – (Hardness 1.0) Most commonly used to describe a stone that is predominately composed of talc from with its
slippery feel it got its name. As a generic term it has sometimes been used to include stones that are often geologically related to Talc (eg. Chlorite, Pyrophyllite, Serpentine, and Wonderstone) and occasionally is applied to stones that are not related to talc at all. Soapstone has had many uses, including industrial use for countertops, sinks, cookware and hearths due to its resistance to heat, electricity, chemicals.
Archaeological discoveries have shown that Talc was carved in ancient Babylonia to make signature seals. Although the typical colors are brown or green, there are others as well and each can have some nice variations within due to other mineral inclusions. It also finishes very nicely.
Travertine
Travertine is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. Travertine often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a
process of rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate, often at the mouth of a hot spring or in a limestone cave. In the latter, it can form stalactites, stalagmites, and other speleothems. It is frequently used in Italy and elsewhere as a building material.
Travertine is a terrestrial sedimentary rock, formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from solution in ground and surface waters, and/or geothermally heated hot-springs. Similar (but softer and extremely porous) deposits formed from ambient-temperature water are known as tufa.
Wonderstone
A very dense and heavy stone that once carved can be polished to a beautiful deep, dark grey to black. Sorry about the price but it has become extremely difficult to acquire. PLEASE NOTE: Wonderstone can give off a heavy dust load, so please wear your dust respirators while carving.
Pyrophyllite, which is a phyllosilicate mineral composed
of aluminium silicate hydroxide: It is a metamorphosed clay. The clay was formed by the alteration of volcanic ash, which apparently accumulated at the bottom of a quiet body of water. It forms a dense, but soft light grey, or darker grey stone. The strata, in which it occurs, is a 3.0 to 3.1 billion year-old volcanic sediment layer.