Bookmatched and Butterflied

When a block of stone is sliced to produce individual slabs, the granite and marble quarries will usually implement a practice of bookmatching the slabs, also known as “butterflying”.  

Above, a rough block of Calcatta marble is ready to be sliced into slabs.

To bookmatch slabs, every other slab receives a high polish on opposite sides of the rock. When consecutive slabs are placed side by side, they are nearly mirror images of one another. Thus, they are like a book that has been opened, or, like a butterfly with identical wings spread out.

Here the Calcatta slab slices have been polished in bookmatch fashion.

Bookmatching is useful detail for fabricators when they would like the seam in a kitchen countertop to flow continuously. When the slab has a good deal of movement, especially, or when the color variation is great, granite fabricators can simply continue the countertop stretch into the next consecutive slab.

Butterflied Roma Imperial

Countertops that employ bookmatched slabs are usually able to have a stripe or wave continue across the seam, for a complete visual of the geological process that formed the stone underground over millions of years.

A beautiful example of how movement can be continued across a seam.


To see what slabs we currently have in stock, please visit www.nssgranite.com or come see us in person at 425 N. Frontage Rd. in Nipomo California, 93444.

From Earth to Slab

Granite and marble is quarried from the earth in many locations across the world. Once cut from the ground in large blocks, the stone is then processed into slabs and shipped to various natural stone showrooms.

A quarry is an excavated area known to be rich in solid granite of desirable color and pattern. Through careful planning, the shape of each granite block is mapped and marked from above. Along these lines, holes are drilled, and explosives and wedges are inserted into the holes. When the charge goes off, the block splits from the mountain and often slides or tumbles quite a distance before stopping.

Heavy machinery is used to hoist each block to the factory where the granite and marble blocks will be sliced as if they were loaves of bread. Great saws employ several sizes of blades to simultaneously cut through each layer of stone.

Once the rough slabs are cut, they undergo the polishing process. Each slab is held in place with suction cups while a polishing machine gives the surface a high gloss that usually cannot be reproduced by hand.

Polished slabs are bundled in series with the other slabs that were cut from the same block, in sequence. Often, alternating slabs in the sequence will have the reverse side polished, in order to provide “book-matched” sets of slabs.

Bundles are shipped to distributors across the world and displayed in showrooms such as Natural Stone Source for homeowners to choose from. 

To see what slabs Natural Stone Source is currently carrying, please visit us at www.nssgranite.com or come see us in person at 425 N. Frontage Rd. in Nipomo California, 93444.