The Flames Within

Piece # 204 "The Flames Within"A Zoria's Creation. Krista DeSelms © 2012A local rock shop fell into a huge cache of this very rare very beautiful stone of Mexican Fire Agate. I bought more than I could really afford, but oh my goodness I was so excited!Mexican Fire Agate wrapped in 21 gauge square Gold-Filled wire.Mexican Fire Agate is a brilliantly colorful stone, with patterning that looks like small bubbles filled with flowing lava. Fire Agate can range from lower grade that looks brown with very little shine to almost neon colors spanning the full color spectrum. The highest grade pieces are very rare and almost never found anymore, the mid-grade pieces that are brown with lots of bubbles of flash are rare but are still being mined and sold. Fire Agate is found in the most Southern parts of the United States of America and in Central and Northern Mexico. Fire Agate is a type of Chalcedony or a type of Quartz formation. It’s formed when rising hot water saturated with Silica and Iron Oxide fills small spaces within other rocks. As the water cools the Silica clings to the rock surfaces, often in bubble shapes forming chalcedony. When the solution loses Silica the Iron Oxide forms thin layers on the chalcedony, after repeating this process many times over the Fire Agate is formed. These thin layers cause and reflect the fantastic colors seen when light passes through them.Gold Filled Wire is not the same as Gold Plated. Gold Filled is an actual layer of gold, pressure bonded to a bass metal. Gold Filled have over 100% more gold than Gold Platting does. Gold Filled is much more valuable and tarnish resistant than plated. Anyone who can wear Gold can wear Gold Filled without worries of allergic reactions to the jewelry.In the notation 14/20 the 14 refers to the gold being 14k and the 20 refers to the law that to be labeled "Gold Filled" the weight of the wire has to be 1/20th gold.www.Zorias.com
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