Besides stone, the intarsia technique can be used in many different media. Wood Intarsia is the most well-known and was used similarly, shaping and gluing together pieces to create a design. The technique of inlaid wood was widely used across northern and central Italy by the late Middle Ages. Masters of wood inlay decorated medieval Italian churches with choir screens, stalls, pulpits, and other church furnishings with the intarsia technique. Because of the difficulty of construction, stone Intarsia is generally small and oriented toward jewelry, while wood intarsia is generally for fine furniture and larger decorative use.
Intarsia also exists as a technique used in textiles and knitting. It involves changing colors at specific points to create a pattern or scene that is interlocked together. This is most often used in clothing, but yarn in gaining as a media used in fine art pieces as well.
Stone Intarsia as a lapidary art continues today, and classes and schools are available to those that want to learn how to do it. From a lapidary point of view the process can be difficult, tedious, and time-consuming. There are even special pieces of equipment that have been constructed specifically for intarsia work. Today, most people make use of a faceting machine because of the ease in grinding repeated angles.
Modern lapidary in the United States has had a particular interest in rocks that show natural pictures or scenes. Montana Moss Agate has always been cut to show off its scenic qualities, and the more scenic the stone the more valuable the piece. The discovery and promotion of the picture jaspers found in eastern Oregon has contributed to a greater general appreciation for natural pictures in stone.
Intarsia techniques have been used to enhance image recognition in these types of stones. The most common technique is orienting a particular rectangular scenic section of the stone, and framing it with a stone of a solid color. Backing is another intarsia technique used extensively. The making of opal triplets can be considered an intarsia technique, but in this case the purpose is not to create an image but to enhance color and durability. Clear agate with inclusions can be enhanced by having a contrasting black, white, or colored background glued onto the back of the stone. Scenic stones can use a turquoise back to create the illusion of sky through the clear part of the agate.
I became interested in the art of intarsia a long time ago, and over a period of time produced several hundred intarsia pieces. Many of these were simple framing of scenic rock or interesting designs, but I began to develop a system of creating or enhancing scenes by gluing agates together in layered sheets. Previously, this technique had only been used to create a simple sky or enhance a pattern with a backing. You can use the various features and translucency in different slabs to play together and create a more detailed scene. I then combine this with the framing technique to complete the picture.
As the complexity of construction increased, the amount of time to produce one also increased and eventually I had to stop making them because of the time involved relative to my other lapidary responsibilities. For reasons I would rather not say I have decided to start making them again. I dug through those dusty shelves and found the boxes containing the hundreds of pieces of stone used to select from 25 years ago that didn't work out or were only partially finished. I have a few finished now, and plan to continue working.
- Gene Mueller
This is a picture showing the general construction of one of the intarsia pieces. The center is made first and then the borders are applied. The entire piece is then backed, and the final shape determined.
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Each intarsia I created was photographed for inventory. They cannot fit them all anymore.
This intarsia piece was given an AGTA (American Gem Trade Association) Cutting Edge Award in 1992.Center:
Wiggins Fork Moss Agate
Santa Fe Plume Agate
Turquoise
Black BasaltBorder:
Black Onyx
Magnesite
Black OnyxConstructed from 16 individual pieces
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These DVD's are a great addition to any rock club or rockhound's library. If you missed the show, this is your chance to see what you missed. The DVD's can be order separately or save $50 when you order the complete collection. Pick up your copy today!
2016 Agate Expo DVD Sets: The Gem Shop's 2017 Calendar of Fine Agates and Jaspers in now available! The calendar features some of the world's finest agates and jaspers. Featured this year are Pauite Agate, Laguna Agate, Chinese Agate, and many more exquisite agates and jaspers.
Quantity discounts are available for the calendar. Contact the store at 877-377-4666 for further details.
Calendar:
thegemshop.com/collections/publications-1/products/2017-calendar-of-fine-agates-and-jaspers
The 2016 Agate Expo was a very successful event and a great time was had by all. Guests and participants came from all over the world, and over 30 of the 48 mainland states to Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Relive the show with the 2016 Agate Expo DVD Set. The DVDs will be comprised of a Symposium Set, Exhibit Hall Set, Show Talks Set, and Show Highlights Set, which include the Art Gala and Banquet. Sets can be pre-ordered individually or as a complete set. The DVD will be ready to ship in 3-4 weeks.
Show off your love of agates with 2016 Agate Expo souvenirs! If you forgot to purchase your souvenir at the show, it is not too late. T-Shirts, hats, wine cozies, cinch packs are all still available. Thank you to all attendees and we hope you enjoyed your time at the show and in Cedarburg!
First of all, I have to offer this disclaimer, I am not a lawyer and all the legal implications are from my experience and do not bare legal expertise. I am writing this in the sincere hope that it will contribute to more Morrisonite being produced.
There were five claims filed on the west side of Sheepshead Ridge between 1970 and 1975 over the Morrisonite deposits. They were called Big Hole, Big Hole II, Amy Ellen, Christine Marie, and Lacey. A jeep road was put in from the canyon rim and a dozer cut into the canyon side all the way to the Amy Allen claim. This road connected with the road constructed by Jim Morrison many years earlier from the Owyhee River below. Jim Morrison and other people used the road from the river to collect jasper and for hunting.
All of this was in existence before 1976 when Congress passed FLPMA - the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. This Act did many things, one of which required the BLM to investigate all the lands it managed for the possibility of inclusion in the Wilderness system. The BLM organized this by state forming what are called Wilderness Study Areas - WSA’s. Each WSA was to be 5000 acres or larger, be roadless and have minimal human impact on the land included within its boundaries. Each of these WSA’s was too then be studied for wilderness characteristics, have a mineral report done on the potential for mineral value on the land and be given a recommendation either for or against inclusion into the Wilderness system. The list of WSA’s, by state, was to be voted on by Congress before 1991. For example, Congress could vote to have 50% of the WSA’s in a given state become wilderness.
Needless to say many WSA’s were eliminated because they did not meet the criteria above. Also, not all states, like Oregon, had their WSA’s voted on by Congress. All the WSA’s in those states exist today no matter if they are recommended as acceptable or unacceptable for wilderness designation. More about this later.
The Blue Canyon WSA was formed north of the Jordan Craters WSA along with several others along the south and east sides of the Owyhee River Canyon. These WSA’s were separated by existing roads and the river. the Morrisonite claims and the road into the claims are in the middle of the Blue Canyon WSA. At the time of the WSA formation, there was intense pressure from environmental groups to include all the lands around the Owyhee River Canyon as potential Wilderness. There were other groups that wanted to make the Owyhee River Canyon a national park. The Blue Canyon WSA is on the far eastern part of the canyon and does not meet the criteria necessary for wilderness. In order to satisfy the pressure and to include the area in a WSA the following was done. First of all, the road, the cabins and the major mine workings were eliminated from the WSA land.They did this by having the boundary of the WSA go down one side of the road, around the cabins, around the major mining workings, and then out the other side of the road. So the road into the claims is not in the WSA, the cabins are not in the WSA, and the major workings of the Big Hole claim are not in the WSA. The EIS for the Blue Canyon WSA lists the amount of this land as 10 acres. So there are 10 acres of land inside the periphery of the WSA that are not in the WSA and do not come under WSA rules. The boundary of the Blue Canyon WSA follows Birch Creek Road down to private land along the river, goes along the river then up the far side of Blue Canyon until it hits the road on the lava plateau, then along one side of the road into the cabins, around the mine workings, and back out the other side of the road and then back to Birch Creek Road. The next thing that was done to make the area acceptable as a WSÀ was to declare the road that Jim Morrison made a “way” and not a road. What is a “way” and not a road was defined in a report to Congress called RS 2477. This document summarized the public right of way as it applied to trails, ways, and roads across public land and also provided diffinitions of each. Any rought traveled by the public that has been improved with equipment is a public road. The WSA criteria says that any natural area that has a road through it is not acceptable as a WSA. By calling this road a “way” (traveled rought with no improvement), there was no road through the proposed WSA.
The elimination of the road and mine workings from the study area (even though they are in the center of the study area) and the elimination of the road designations up from the river allowed for the Blue Canyon WSA to come into existence. Because of the private land along the river adjoining the WSA and the grandfathers rights of the five mining claims, the Blue Canyon WSA was given a negative recommendation for wilderness. In the 70's the old Morrison ranch was owned by a man named Marty Rust.
He used the ranch as a private getaway, built an airstrip, and he and his guests would fly in and out. Mr. Rust sold his land back to the government for about 3 million dollars of taxpayer money. After the BLM gained control of his land they changed the recommendation for the Blue Canyon WSA to a positive recommendation for wilderness.
As a part of the evaluation process for each WSA there must be a mineral study done to evaluate the mineral potential of the area. I was there when two geologists came to survey the area and I discussed the deposits with them. They were impressed with the extent of the Jasper bearing rock describing the Jasper as being zoned in the surrounding area rather than as an isolated deposit. I do not have the mineral report in front of me as I am writing this from memory, but I remember the report as being extensive. I also remember that the final EIS (environmental impact statement) made very little reference to the report.
All 5 Morrisonite claims had what are called “grandfathered rights” because they were all in existence before 1976. This meant that mining can occur on them even though they were in the WSA. New claims can be filed in WSA’s but they cannot be worked as the BLM is charged with managing the WSA land as if it were wilderness. Until such time that Congress decides which WSA’s are to become wilderness and which are not, all WSA land cannot be mined without grandfathered rights. When WSA land is withdrawn from Wilderness consideration it goes back to the multiple use directive and mining can continue.
I first visited the Morrisonite area in 1984 or '85 at the request of a man named Larry Butler. He had acquired the Amy Ellen and one half of the Christine Marie claims and wanted me to evaluate them. I discovered at that time that the Lacey and Big Hole II claims had been abandoned. I filled over the same land as the Lanora Jane and Veronica Lee claims. I did not know or understand at the time that these new claims cannot be worked except on those portions of the claims that are not in the WSA. Because the ownership of the claimed land is not continuous from 1976 on, the grandfathered rights are lost and the claim cannot be worked while the WSA is in existence.
My friend Jake, leased the Big Hole claim from Lisa Caldwell after Tom Caldwell died. Due to an uncertainty in the assessment work the BLM recommended to Lisa that she file a new claim over the big hole claim to ensure her continued ownership. Not realizing that this would nullify the grandfathered writes, the Meadowlark claim was formed over the Big Hole claim. After assessment work was done on one claim but not the other I filed over both claims as the Jake’s place claim. This created a big mess with only one really important result. The grandfathered rights on the Big Hole claim we're lost.
Only the Christine Marie and Amy Allen claims have grandfathered rights today and can be mined creating new disturbance under an approved Mining plan. The Jake’s place / Meadowlark claim, the Veronica Lee claim, and the Lanora Jane claim have small areas that are not in the WSA and can be mined only on those areas under the general Mining rules. This applies only to the 10 acres of land that is excluded from the WSA even though it is in the middle of the WSA.
When Jake and I were working in the early 90’s the BLM tried to impose upon Jake restrictive WSA rules for his activities. Mining for him was very difficult until it was pointed out by the state BLM office that he was working on multiple use ground and not in the WSA. So the mining possibilities are anywhere on the Christine Marie and Amy Allen claims and on the small portions of land on the Jake’s Place / Meadowlark claim and even smaller portions on the Veronica Lee claim. Land that is considered in the WSA cannot be touched or disturbed or moved or covered. I will not go into the difficulties of mining under these conditions as I am only considering here what is possible. I also would like to say here that there is lots of Jasper left in the deposits. The deposits are not depleted and in fact the Amy Allen claim has never had a piece of equipment on it. The area has only been dug by hand and some say this is where the most exotic colored Morrisonite jasper is found.
Congress was asked to decide on all WSA’s by 1991 in the law passed in 1976. Some states have gone through this process and others have not. Arizona has, and there are no longer any WSA’s in the state. Those lands in WSA’s that were not designated as wilderness have gone back to land managed under the multiple use directive. I am not sure about this but I believe about one half of the WSA’s became wilderness areas in Arizona. After several states went through this process there has been considerable effort to prevent the process from continuing for other states. Since all WSA’s must be managed as if they are wilderness, (so that if Congress acts, they are suitable for inclusion in the wilderness system), environmental groups have worked to prevent the completion of the program envisioned in 1976. In their view it is better to have all WSA’s managed as wilderness rather than have only half of them actually become wilderness.
Morrisonite Jasper is considered to be the finest Jasper in the world. That is not my designation but a claim made by many others. The people who want this area to be part of a national park don't care about Morrisonite Jasper. To them the mining activity is solely an irritation to their goal and they do not understand or accept that a Jasper rock could be the best of anything, let alone the best in the world. The series of events that have led to the current situation can easily be seen from a minor's point of view as conspiratorial. The miner has enough problems trying to get the rock out of the ground and does not want to concern himself with whether the route he just traversed was a road or a way. The BLM says that the Blue Canyon WSA is pristine -That the road into the deposits and the work there is an illusion and not part of the WSA. The BLM says that an obvious road made with equipment was just some patch of land driven over a few times. Suggestions by BLM officials that result in the loss of Rights are just some unfortunate circumstance. All of these suggest a conspiratorial effort to prevent mining in the area. I have felt this way myself even though my mind tells me it is probably not true. The BLM has a difficult job managing public lands with multiple use desires. But, in the case of the Blue Canyon WSA, the BLM has tipped the scales so far in one direction that only an act of Congress can change it. If you have had the fortitude to read this to the end I encourage you to contact your congressman when the Oregon WSA’s come up for a vote in Congress. Do not let the Blue Canyon WSA become wilderness and the chances that the world will get to see more of God's greatest Jasper will increase. - Eugene Mueller 2-2-16
The decision to do this came over a period of time. The drive down and back up to the cabins every day was dangerous and hard on the Scout. Also, since I am a diabetic, it was not good for me to be so far away from food, insulin and other resources. The old Scout that can be seen in several of the pictures was used to make the trip up and down. The odometer on the Scout measures the distance down as 3/4 mile and the distance up as 1 mile. The discrepancy is a result of slipping and spinning tires over the very steep road coming up. Three of the switch backs on the road are too sharp to make the turn requiring stopping, backing up, and accelerating to make the next clime. One time I was driving up a steep grade and the engine on the Scout sputtered and died. I backed down to the last switchback and tried restarting it. It stared right up and seemed fine so I stared back up only to have the same thing happen again. I found out that if you did not have the gas tank full enough, the engine could not pull the gas from the tank which was lower than the engine because of the steepness of the hill. I eventually installed a second gas tank in the back of the Scout and had a "down hill" gas tank and a "up hill" gas tank connected with a switch under the driver's seat. It was important to have the switch in the right position before driving up. Oh yes, I backed the Scout up the hill and out. It ran fine with the gas tank above the engine.
I built cabin III for $34. That is the total amount of money I spent on resources for the cabin. In the late 1980's, it was discovered that the 80 year old Gem Shop building had a nice wood floor under two layers of plywood with ugly linoleum tile on top. These 4 by 8 sheets were pulled up, hauled to Oregon, and used to make the roof of the cabin. Some of the glass showcases in our shop get scratches from all the rocks that pass across their surfaces. When these glass tops were replaced they became windows in the cabin. Bent nails from other projects were saved, straightened and used to nail boards together on the cabin - anything to minimize the cost. I would like to say that most of the miners who worked the Morrisonite claims over the years did so more because they loved the rock and thought the world should see it, than they did to try and make money. Making some money is a necessity however, and mining as cheeply as posible minimizes the risk and has been the rule. This was especially true for my friend Jake. Jake lived off of what he produced and had no other source if income or backing. He has lived outside most of his life (no rent or mortgage payments). I know of no person more resourceful, optimistic, ethical, or knowledgeable about the extraction of Agate and Jasper from the ground. The cabin was built by attaching 4 long poles by drilling and pegging them to the large rock. Other rocks removed while mining, were drilled and split using feathers and wedges to create a flat surface. These became bases for the walls which supported the roof. All three Cabins have dirt and rock roofs. The most destructive force out here is the wind and the weight on the roof adds stability to the structures. A picture of this cabin is used on the back cover of the Calendar of Fine Agates and Jaspers published evey year by The Gem Shop. I will also have an exhibit of Christine Marie Morrisonite in the Agate Expo exhibit hall next July 2016.
]]>Having a place to get out of the weather is a necessity if you are going to spend any time in the Morrisonite area. First, the area is remote. It is 27 miles of dirt road just to get to the canyon rim. The last 4 miles of this road can be walked faster than it can driven. If you are mining and need a quart of oil for your machine it requires a full day to drive out and get back.
The weather can change rapidly and is influenced by the size of the canyon. There is nothing to stop the wind from the west. The canyon on the east side of the ridge contains considerable items that have mysteriously disappeared from the camp area due to the wind.
Both cabins on the ridge were built in 1976. I should say here that the word "cabin" may be a bit of an exaggeration. All three structures described in these posts are built against a natural rock wall or slope. The floors are not entirely flat and the insides are not as big as they appear from the front.
My friend Jake built the first structure. He was asked by Tom Caldwell to help him get started mining the Big Hole claim. Jake used discarded lumber and anything he could find to build the cabin. He told me he was sure he did not spend more than $50 on the project. He said he spent most of that money on used windows.
After Tom left, the cabins were not used until Jake and I started working in 1986. Jake moved into Tom's cabin and I moved into Jake's cabin. Both cabins needed to be fixed up a little. I lived in this cabin while building the road down to the Christine Marie claim and for several more years until I built the cabin down below.
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Stalactites can be found in caves all around the world, but Amethyst Stalactites are much more rare. Stalactites are formed from mineral rich water dropping from cave ceilings. The drops leave behind a small ring formation, and after millions of years these rings build up into stalactites. Agate forms in the middle of the stalactite in various colors with the crystals developing around the agate. When the stalactites are sliced open the cross section of the growth is revealed. The Gem Shop has a new selection of Amethyst and Quartz Stalactite Slices. These slices are great pieces for jewelry making or to show off million of years of geologic history! Discover this unique mineral formation:
Below is agate #2. It was purchased one year later in 2007 as part of a "lot" or batch of Laguna Agate from the owner of the Diana Laguna Agate claim. He was a cattle man and had cowboys working for him all over the Laguna Agate deposits. According to Armondo all of his cowboys had instructions to bring any agates they "happen to find" to him. He paid them a small amount of money for the agate they brought him. From the cowboy's point of view this was just a small bonus for doing their regular work. No attention was given to quality and most of the agate delivered was of low quality. He would wait until he had a substantial amount of rock (1000 lbs or more) and then offer it for sale as a "lot". He would emphatically declare all the agate came from his Diana claim whether or not it did. Agate #2 was in a batch of agate Gene purchased from him in 2007. He told Gene there was some new vein agate in the batch and even offered to take him to the deposit!
Agates #1 and #2 fit together perfectly and are pieces of the same Àguà Nueva vein. If Gene had not purchased the lot, agate #2 would have been sold as a Laguna Vein Agate. Gene's workers took this agate (among others) while working for him at Agua Nueva, later sold them to the owner of the Diana claim who then sold them to him a year later. Characteristics aside, it is difficult to know for certain where a Mexican agate comes from without first hand knowledge.
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Laguna Agate from the Conejeros area
They just can't stop digging tunnels.
Workers in 1996. As many as 20 people worked here each day when the agate was hot.
Part of one miners days work.
]]>New selections of Coyamito Agate Specimens are available on our website. Coyamito Agate is a nodular banded agate found about thirty miles north of the Laguna Agate deposits in Chihuahua, Mexico. It is found in multiple deposits, most of which are located on the Coyamito Ranch. Forty years ago, agate was collected and mined on the Coyamito Ranch, La Gregoria Ranch, El Agata Ranch and probably the El Sueco area and sold as Coyamito Agate. This resulted in a variety of agate referred to as Coyamito. However, most of the strongly colored agates come from two areas on the Coyamito Ranch. The two areas on the Coyamito Ranch that have agate deposits are called Los Alamos and La Sonoreña. Most Coyamito nodules are hollow and the color strength is in the outside banding.
Explore the beauty of Coyamito Agate: The Gem Shop's final show of the spring is this weekend in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. We will be exhibiting at the Wisconsin Geological Society Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. The show is at the Muellner Building at Hart Park. Bring the family as there will activities for the kids, and they are free with a paying adult. We will have beautiful specimens, cabochons, metaphysical products, our Escape Jewelry line, and newly cut slabs on hand! The show runs May 16th & 17th from 10am - 5pm both days.
For more information, see our show page:
http://thegemshop.com/pages/shows