Red River Sunset®
Travertine
An incredible stone
In 2019, when testing new materials for our jewelry production, we came accross this thin dendritic layer within a rock. When looking at the rock and other samples from the area we recognized that we had something extraordinary in front of us:
A constant pattern resembling a horizon with trees and bushes in front of white snow capped mountains under a bloodred sunset sky.
We named it “Red River Sunset”® in honor of the unique red river near Cusco Peru.
But there was something even more exciting about this stone:
Other dendritic stones do show irregular dentritic patterns, that are hard to predict, which makes it difficult to plan a large scale jewelry production based on such material.
Here however, we have a vein that crosses the rock with a constant color pattern. You can cut this vein and slab after slab will show the same color pattern. This makes it possible to plan for huge jewelry editions getting individual but very similar cabuchons. Something we have not seen so far in dendritic stones.
After laboratory testing this material we now know that Red River Sunset® is a bicolored calcite-dominant carbonate. The red layer is more iron-rich, although the highest percentage found during testing as only 0.89 %. However, iron is a powerfull coloring agent.
According to testing this material is most likely travertine. Travertine is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs.
Fresh travertines vary widely in their porosity, from about 10% to 70%. Red River Sunset® however, shows comparatively small porosity, which indicates it to be a very ancient travertine. Such old travertines may have a porosity as low as 2% due to crystallization of secondary calcite in the original pore spaces. It also indicates that this travertine was formed aorund a hot spring, rather than a cold one. Finally, given the fact that the material lacks the presence of magnesium, it is most likely that it was formed in fresh water and not in sea water.
We are offering you slabs of this unique stone for your jewelry production !
Products made with Red River Sunset
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Cutting services
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+51 994104206
gemrockinternational@gmail.com