• A fairly rectangular face of an irregular piece of jasper, with large light tan starburst pattern, well-formed and distinct on a background of dark brown with red-brown in areas.
  • Detail of the rough surface and coloration of the spherulite pattern, showing red-brown spots between the starbursts. There is a thin quartz vein curving across the right side.
  • A view of the piece from above, showing two faces with the starburst pattern continuing on dark brown. There is of light brown patch in the center.
  • An angled rectangular face with light starburst excellent pattern on dark brown with red spotting between. A thin quartz vein curves through the right side.
  • A view of an irregular side with a filmy white coating on it obscuring the pattern. The three-dimensional radial pattern is still visible through it.
  • Captioned "wet," the piece while wet showing crisp pattern and more vibrant colors than dry. the starburst pattern is orange-tinted, on dark brown and red-brown.
  • Captioned "wet," the best face of the piece while wet, stood on end. The orange-yellow spherulites and red-brown background pop on the darker brown color.
  • Captioned "wet," a detail view of an end of the piece, showing excellent growth with semi-melted looking spherulites and red spotting near the top and clean starbursts at the bottom. There are two thin parallel quartz veins across the face.
  • Scale image of the piece on a measuring mat, measuring nearly four inches by a bit over two inches wide.
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Spider jasper

Spider jasper

$9.00 USD
$9.00 USD
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.

Locale: Mexico

Approx dimensions: 3.75 x 2 x 1.75"

Approx weight: 430g

 

Spider jasper is called a lot of names in the industry, including chrysanthemum, starburst, and fireworks jasper, due to its distinctive radial starburst pattern on a dark chocolate-brown and red-tinted background.

Spider jasper is in fact not a true jasper, but a variety of rhyolite. A lot of jaspers are actually rhyolite! Mineralogically jasper is a variety of chalcedony, which is a form of quartz. Rhyolite is in the family tree, an igneous rock composed of quartz and feldspar. This material would most accurately be named "chrysanthemum rhyolite" but you know I can't pass up a goblin-y name like spider jasper.

The starbursts in the rhyolite are spherulites: minerals composed of dense radial needle-like growth from a point to create a sphere (hence "spher"ulite). Spherulites are typically crystalized feldspar forming within volcanic igneous quartz-based rock. They commonly appear as distinct circles with banding as in the case of leopardskin jasper. With spider jasper, the spherulites are loose collections of thick needles resembling a firework.

Add the rough piece to your collection, drier terrariums, or use as an accent in a succulent bowl. Chunks of rough like this are commonly sold for lapidary purposes, to be polished into tumbles, slabs, carvings, or jewelry. The rough material is already quite beautiful, but colors deepen if polished; images labeled 'wet' preview what to expect if you do wish to polish.

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