My Third Coral-Related Hobby: Fossils!!

[ReefdUp]

I'm a nerd, through and through, right down to the rock collection I've had since I was a kid.  However, last year, everything changed.  My husband went to Australia and brought me back some opals - in the rough.  He knew I had my Gryphon band saw, so he thought the hard part was over (this reminds me of when I found a *free* fish tank at a yard sale that started a 17-year reefkeeping obsession).  Well, I ended up with a slab saw (to cut the rough into something more workable), and then I ended up with a cabbing machine.  And, of course, I couldn't start with the opals; I had to practice!  So I started buying rocks...and got addicted.  But then, I found fossilized corals.  More specifically, agatized corals.  So now, not only am I interested in reefkeeping and scuba diving, I'm also into coral lapidary arts.  But, it doesn't stop there.  Ooooh no... Because what's the point of having all these pretty rocks just stored up??  So, I started metalsmithing copper and silver.  I already bead, so now I have pretty much the whole lifecycle of jewelry.  Seeing Ben at @Supreme Reefs with his awesome rock offerings at the last meeting gave me the courage to share my not-so-reef, reef.  I plan to make ocean-related fossil cabochons into a mosaic, but for right now, I'm just making pretty rocks.

 

Please enjoy my humble lapidary beginnings and the wide variety of polyp structures!

 

Indonesian Coral necklace, set in copper with pearl and copper accents:

 

Utah Red Horn Coral (rough and cabochon):

 

Indonesian agatized coral (and if you look closely on the right, you can see agatized worm tunnels):

 

Arizona coral (rough and cabochon) (this material was extremely pitty, so I need to fill in the void.  It's gorgeous though and sparkles like crazy):

 

Indonesian agatized coral (cabochon and rough):

 

Unknown coral (rough and cabochon):

 

Coquina (Clam) (when I said I was into coral, I lied - it's all water-based lifeforms) (this is one of my favorite pieces):

 

Indonesian Coral (rough and cabochon):

 

Utah Horn Coral (rough and cabochon):

 

Stromatolite (microbial mats, particularly cyanobacteria):

 

Michigan Chain Coral, "Halycites" (rough and cabochon):

 

Oncolites (cyanobacteria):  

 

Crinoids (sea lillies) (rough and cabochon):

 

Morocco Actinocyanthus (rough and cabochon):

 

Stromatolite (microbial mat, particularly cyanobacteria) (cabochon):

 

 

 

Mexican coral (side slice) (I'm so mad - the right side fractured off.  I need to fix this.) (rough and cabochon):

 

Unknown coral (need to finish - it had some pitting that I need to correct) (rough and cabochon):

 

UK Lithostrotion (rough and cabochon):

 

Indonesian coral (rough and caobchon):

 

Thanks for making it to the end!  

[ReefdUp]

Here's a sneak peak at my next batch of material to process...

 

Indonesian coral (probably the most colorful piece I've seen ever):

 

Indonesian coral (love the insane detail on this piece for the corallites):

 

Indonesian coral:

 

Michigan Cladapora:

 

Indonesian Coral (my favorite piece - absolutely amazing):

 

Indonesian Coral (I plan to make this into a doublet; it's really well-agatized):

 

Mexican coral (side slice) (*love* the crystals on this one!):

 

Indonesian coral:

 

Michigan Stromatopora (sponge):

 

Michigan Hexagonaria percarinata (aka, Petosky) (no post on fossilized corals would be complete without it):

 

Oolite:

 

Wyoming Turritella snails (ok, you caught me, this is a freshwater species, but still... soooo cool):

 

I could go on for hundreds of photos - I may have a problem!  Hope you enjoyed.

[Salty Rambler]

These are fantastic!

[ReefdUp]

8 minutes ago, Salty Rambler said:

These are fantastic!

 

Thank you!!  

[Kathryn Lawson]

These are super fascinating, as well as gorgeous!!! Thanks for sharing!

[cpeguero]

That’s awesome! Those are some really cool pieces! 

[Supreme Reefs]

Wow these are amazing and beautiful job on those cabs!  Please definitely keep sharing .  Im honored to be apart of your rock journey! 

[YHSublime]

I bet you could sell these, amazing!

[maevepotter]

Awesome! I'm also a huge fossil fan. I almost did another major on geology in undergrad! 

[ReefdUp]

22 hours ago, Kathryn Lawson said:

These are super fascinating, as well as gorgeous!!! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you so much!

 

22 hours ago, cpeguero said:

That’s awesome! Those are some really cool pieces! 

Glad you like them!  Thank you!

 

21 hours ago, Supreme Reefs said:

Wow these are amazing and beautiful job on those cabs!  Please definitely keep sharing .  Im honored to be apart of your rock journey! 

When are you starting lapidary?!    Thank you very much; looking forward to nerding out with you over more rocks soon!

 

7 hours ago, YHSublime said:

I bet you could sell these, amazing!

Aw, thanks!  I don't think I'm going to have a choice.  They're so fun to make, but I'm not sure what to do with them all!  

 

4 hours ago, maevepotter said:

Awesome! I'm also a huge fossil fan. I almost did another major on geology in undergrad! 

Very cool!  I mean, coral fossils... who wouldn't be a fan of that?!  

[lowsingle]

Cool hobby!  Now you need some opal to work with 🙂

 

Darren

 

[Supreme Reefs]

On 2/28/2024 at 9:21 PM, ReefdUp said:

When are you starting lapidary?!    Thank you very much; looking forward to nerding out with you over more rocks soon!

 

Oh im actually going to be starting soon, im just sorting out all the rocks for now and making a work bench.  Let me know if you need some lapidary material!