Jasper is a stone that comes in many different varieties and colors, a recent contest challenged rock collectors to send in varieties of jaspers and over 2000 varieties were listed. It is a stone that will have different colorings from different areas where it comes from. Jasper may be found in many countries of the world including Canada.

Jasper is usually formed from old sediments (or volcanic ash flows) that have been glued (and at times replaced) with silica. Flow patterns of the original material are often easy to see. Many jaspers are known as picture jasper because they contain what appear to be small images of sand dunes, mountains, plains, and even sky.