About Fantastic Stones
As owners of Fantastic Stones, Garden of the Nightingale has prepared this site
to introduce you to some of the most amazing boulders and
stones on earth. We focus on those that are natural in
design although occasionally, we offer some that have been shaped or polished. We feel the value of them will
enhance the attractiveness of your office, lobby or grounds and actually give a heightened professional appearance
of your business. The same holds true with home and residential use. Your customers, clients or guests value first
impressions, and how you give attention to your landscape and interior decor and design will certainly show them
how you take pride in your business and home and how you value them. As we stated, all the stones that we highlight
have been sculptured, not by hand, but by the forces of nature over eons of time. These stones have been discovered
in rivers and mountains within the mainland of China. Our aim is to expose all to the beauty and artistic value of
stones. Natural art is underappreciated in this industrial age.
This paragraph applies to our boulders. Due to sales between updates to this site, availability of stock can
change at any time. Thus it is best to confirm pricing and availability and shipping costs before placing your
order since shipping and handling costs may vary depending on the actual destination of shipment. We include the
cost of the stones in this site. Since our market is international, we judged it is a good decision to keep the
inventory of large boulders with our Chinese store because it helps us keep the overhead down. Therefore, the
benefit is passed on to you, the customer and client, with lower prices. We can make shipments directly from China
to your location, which will also help reduce the costs. A general guide that may help you is that a shipping
container can hold either 20 or 40 tons. If your order is smaller than a full container, we can consolidate your
shipment with other shipments. Shipping individual smaller stones by crate can also be done. We appreciate your
desire to physically see the stones so we offer to send as many pictures as you desire for your satisfaction. Or
of course we will be happy to make a trip with you to tour the area and view our and other stones. You also need
to keep in mind that any prices listed in this site are a general guide since our prices are based on the cost in
Chinese Yuan. The prices for the stones may vary according to the fluctuation of the rate exchange between US and
China currencies. We view our stones and pieces of art and treat them as such and we think you will appreciate
their value too.
We offer a finders fee to all who send us contact information of any person, business, or corporation who
purchases our stones, prior to our contacting them ourselves. Just send us the information and we will take
note.
Aside from the fact that we find our stones in the mountains of China one might say they also look like
Chinese paintings. Or, since the stones were formed first ages ago, we should say that Chinese paintings
resemble or imitate the beauty found in these stones. Chinese Painting Stones carry several names such as,
Chinese Picture Jasper and in the Guangxi Province of China they are also called Grass and Flower Stone, and in
some circles Suiseki Guohua Stone (meaning Landscape Picture Stone). However, technically they are dendritic
siltstones, formed in the same way as
Jaspers, generally
without the silica.
They are a sedimentary rock and the colors are dependent on the minerals in the area where they were formed.
A major factor in the design is as the silt from ancient rivers and lakes settle the water enriched with
various minerals, manganese and iron and various other minerals and sometimes even volcanic ash, flow and
trickle down the fissures or fractures, and bedding planes between layers of silt, limestone and other rock
types . The natural patterns are embedded permanently by heat and pressure and harden into rock over millions
of years into what is actually petrified mud or siltstone. The formations making the pictures and patterns is
referred to as dendrite (from Greek
déndron, tree). Because of the treelike features, these dendritic mineral patterns are sometimes so amazing
that they have often been mistaken for fossil plants. Their hardness can range from as low as 3.5 in the Mohs
scale of mineral hardness in the same rock, but usually is about 6.5, thus we give the final touch with a
gloss clear coat to add depth of field to the colorful patterns, thus creating an everlasting picture
Although picture jasper is found in many places of the earth. The site we locate ours from an area that was
discovered in late 1970s in southern China. The colors are dependent on the minerals in the area where they
were formed. The results, these beautiful and unique stones, typically named Chinese Picture Jasper.
Let me remind you, the patterns and colors are natural, NOT painted. Let your mind be taken into the fantasy
they inspire and soothe your soul, as is the nature and design they were made for.