• Option A, a sphere on an acrylic ring stand, four images of different sides. The sphere has some good landscape pattern caused by a dark iron band ringing a base with rings of saturated orange-red layering. The iron band appears like low hills, with a fainter mountain range formation of thin iron bands behind it. The top has sweeping layers like a sky, with ringed forms.
  • Two sandstone spheres held in one hand to demonstrate scale, each about two inches in diameter. The front right of the two spheres has light red-orange layering, with two sets of overlapping rings of layers. The back left sphere has deep red-orange layering running horizontally on the bottom third, with low bumps like mesas, and sweeping light colored layering above creating a sky.
  • A more distant view of a sandstone sphere held in a hand to better show scale. The sphere would easily fit in a palm.
  • Option B, a sphere with fairly even orange-brown tone and two large formations of rings of layers like a bullseye, near each other like eyeballs. Some thin strips of dark iron banding wriggle across on side, up against the more saturated of the two bullseyes. The other bullseye is elongated with a light patch at one end.
  • Option C, a sphere with very good landscape pattern created by bold dark iron bands running across the top and bottom. The base has a saturate red-orange ringed pattern of layers, bordered at the top by a dark band with low bumps like southwestern mesas and hills. Above, lighter orange-brown layers streak diagonally, with a scalloped edge like tall clouds over the landscape. The top of the sphere is light in color with curved layers across it with a gradient of color from light to dark orange.
  • Option D, a sphere with simple pattern, a bold dark iron band ringing one side of the piece. That side is a cream to light orange color with faint layering, while the other two-thirds of the piece has deeper orange-colored layers angled perpendicular to the light sandstone. Both sides form subtle ring effects.
  • Option E, a sphere mostly covered with even near-parallel layering, forming a bullseye of even rings on one end. Next to the center is a dark rounded patch outlined with bold dark iron banding with red-orange sandstone inside. On the opposite end, there is a light cream-colored patch outlined with irregular thin dark iron banding, with curved of layers around one side.
  • Option F, a sphere with good landscape pattern, the bottom third outlined by a ring of bold dark iron banding, and excellent swirling layers of saturated orange-red sandstone inside, forming a bullseye on the base. The iron banding is curved and scalloped, like a series of hills. The other two-thirds of the sphere is near-white, with broad streaks of light patchy reddish-purple color across it like a sky.
  • Option G, a sphere with psychedelic bold pattern, high-contrast saturated orange-brown and light orange layers. Bold dark iron bands create scalloped lines around the piece, with layering curving off it like stacked rainbows. The top is lighter colored with thin swirling layers. The base has a spiral-like form of dark iron banding that looks like a worm with giant eyeballs.
  • Option H, a sphere ringed by a thin dark iron band, the two thirds below the line having saturated very thin orange layering and two large intersecting bullseye formations of layers. The third of the sphere above the line is lighter colored with a bullseye formation of layers that looks like the sun setting over the horizon.
  • Option I, a sphere with several bold dark iron bands ringing it, with the sandstone between bands a gradient of deep orange-red to light orange-red. One side has a bullseye formation of ringed layers of red-orange sandstone, bordered by a ring of iron banding. The opposite side has a blocky patch of near-white with a light orange patch next to it.
  • Option J, a sphere with even thin parallel layers of desaturated orange sandstone, with a faint ring where the pattern is blurred and offset from a geologic shift. One end has a bulbous pattern of saturated red-orange rings radiating out from a V-shaped dark iron band. The other side has a bullseye pattern with a dark ring and white splotch at the center
  • Option K, a light-colored sphere with neapolitan tones of near-white, peachy-orange, and a purple-red splotchiness. It is mainly white, a light orange bullseye pattern on one side with subtle rings of layering, and streaky orange across the white. The purple-red splotching occurs as streaky bands across the white as well, mixing pattern with the orange.
  • Option L, a sandstone sphere with very even thin high-contrast layering, deep red-orange and light orange tones. One side has curved patterns like rainbows among the stripes, and in the center of it is a white perfect circle with a note that it is a mineral vein, not glued. The base is a more brownish tone, with several small rings of dark iron banding.
  • Two of the spheres on a measuring mat, the one on the left slightly larger than the other. The image is captioned two to two and a half inches average diameter, with minor variations. The larger sphere is about two and a quarter inches in diameter, and the smaller of the two is closer to two inches wide.
1 15

Sandstone sphere, small Arizona Sierra

Sandstone sphere, small Arizona Sierra

$28.00 USD
$28.00 USD
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Pick your own

Approx size: 2–2.25" diameter

Approx weight: 150–190g

Acrylic display ring included!
Cover image shows options C and H.

These polished spheres of picture sandstone are made from Arizona Sierra sandstone sourced from central Arizona. Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed of sand compacted and cemented together through geological processes, giving it a grainy texture. 

Spheres make for a beautiful natural piece of decor, putting the layering on display in a way that emphasizes curves and creates rings from the layers. Sandstone with distinct layering like this is often called ‘picture stone’ because the layers can resemble a southwestern landscape with open skies—option C is a good example. Or, in the case of option G, the layers resemble The Monster that Challenged the World (1957). 

The orange-red coloration of this material is caused by oxidized iron. People often assume “Arizona Sierra” simply refers to the material’s locale, but it’s actually a trade name for sandstone from this locale that has been heat-treated to intensify its red color. Dark striping is iron banding.

View full details