Banded Agate is a more common rock and is part of the
Chalcedony family, which falls under the bigger family of quarts. It is a microcrystalline giving it a very
smooth, waxy look and the shape is most often a botryiodal mass or mammillary
(in basic terms a rounded lump.) Just
like other agates, banded agate is formed by precipitate (fluids that carry
solids) rich in silicate percolating or flowing into a host rock’s cavity or cracks. As the fluid is evaporated or is reabsorbed the
sediment is left behind leaving layers of silicate rich rock behind that
eventually will fill the cavity forming the agate nodule or geode (nodules are
solid, geodes are hollow.)
Banded Agate is usually found with bands of white, blue,
gray and clear. It is opaque to translucent
and can look almost a little like the insides of a white jelly bean. Because this stone is porous it is often dyed
commercially and used in home decoration (geodes halves for book ends, novelty
items, etc.) or jewelry. While adding color to the piece can bring out the depth of bands and makes it "pop", the
natural color is very pretty and dainty.
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A wonderful tumbled Lace Agate that has been dyed pink found in ArtFire shop LotusBeads at http://ow.ly/cyXws
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The bands of this stone can make shapes and will often lead
to specialized names like: Iris Agate (the inside layer looks like an Iris
flower) and Lace Agate (the banding is not straight but resembles lace.) Agate is readily found in most areas of the USA,
Brazil, Uruguay, Madagascar, China, India, and Mexico, but the Banded Agate is
especially beautiful from the Mohave here in California.
This wonderful piece of Banded Agate was found in Etsy shop RedTailedHawk at http://ow.ly/cyXHR
This agate makes very delicate and feminine
looking jewelry and I especially love some of the piece I found on Etsy and
ArtFire today:
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