Intarsia is the lapidary art of joining stones together to form a unique single piece or an image. Similar to the juxtaposition of glass or ceramic pieces in a mosaic construction, intarsia refers to the precise joining of stones to create an object. Historically the production of an image has been the goal, but in recent times many beautiful abstract pieces made for jewelry have been created using a great variety of stones.
      Eugene Mueller's technique goes back to the old approach of creating an image, but with a couple of new twists. The image is created using very thin layers of translucent stone overlapping one another. The viewer looks down through one layer of stone on to another. The opaque parts of the natural stone then create the illusion or image.
      The names of the stones used for the center picture part of the piece are listed first followed by the stones used for the borders. The actual size of these pieces ranges from 1" to 2.5" in length and 1" to 2.5" in height. All pieces produced through March of 2001 will be sold through Donald K. Olson & Associates of Bonsall, California.

#1

   #2

# 3

#4

           #5

Click on the image to see large view.

#6

#7

#8

        #9

        #10