New Work for Boskone: Bubble Opal

I've been getting some of the pendants finished including the bubble opal and the fire agate.

The bubble opal is new to me. I think it's botroidal. Each sphere (grape) in a botryoidal mineral is smaller than that of a reniform mineral, and much smaller than that of a mamillary mineral. Botryoidal minerals form when many nearby nuclei, specks of sand, dust, or other particles, are present. Acicular or fibrous crystals grow radially around the nuclei at the same rate, appearing as spheres. Eventually, these spheres abut or overlap with those that are nearby. These nearby spheres are then fused together to form the botryoidal cluster.

It has occasional subtle flashes of tiny color.

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I am fascinated by it.

Right now iI have a lot of polishing on new work including some that is just being cast. And I'll be making some designs with some stunning opal discs. I've been getting some beautiful results on bronze patinas, I'll have some of those designs as well.

Really looking forward to seeing folks at Boskone. I'm pretty fried so please forgive inevitable typos.