Stones: Wild Horse Jasper

I see quite a few of you are as excited about jasper as I am. There really is such a range! This pair I'm showing today was a variety I had never heard of until last summer. I don't know about you guys, but just the name alone (Wild Horse Jasper) makes me think of horses running through the fields.

But when you look at the colors in the raw stone, not to mention the flow of its patterns, it brings images of cave paintings. At least to me. I know, I know, I've been told I have a crazy imagination. Of course I couldn't help but look it up (a quick google search got me lots of cave horses!) and found the perfect example from caves in Lascaux, France. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac in Southwestern France which is famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings.

And then while I was looking at the name origins I noticed it also seemed to be French, or Old French (jaspre) meaning spotted or speckled stone. Hmm, wondering what the French Connection is here? Regardless, really loving this new discovery for me. I paired my Wild Horse Jasper with matte onyx rondelles and used a Southwestern silver earwire. You knew it had to be Southwestern with all those wild horses didn't you?