• A fairly rectangular piece of jasper, with a light tan well-dispersed starburst pattern with small dots and horizontal dashes between. The background is a swirling mix of dark brown and red-brown, a darker than average piece. There is some rough white material covering a side of the face.
  • An angled view of the irregularly-shaped piece. These sides have a more muted coloration as if coated with a milky layer, and part is again covered in a rough white coating.
  • A view showing three sides of the piece, with similar pattern of starbursts on a dark drown and red-brown background visible an all sides. There is a patch of white material on the surface, obscuring about fifteen to twenty percent of the surface.
  • Detail image of the surface on one end of the piece, showing the three-dimensional pattern of the starbursts. The radial growth pattern is apparent.
  • View showing two sides of the piece, both covered in a layer of white growth obscuring the pattern.
  • Captioned "wet," the piece while wet, showing a much more vibrant orange color to the pattern. Some white growth is visible toward the back of the piece.
  • Captioned "wet," a clean side of the piece with excellent pattern and color. Starbursts appear almost as if melting, with streaks of color between them. The background is dark brown with spots of red-brown around the starbursts.
  • Captioned "wet," a view of an angular side of the piece while wet, emphasizing the excellent pattern and color.
  • Captioned "wet," detail view of the same side as the previous image while wet. There are orange starbursts on a dark brown background, with red-brown spots around them
  • Captioned "wet," a triangular side of the piece while wet with vivd color and pattern. The three-dimensional pattern of the starbursts' radial growth is visible. The other side visible is covered n white mineral.
  • Captioned "wet," the two sides covered in white mineral growth while wet. Some of the material's pattern is visible through it, as three-dimensional patterning more than color.
  • Scale image of the piece on a measuring mat, measuring a bit over three by about two and three-quarters inches, with tapered width.
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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: 3.25 x 2.25 x 1.75"

Approx weight: 500g

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.

This chunk has a stronger orange hue to it and beautiful streaky color, creating complex patterns with the large starbursts. It has excellent color contrast for the starbursts, and well-formed patterning. Some faces are obscured by matrix on the surface, so this may be a good candidate for polishing.

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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