Puzzle-Like Gemstone Designs
At the AGTA show, Rare Earth Mining Co. (Trumbull, Connecticut) offered a vast array of fine and unusual gem materials unavailable anywhere else in the trade. Among the opalized wood, Tiffany stone, honeycomb petrified wood, and many other varieties was one of the most expansive Steve Walters collections seen at Tucson (figure 1).
While Walters himself did not attend the show this year, Rare Earth Mining Co. was eager to detail his work for us. A master gemstone carver specializing in one-of-a-kind gemstone designs in Utah, Walters has been in the business for more than 50 years. He creates his carvings for jewelry designers, to help them achieve a unique look.
Walters’s designs feature a perfect mix of traditional and exotic gemstones, expertly paired and carved to create a dramatic shape and color story. All done by hand, Walters uses titanium to bridge together and inlay the different gemstones.
Among the wide variety of gemstones used in Walters’s carvings were onyx; chrysocolla; tourmalinated and rutilated quartz; amethyst, citrine, and ametrine with striking color zones; rock crystal quartz backed with onyx and gold foil; lapis lazuli; various agates; Australian and pink opals; and meteorite. Every piece is finished with a mother-of-pearl backing with his signature (figure 2), ready to be set into a showstopping piece of jewelry.
