Jet is fossilized wood.

Until recently time it was thought that it came from a species of 'Araucaria', but recent and rigorous paleobothanic studies made by the University of Oviedo have realized that black jet really also comes from a kind of Protophinacea. If it would have to be compared with an our-days-tree, it would be similar to a Cypress.

Under the shade of those Jurasic trees Dinosaurs lived, by this when we have a black jet piece in our hands, we should realize that it is something really valuable, it is a historic piece, a jewel fossil.

Centuries ago, Asturian jet was considered the talisman of the 'Camino de Santiago', the pilgrim's amulet. With an incredible quality, texture and color, it was used since more time that memory remembers, giving life to some objects with protective characteristics that touch the magician as a powerful bringer of good fortune. And nowadays, black jet follows its process of transformation, like long ago, but this time in the hands of the craftsmen which make with it pieces of singular beauty.

It will be possible to read many more accurate data about Asturian Jet in some of the many books that treat on the subject. I have only used them as an introduction to invite the reader to know the carvings of my really good friend, Eliseo Nicolás Alonso, called 'Lise' by his family and friends.

Eliseo has an special quality in his hands. Not only the capacity to innovate, to mix materials, to design and create, but the union of all of those characteristics which make every single work into a master piece. Their carvings are real until the minimum detail, and sometimes to appreciate them is necessary a magnifying glass...though some details are difficult to perceive.

Their works are always original, always different, and although he could carve a short serie of one determinate piece, those ones are always different. This fact confers to the lucky possesor of some of his jewels the real sensation of having a unique and special piece in his hands.

I have had the opportunity of taking photographs of his carvings and jewels. The following ones are only a sample of his whole work. I trust you can realize about the real value of its pieces after seeking them. And if someone is interested in some of them, he can contact 'Lise' in the following direction:

Biele          
Grado, Asturias

(Jurassic, period between 206 and 65 million years of our days. There were Dinosaurios in any case and sizes. A luxuriant forest covered most with the Earth.)

In the beginning of Dinosaurs Era the Earth was hot and dry. Gradually the climate changed when the continents moved. And they were developed new animals and plants, some of them arose and others disappeared.

When the climate become warmer and humid, fossil plants revealed to us that there were great forests and giant fers, very big cicadaceas as the nowadays palms, and a great variety of coniferous, like yews, araucarias and Cypresses.

And as the Earth, Dinosaurs changed too. Later, 100 million years ago, flowers and trees with flowers appeared. Forests of magnolios, laurels and oaks appeared too, because of that, birds and insects experimented an evolution to feed with nectar and polen of the new flowers.

At the end of the Dinosaurs Era, the Earth would be a different place...