Components

*Graveyard Point Idaho plume agate cut by Leigh Becker, Eidos
*0.2 ct natural VS/GH certified conflict-free diamonds
*Rutilated quartz
*Chinese keshi pearls
*Prehnite from Wave Hill Station, No. Territory, Australia
*Gold filled setting, findings
*Signed, numbered, dated

Length:  18" - 23" (46cm - 59cm)
Centerpiece:  2.5" (6 cm)
Weight:  3.9 oz (112 gm)

Photo: Melinda Holden

Item #409 - Sold

Cloud City Necklace

Cloud City Necklace
Hover to zoom, Click to expand

This scenic agate is very thick, I assume Leigh intended for it to be wire wrapped. Generally speaking, however, I don't care for wire wrapping (with a few notable exceptions!). So I made a prong setting with a tiny 3pt diamond on each prong. Gold-filled sheet backs the translucent stone and adds brilliance to it. The back is cut out around the natural opening in the stone and has an overlay of a frigate bird which one would expect to see in Cloud City. I've marveled at these amazing birds in Baja and hope you've had a chance to see them! Large, exceedingly graceful birds, they soar the thermals for hours and never appear to flap their wings at all. It is said they have the ability to stay aloft for over a week. True creatures of the air, they cannot swim or walk well. They come to earth only to roost and breed. They cannot take off from a flat surface and must land only on cliffs or in trees.

The pearls and stones in this necklace frame the centerpiece by reflecting the colors of the beautiful landscape in the stone. The flat briolettes are especially nice with their sparkling patterns of gold-colored rutile. Although rutile looks like needles of gold, it is actually titanium oxide which forms long thin capillary needles with a metallic adamantine luster in quartz. (Interestingly, when rutile forms as oriented three-dimensional sets of hairs, it causes the streaks of the stars seen in star quartz, sapphires and rubies.) The Book of Stones gives rutilated quartz the storm element. Simmons says it is programmable (like most quartz) and can be used to magnify the energy of intentions or affirmations. It is said to bring a joyful vibration into the energetic field.

Prehnite is quite variable in its appearance, it's hard to recognize that the little golden yellow Australian stones in this necklace are the same mineral as the rough green nuggets in the Summer Berries Necklace. Prehnite is an earth and water element, connected with the third and fourth chakras. It is said to bring inner peace. These little stones are very pretty and translucent with some having a hint of opalescence.

Diamonds again reflect the storm element and are associated with the 4th, 6th and 7th chakras as well as the etheric chakras (8th through 14th, above the head). Simmons says "Intensity is a key word for Diamond." Ahsian notes that faceted diamonds can be used to infuse the aura with full-spectrum Light energy. Which brings us to an interesting point: You may have noticed I almost never use faceted stones in my work, and I think the only other time I used faceted diamonds was in Another View of Mt. Fuji. Something about this agate demanded the diamonds though, how can I explain it?

I do hope you will order this lovely necklace and find joy in contemplating the amazing world within the stone.