Alchemy Stone Designs: Contrast Stones

I originally got the idea for what I now call "Contrast Stones" from the truism that light can't exist without darkness to give it a frame of reference, and from the psychological and spiritual precept that even the the most "shiny" people we meet have their "shadow" sides.

Medium sized stone with contrasting inset

How does this translate into an Alchemy Stone design?

Contrast Stones can be recognized because they mostly look like other designs, except for the fact that there's a small contrasting "surprise" somewhere in the design... done in colors that stand in sharp contrast to the rest of what's going on.

In part, these designs are also inspired by the Japanese aesthetic concept of Wabi-Sabi, which can be loosely described as "beauty in imperfection."

A little bit of the inspiration also comes from a period in my 20's when I got quite interested in the beautiful and colorful geometric patterns of Amish quilts. One of the attributes of these was that these otherwise amazing designs often had a "deliberate mistake" sewn into the pattern as a reminder that seeking perfection is prideful, and scorned upon.