Once upon a time, long long ago...
in 19 hundred and 85 to be exact, young Larry Castle decided there must be more to life than driving cab and vending tee shirts of his own design on Madison Wisconsin's infamous State Street. He wondered how he might make his passion of travel in Mexico and collecting odd stones pay for themselves and possibly even be profitable. He began to search out potentially profitable mineral do-dads back to the US and attempted to sell them, but nothing caught the fancy of the American consumer...until he happened across the wee little village of Magdelena in Jalisco Mexico, located in the Tequila Valley, near the Tequila Volcano.
in 19 hundred and 85 to be exact, young Larry Castle decided there must be more to life than driving cab and vending tee shirts of his own design on Madison Wisconsin's infamous State Street. He wondered how he might make his passion of travel in Mexico and collecting odd stones pay for themselves and possibly even be profitable. He began to search out potentially profitable mineral do-dads back to the US and attempted to sell them, but nothing caught the fancy of the American consumer...until he happened across the wee little village of Magdelena in Jalisco Mexico, located in the Tequila Valley, near the Tequila Volcano.
The eruption process of the Tequila volcano is responsible for the creation of carved opal and obsidian, both the minerals and our business!
The lava from the Tequila Volcano cooled very quickly, possibly from coming into contact with water from a nearby now evaporated lake. The rapid cooling formed the molten lava into volcanic glass, called obsidian. The Tequila obsidian had a little something different from other obsidian- inclusions of rods of pyroxene!-which reflect light inside the obsidian and give the illusion of rainbow colors, hence it's name, Rainbow Obsidian- or "arco iris" in espanol.
Hyper-colorful Mexican opal is also a by-product of volcanic activity. In this region of Mexico, opal is formed when silica rich water seeps through the volcanic rhyolita and becomes trapped in holes and fissures in the stone.
Knapping obsidian has been a Mexican art form since long before their was a Mexico. Ornate blades of obsidian were treasured by the Aztec, Mayans, and their predecessors, and have been found as far away as the Great Lakes area.
In proud Mexican tradition, the citizens of Magdelena became masters of cutting the rainbow obsidian into charming designs, and polishing them perfectly until they glow.
In proud Mexican tradition, the citizens of Magdelena became masters of cutting the rainbow obsidian into charming designs, and polishing them perfectly until they glow.
When the water evaporates it leaves behind uniformly sized, microscopic spheres of silica which create a translucent stone "gel". These tiny spheres reflect & refract light, resulting in fiery colors.
The local Magdelena artists finish the opal in several different ways. They can cut away the rhyolita 'matrix" stone the opal formed in and polish the opal in an amazing freeform shape, or cut it into a caboshon for jewelry. Or, they can leave the matrix on, which makes the opal more stable, and cut caboshons or make carvings, such as opal animals.
The local Magdelena artists finish the opal in several different ways. They can cut away the rhyolita 'matrix" stone the opal formed in and polish the opal in an amazing freeform shape, or cut it into a caboshon for jewelry. Or, they can leave the matrix on, which makes the opal more stable, and cut caboshons or make carvings, such as opal animals.
The clever Magdelena artists also combine opal and obsidian into amazing inlays which give the impression of stained glass. Carved opal and obsidian turtles such as the one pictured above proved to be quite popular with the American public and helped make young Larry's business dream into a reality. Now that he had a successful business, he found he needed a name for it. Struck by the Muses themselves, he called his new business "Carved Opal and Obsidian"(COandO). Over 20 years later the business has expanded greatly from it's original product line, and is still going strong!
