Studio Devona

Amethyst Crystals

My first ever crystal was amethyst bought from a gift shop at Kent's Cavern in Torquay in the 1970's. Amethyst crystals come in so many shapes and sizes so I have concentrated on these a lot over the years. Here are a few small ones from sales on e-bay.

Hematite Iron Ore

Small pieces of hematite kidney ore I collected when I was a child from a local footpath.

Quartz Insitu

Sometimes it is nice to see natural crystals while out in the local hills of Devon taking a walk. These are a home for some tiny plants.

Chalcopyrite

I found this long ago on an old copper mine spoil tip in Cornwall. The rock looked really dull but was very heavy so I broke it open to reveal the gold coloured ore. Chalcopyrite is one of the main ores that copper comes from when smelted.

Amygdaloidal Basalt

From an old quarry in hills not far from Exeter. This formed millions of years ago when the region was full of volcanic activity - gas bubbles escaping through thick mud eventually solidified and later the cavities became filled with crystals. The proper name for it is amygdaloidal basalt.

Veracruz Amethyst Crystals

Veracruz Amethyst is one of my personal favorites. This comes from Mexico and has some nice pale crystals on the matrix it formed on.

Kidney Hematite

A form of natural iron ore which looks a bit like a kidney. I picked this one up on e-bay and it originally came from a mine in Cumbria in the UK.

Quartz and Iron Pyrite

I spotted this for sale in a gift shop back in the 1990's. Love the amazing formation of crystals arrayed on the pyrite, some are really tiny as thin as a human hair. It likely originates from Peru as a lot of similar pieces come from there.

Storage Boxes

For my main collection I store many in card trays like this. It makes them easier to look at and each has a label with the name and other information which is also on a database. It can be too easy to get muddled up with some minerals so this system works well.

Quartz Wand

Love these natural thin quartz crystals. This one is particularly long and was collected by a tribal person in Africa somewhere near Victoria Falls who gave it to a geologist, then it came to me.

Raspberry Garnets

From a swap I did long time ago. These are lovely bright garnets on the matrix from a location in South America. Garnets come in several colours including pink, green, brown and red to name a few.

Gypsum

Stained orange throughout by iron minerals this gypsum alabaster is found in clay deposits in north Devon where the sea erodes it out leaving amazing shapes. Pieces of it erode out in storms and get washed away and this material also dissolves slowly in water too.

Cassiterite Tin Ore

I found this in the subsoil of a working quarry in Ashburton where the surface was being ripped off ready for the next phase of work. I visited the quarry with permission in the 1990's. It is really heavy and specific gravity tests proved it to be almost pure tin ore. This is what was likely found by ancient people and in medieval times in local rivers.

Iron Pyrite and Dolomite

These are tiny crystals of Pyrite and Dolomite which formed in a small void within quartz material. Washed out of the mudstone cliff in Torbay. I spotted them back in 1980's. The pyrite is the darker crystals and these are approx 2-3mm sized with even smaller crystals of a green material growin on them.

Display of Larger Pieces

Over the years I have gathered a lot of pieces and sold some too. The larger one's look nice in a display case where the colours and shapes and textures can be seen. There is quite an assortment in here with pieces from all over the world.

Sliced Meteorite with Crystal in the voids.

Meteorites are rocks that come from space and many burn up in the earth's atmosphere but some can be found on the surface by collectors around the world. There are a number of types, some being stone and some of metal. They are usually sold either whole or sliced and can be expensive to buy but smaller pieces are affordable.

Sliced Metal Meteorite

This piece of sliced metal meteorite is mainly made of iron. Because it formed in space in a non-gravity situation the crystals have formed differently to those on earth. You can see them criss-crossing in this photo. In the previous example the meteorite has voids in which an olivine mineral has formed.

Peacock Ore

From a quarry in Cornwall this piece has thin layers or metallic copper which reflect light in different ways making it look colourful - often referred to as Peacock Ore as it look like the bird's feathers.

Treasure Mountain 2001

In 2001 I visited a friend in America for a month and we went to New York State to a place called Treasure Mountain Mine where mineral collectors dig through limestone rocks to find voids with quartz crystals in. That's me in the photo! We did find voids and crystals as shown below. These are referred to as Herkimer diamonds - they are not real diamonds but quartz with a very gemmy quality which sometimes shines brightly like a diamond would.

Herkimer Diamonds 2001

Some of the larger herkimer diamond crystals I found when on holiday in America. These came out of a void in the limestone which I found after 2 days digging, the void was the size of a human brain but full of crystals of sizes ranging from 1mm up to 35mm.

Display Case

Some pieces are stored in a dust-free display case with glass lid which makes them easier to enjoy. These look very colourful and have a variety of textures and shapes.

Quartz Sphere Rainbows

Some crystals have natural cracks in them and sometimes, especially in quartz and other clear gemmy looking rocks, the light reflects through causing rainbow effects which can be lovely to see. Here are some in a quartz sphere.

Onyx with Abalone Dragonfly

Made by my uncle in the 1950's. He worked at Grants Marbleworks in Babbacombe, Torquay since the 1930's until he retired. There he produced all kinds of items, some for Royalty. This one was the lid of a jewellery box which I inherited. The dragonfly is made of small pieces of abalone shell inset into a white onyx stone.