Interesting Unique and Unusual Gemstones - TaoGems

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TaoGems "Old School" inexpensive hand carved cut and polished gemstones. We also offer custom lapidary work for jewelry designers.

TaoGem supplies inexpensive interesting unique and unusual gemstones. beautiful loose cut gemstones. Cut, faceted and polished designer gemstones for making custom hand made gemstone jewelry, and other gemstone related art work. TaoGem will also custom cut gemstones to order in our unique lapidary shop.

A few gemstone cabochon examples are lapis, charoite, fossil coral, lots of different jasper, like ocean jasper, Variscite,biggs jasper, picture jasper, bruneau jasper, mokaite jaspers, and more. Pietersite, turritella shell fossil, all kinds of agate, like Lapis, dendritic agate, thunderegg agate, plume agate, cathedral agate, moss agate, Goldstone and Llanite. Crinoid limestone, Leopard Skin Jasper, Unakite, turquoise, phoshposiderite, Zoisite, cameo, Alonite, Polish Flint, and a variety of jasper intarsia and Intarsia. Wholesale gemstone Parcel lots and parcels available too.
Snowflake obsidian, mohagony obsidian, Mexican lace agate, picture jasper, Seam Agate, and way too many more to list!

Our individual gemstone directory and our earring cab pair directory offer a great many gemstone minerals in cabochon form. Expert and novice alike will find TaoGem an invaluable resource for quality gems.

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Hey! If there is any one site to visit, it is my new TaoGem Site.

New and exciting things are happening !

After a year now of getting top quality stones to a huge number of gemstone jewelry designers, it is safe to say that TaoGem has established itself.

Established a reputation for the highest quality earring gemstone cabochon pairs, as well as some of the most unique and unusual free form designer cabochons.

In one of my blog posts I talk about just how important it is for gemstone jewelry designers to really develop a personal working relationship with a Lapidary.

Now that my lapidary shop is in full service mode, I am able to able to take special requests, which results in taking jewelry designers to a whole new level of custom gemstone jewelry designs.

The importance of building a real working relationship with a Lapidary shop

Important considerations for the serious and truly creative gemstone jewelry designer

For about two years now I have provided the stones to jewelry designers.

After some discussion, finally I have decided to start designing jewelry myself. I decided on the metal clay as a medium. Combining that medium with the ability to design any type of gemstone design I choose really gives me an edge.

Right off the bat it became obvious just how important it is to have that relationship with a Lapidary.

As I embarked on my first design, it was obvious how important it is to be able to have what ever shape and type of mineral I wanted in order to really express myself in the jewelry piece.

To be able to have the opportunity to create the jewelry piece around the shape, color and type of mineral gemstone is the only way to go. To be able to fully express myself. Show that expression because of having the ability to coordinate both the stone and metal clay. This offers the greatest opportunity to create truly interesting and unique jewelry without limiting those creative juices running around in my head!

If your a designer, I bet you have some ideas for jewelry designs that just can't get off the ground because ya just don't have the gemstone designs available.

I am really looking forward to the metal clay technique.

If your jewelry design niche is wire wrapping, silversmithing, metal clay, and bezel settings, or anything else. I am more than happy to provide you with what ever shape, color and type of mineral you need for those special custom pieces.

My shop rates are dirt cheap and the work is top notch. Feel free to contact me for special requests. You will not be disappointed!

Working with custom cut stones

A few examples to give you some pictorial ideas and stir those creative juices

The sky is the limit when you decide to design your jewelry around the gemstone.

These few images hardly cover the great many shapes or mineral types one can design a gemstone piece around.

Just to give you an example of the unique and interesting shapes though. Here are a couple of pictures.

You can also opt for matching stones. Stones that match by grain are great. And when you combine a few together that come from the same slab, the cabochon can be cut in a way to line up the grains like shown here.

Any number of shapes are possible. Even the most unusual.

Imperial Spider Jasper Gemstone Cabochon28 x 15 x 5 and 4.23 grams 10

Here is just one example of a uniquely cut stone set in a bezel setting on metal clay backing. The sky is the limit!

Whats really going on !

Especialy excellent for the unusual bezel designs. You can custom order a gemstone to meet your own personal and unique jewelry designing ideas!

The possibilities are endless. Below are some examples for just a very few possibilities you can consider while putting together some options for that special piece of jewelry your designing. I can shape absolutely any design you have in mind.

There are many more possibilities when you take the time to special order your gemstones. Here are just a few examples of shapes and edging you can design from.
Remember also, there are no restrictions regarding height, or type of surface. Flat to varying degree of domes.

You can decide upon the type of edging and bevel and apply that design to any height of stone !

The designs are endless when you release yourself from design restrictions resulting from being forced to pick from what is available at a regular gemstone supply site.

Creating your own design for your stones is a heck of a lot more fun too !

Remember too. If any items are sold out or perhaps you would consider another choice in design or mineral selection. Simply contact me and make a request. I can then either cut from existing stock or order the type of mineral you are interested in. I am more than happy to be able to cut and polished your desired design. There are no additional charges for custom orders. The price is the same as if you found it within existing store inventory.

New gemstone minerals on the work bench !

Well now that I finally have slab saw for cutting rough gemstone material
, it is a whole new world!

Thought I might post what is happening in the TaoGem lapidary shop and prepare customers and others for the new gemstone cabochons that will be showing up in store inventory soon.

Some of the gemstone material on the bench include the following of which some are already in store.

Snowflake Obsidian
Indonesian Fossilized Coral
Variscite
Youngite
Dumortierite
Imperial Stichtite
Mexican Crazy Lace
Tiffany
Picture Jasper
Plume Agate
Strombolite
Rhodonite
Lapis

gemstone slabs on the bench for blog post

Join Up With The Lapidary Community WebRing

Click here to join the Lapidary Community WebRing

For those of you unfamiliar with WebRings. It is a great opportunity to give your site exposure on the internet. I researched many before I decided to join up with the WebRing Community, a pioneer in social networking. Since 1994, their members have created over 40,000 communities visited by three million people a month.

It is pretty hot exposure. I am seeing several hits a day from a number of rings I have added my gemstone site to.

I just created this lapidary WebRing, and it is for all gemstone websites that offer lapidary information, services, education, or anything else related to the art of lapidary. Joining a ring specific to lapidary is a great opportunity to show off your niche in the world of lapidary. At the same time it offers the chance to show off the gemstones that you have made resulting from your artistic lapidary skills, promote your lapidary services, and or share other lapidary and gemstone related information about your website.

Custom Cut Gemstones Available For Most Gemstone Rough Material

TaoGem hand cuts, sands and polishes all our customers gemstone orders. Old School Style. No exceptions !

For large wholesale orders we have added a Colbaugh's Semi-Matic Cab Machine so as to offer large quantities of your standard cabs with huge discounts to wholesalers and resellers.

I have access to a variety of stone. If you have a request for a specific type of gemstone and dimensions, please feel free to ask. Here are just a few pieces of gemstone rough and gemstone slabs to pick from.

Included here is Petrified Cedar, Picture Jasper, Mexican Crazy Lace, Amethyst Sage, Gold Stone, Snowflake Obsidian, Strombolite, Brazilian Rainbow, Moss Agate, Wonder Stone, Adventurine, Moss / Plume Agate, Quartz, Needle peak moss, Unakite, Indonesian opalized purple
seam agate, Indonesian fossilized coral, Trailing Agate, and many others!

The Gemstone Mineral Variscite

Variscite Gemstone Mineral

With all the talk about blue turquoise these days, it seems that some have overlooked the equally beautiful green gemstone variscite as it will gain in popularity. The fact is that many people can not tell the difference between the greener types of turquoise and variscite. They are both phosphates. The general opinion is that they do not occur together, although there are some obvious exceptions. The new "marquise," is an example, and seems to be somewhere between the two in composition, and also has some of the characteristics of each.

The popular variscite is what it is all about in Fairfield nodules. It is deep green in color when in compact masses coupled with the magnificently color associated minerals makes these nodules the finest ever found. Variscite has a hardness of 3.5 to 4.5 yet is dense enough in solid masses to polish well.

The Gemstone Mineral Rhodonite

Just received several pounds of this mineral and have several free form and earring cab pairs in the finishing stages of sanding and polishing.

Will be adding them to inventory in the very near future.

Rhodonite:

A brilliant pink or red colored mineral, Rhodonites bright colors may obscured by black marks, a result of oxidation

When fresh from the Earth, the outside of the rhodonite may sometimes be discolored by dark black marks of manganese oxide. These impurities can be removed when carefully dabbing the surface with dilute hydrochloric acid. This will remove the marks and yet does not hurt the mineral. Rhodonite is itself non soluble in acids.

Many rhodonite formations are massive, coarse, and it is these that are faceted for use as jewelry. These specimens are great for polishing. The

most popular use for lower grade rhodonite is for beads, and the better quality minerals are usually fashioned into cabochons. The finest grade of rhodonite samples may also be cut into nice cameo brooches.

TaoGems Premier Link Picks

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TaoGem's Weekly Metaphysical Gemstone Guide

Red Jasper

Red Jasper: This stone works much like Bloodstone in its link to the circulatory system. Beneficial in battling diseases of the blood and detoxifying blood-rich organs like the liver. It helps bring problems to light before they are a threat. This gemstone is also used for protection, courage, energy. Help with blood, relieve anemia, stop bleeding, heal rashes and wounds. Red Jasper can be used at the Root Chakra and represents Earth, Physical identity, oriented to self-preservation. Located at the base of the spine, this chakra forms our foundation. Red Jasper represents the element earth, and is therefore related to our survival instincts, and to our sense of grounding and connection to our bodies and the physical plane. Ideally this chakra brings us health, prosperity, security, and dynamic presence. The color for the root chakra is red and it is grounded with your power. Red stones are considered projecting stones and are used to destroy disease, strengthen conscious, courage, strength, physical energy, luck, and success. Dense, heavy, and/or opaque.

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