I have pounds of it! Most of them are beautiful polished free forms similar to this one. I'm not sure why I don't see rhodocrosite too often anymore, Are there problems at the mines or scarcity? If anyone knows, please email.
Anyway, once I discovered facetted stones and gold, my work changed and I didn't really design much with the specimen stones like I used to. Part of the problem was keeping the price reasonable. They are large beautiful stones. Once you wrap gold around them it becomes cost prohibitive. So the rhodocrosite waited patiently.
As those of you who have supported me from the start remember, I've been incorporating beads into my work from the beginning. The reason I initially used gemstone beads is not only were they beautiful, but they were practical. As a struggling designer who couldn't afford buying lots of gold chains for stock. I discovered I could provide my customer with a whole necklace instead of just a pendant by using beads and pearls, which at the time were more affordable than gold chains. The look was original and my customer got a bonus for the same cost of just the pendant!
I love the feverish bead trend in the country because it has allowed me to find the most beautiful beads to use in my work, and the quality of beads being produced is astounding. It also gave me the idea to turn my freeform rhodocrosite gemstones into beautiful beads so I can offer them to you affordably. It used to be hard to find high quality gemstone beads because the cutters saved the best material for facetted stones. Now, the sky is the limit as you can see by the fancy cut, high quality gemstone beads I'm using, like the facetted gradient peachy pink tourmalines in this rhodocrosite necklace. There are no boundaries anymore. Yippy!
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