I am a fabricator.

I've been viewing granite for almost 15 years and I'm still surprised by the extraordinary variety and color in natural stone. Some slabs are so pretty they should just be hung on a wall as art. (we've actually done this twice for customers.)

It can be an almost overwhelming experience for a homeowner as they usually have no clue as to how many different looks are available.

IMHO slabs should be viewed with the fabricator as some stones create limitations on fabrication options and a fabricator will also point out "features" in the stone that the average person will overlook but might find objectionable when they notice those "features" in their countertops.

Wild Sea is one of those neat examples where the illusion in the rock is fairly closely related to the actual process that created it. The rock looks like rolling wave crests. That pattern is called cross bedding and indeed, it is formed by currents in water where sand grains are being deposited on the sea floor.

Layer after layer of sand, worked by the currents, has built up over time. So the whole slab looks like an open sea. If you know what to look for, you can tell which direction the water was flowing. You can also deduce the water speed and other factors like how deep the water was.

Wild Sea happens to be a personal favorite, as it's what we have on our bar top. When they fabricated it, I made sure the current direction was the same, all the way across the 3 pieces. The fabricators got a kick out of this. :)

Thanks for sharing this excellent example!

Thanks so much for the explanation, Karin. It would be stunning as an island or a bar top!

Oldryder, our fabricator went with us when we were picking slabs for exactly the reasons you stated. And she was very helpful as we sorted through all the options.

I''m sure if I had seen this particular piece of Wild Sea I would have ended up with it in our house somewhere!