Stone
used by Zimbabwe Artists

Butterjade     [ No Items ]

Butter Jade has a creamy yellow colour with dark striations throughout and is sometimes also known as Butterstone. Although it is called 'Jade', it is not however a true Jade. The striations found in the attractive yellow-green sedimentary rock are actually layers containing fossilized algae. The stone is typically around 50 million years old and between 6 and 7 on Moh's hardness scale.

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Cobalt Stone     [ No Items ]

A beautiful stone often purple in colouration with a variation of yellow and white markings and strips throughout. Can often have brown/orange markings. Cobalt is a brittle, relatively rare hard metal, closely resembling iron and nickel in appearance. It has a hardness of between 5 and 6 on Moh's scale.

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Dolomite     [ 1 Sculpture ]

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Color is often pink or pinkish and can be colorless, white, yellow, gray or even brown or black when iron is present in the crystal. Luster is pearly to vitreous to dull. Transparency crystals are transparent to translucent. Hardness is 3.5-4 Streak is white. Associated Minerals: include calcite, sulfide ore minerals, fluorite, barite, quartz and occasionally with gold.

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Lapidolite     [ No Items ]

Purple in colour, this stone is absolutely stunning, especially in natural daylight. The colour can vary and is either dark purple or light, a colour you probably couldn't even replicate!

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Leopard Rock     [ No Items ]

A beautifully coloured stone with spock marks similar to a leopard, hence the name, of yellow and black. Sometimes containing petrified wood.

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Marble     [ No Items ]

This white stone has been sent in especially from Italy, Gregory Mutasa is one of the few artists that works with it in Zimbabwe. Marble is one of the hardest stones available in the world.

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Opal Stone     [ 25 Sculptures ]

A beautiful light greenish serpentine. Opal stone is a very hard stone finely textured with an almost translucent surface sometimes specked with red, orange and bluish dots and patches. Opalstone is famous for it’s milky light coloured greens and smooth texture. It is also unique in that it has fewer colour variations than Serpentine. It is also mined at Chiweshe, two hours north of Harare. This stone is one of the favourites of sculptors, as it’s not as hard as springstone and other serpentines, but still polishes to a high finish. Opalstone also has, at times, a brown colour throughout the predominate green. The appearance can be smooth or mottled. As with most of the stones mined for the purpose of sculpting, opal is mined without the use of automotive tools. Lemon Opalstone is easily identified by contrasting yellow striations within the stone. On the Mohs hardness scale, Opalstone rates between 5.0-5.5.

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Opal Stone (Golden)     [ 2 Sculptures ]

Found in Domboshawa, Zimbabwe, a fairly hard stone, best to keep indoors as it marks easily.

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Opal Stone (Lemon)     [ No Items ]

Usually a much deeper colouration all over the stone, more colourful and a harder stone to sculpt than the usual Opal Stone, mostly due to the particles of quartz found within the stone. Lemon Opalstone is easily identified by contrasting yellow striations within the stone. On the Mohs hardness scale, Opalstone rates between 5.0-5.5.

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Serpentine     [ 6 Sculptures ]

Found in many deposits throughout Zimbabwe its colours vary from black to brown to green, orange and variegated. Hardness level varies from very soft to vary hard. Measured on a moss scale where a diamond is ten, serpentine goes from 1.2 up to 6.54. The majority of the sculptors today, however do not carve from soft serpentine, but rather select deposits of rock that are hard and therefore more durable. Black Iron Serpentine derives it’s name from the deposits of iron found in it and is one of the hardest and darkest stones found in Zimbabwe. It has the most amazing black lustress finish that resembles the black opal and is highly sought after because of it’s fine finish, durability and hardness.

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Serpentine (Fruit)     [ 3 Sculptures ]

Fruit Serpentine is usually a really colourful pretty stone, with deep veins of variated strata. Serpentine is the next hardest stone with a rating of 4.0-5.0 on Mohs hardness scale. Because of it's beauty and collectability it is one of the most sought after because of it’s fine finish, durability and hardness.

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Springstone     [ 49 Sculptures ]

A very hard serpentine with high iron content and a fine texture, no cleavages, hard and firm offering a good resistance to the sculptor. Springstone has a rich outer "blanket" of reddish brown oxidised rock. They emerge from the quarry like sculptures created by nature millions of years ago and are often a source of inspiration to the artist. There are a few mines where this stone is found, but Guruve, in the north, is where springstone is mined. A beautiful dark stone, it polishes to a high shine because of it’s density. As with most other stones that are mined for the purpose of sculpting, this stone is mined by hand on communal lands.

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Verdite     [ No Items ]

An extremely hard stone, usually used in 'Fine Art' such as Elephants, Rhino's etc.