More boulder opals and a blue lace agate that I cut . . .

I love this stone - it is another boulder opal - but the pattern is just amazing - it is my favorite stone I've ever cut . . . it looks just like flames . . .

Here are three new trees - the shell tree is a new thing for me but I think it came out really nicely.

This pendant is made of Damascus steel.  I was initially surprised I couldn't find any guides for cutting it since it is so pretty.  I found out why when I started cutting it - it is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hard to work with.  But the final piece came out pretty.

This stone has a funny story behind it.  A friend of mine goes to garage sales a lot and got me this slab of green rough at a garage sale.  Green is my favorite color so I started cutting it and noticed it literally foamed up when I cut it.  I've never seen a stone that did that before so I asked an online group about what it could be and it turns out it is asbestos.  The guy that told me said 'You didn't buy that at a recent show I can tell you!'  Anyway, I figured I might as well finish it since I'd done the rough cut.  So this is what asbestos looks like cut into a cab . . .

More boulder opals - I really lucked out on getting that second one in a lot - I think the seller should have sold that piece of rough individually - but it worked out great for me!

This is what I love about cabbing stones versus faceting - this moss agate has all sorts of colors and patterns in it but it would be considered scrap for faceting.

This plume agate is similar - it reminds me of a thunderstorm.

Two new trees - I have to admit really liking black and white shaded things in general - so I really like that tree.

This one is much bigger - it is a coyote skull - sort of a life out of death type thing . . .

This is a fox skull - I really like this one.  The cranium was broken when I got it so I painted a rough nighttime scene on one side and a daytime scene on the other side (painting is not my strong suit but I think you get the idea).  I figured foxes probably think about that sort of thing . . . I'm not the best photographer but you get the idea . . .

I'm teaching my best friend to do wire wrap so I promised I'd post pictures of her pieces everywhere I post pictures of mine - she's doing great for just learning!

Here are three stones I cut.  The first two are boulder opal, which is a really unusual stone.  It is made when opal forms in the cracks in rocks, so the opal is in tiny layers.  I love the way it makes windows for the opal to look out of.  I also see galaxies in it when I cut it.

This stone is a yuma bird's eye agate:

New basket wrap pendants:

These are new tree pendants:

I had three shows in a row, which means I've been spending all my time either creating things or getting ready for another show, so I'll catch you all up with a series of posts.  Here are a bunch of new trees:

I just finished updating my website with new and better pictures - go to www.tigerpawcreations.com to see it (and hopefully buy some stuff . . .)

This is a new technique I'm working on called basket wrapping - I'm not 100% satisfied with it yet, but I like this piece.

Here are a couple of opals I cut last week . . . it is next to impossible to photograph opals well but they both turned out great . . . purple is pretty rare color so I was thrilled when the purple showed up in the first one . . .

Here are a few stones I've cut recently.  I'm not sure if I like the pebble background for photographs - but I'm experimenting.

This stone is tiger iron - which is tiger eye that has been compressed with pyrite and hematite:

These are stalacite, which are literally cross sections of stalactites.  It is actually pretty hard to cut because it is so soft.  However the finished stones are really pretty I think.

I'm on a new medication that helps me concentrate and makes me way more productive at shows - so here are some trees I made at the last show I was vending at.  I love the orange one especially.