Image 1 of 5
Image 2 of 5
Image 3 of 5
Image 4 of 5
Image 5 of 5
This is a classic example of “sweat soldering” … a jewelry term for soldering together multiple layers of silver to give depth and form. Concretions are natural rock formations found in Santa Cruz on the marine terraces near my home. These concretions form when gases (methyl hydrate) percolate upward through fissures in the sediment on the seafloor. The gases carry and then deposit the calcium carbonate that make the roundish forms.