"A Fly On The Wall's Views and Reviews" - 5 new articles
2010 Pasadena Bead and Design Show
In all honesty I must admit that I went primarily to support the daughter of some friends - but - once there I really had a great time. Gem Show Tip - Use the Valet - for $6 you get service at the door. The closest lot is $9 and street parking is hard to find. While the majority of what I will cover is gems, beads and findings...this show is so much more than the Jewelry Making Supplies or even finished Jewelry. This is a feast for the eyes - room after room of apparel - art - glass -beads - gems- jewelry - metals - lucite - fiberart - tools - it seems endless... Some of the vendors that caught my eye:  The lovely Chelle of TANGIBLE LIGHT STUDIO - the reason for the adventure!
Lampwork beads by Michelle Davis; capturing the color and textural properties of glass into a wearable art form. International Ballroom #I137 www.tangible-light.com  BEAD PALACE was showing some really clean and beautiful gems from a corner with $2 strands to stunning Tourmaline, chunky Peridot and darling little chains of Diamond Beads.  Direct manufactures and importers of precious and semi-precious gemstone beads, diamond beads, and sterling silver components, findings, and beads; offering high quality at true wholesale prices to the trade. Pasadena Room #I http://www.beadpalace.us  Some of the cleanest coin pearls (they have some sweet tiny coins too) I've seen - South Seas that GLOW from TA PEARLSTONE - An expansive selection of freshwater Pearls in shapes such as coins, rounds, squares, baroque shapes, and Keshi pearls. Pacific Ballroom #P268www.tapearlstone.com/  The work of ROD GRIFFIN runs from jewelry sized to sculpture on a grand scale!!! I first discovered this company in the Day's Inn at the Tucson Gem Show. In fact I featured one of his carved fountains in my Tucson Blog - click through for more... Spectacular Australian opals-- beads and cabochons—wholesale direct from Australia.
rodgriffinopals@bigpond.com  Everyone knows REALM OF THE GODDESS for their dipped leaves - but this company also carries what I feel will be "the next big thing"! Electroformed Gems! Not just the rough stone varieties like druzy but finished faceted gems - even Austrian Crystals!  24kt gold dipped maple, birch, oak, cottonwood and aspen leaves, rose petals, natural flora, and sea life, gems, and minerals trimmed in 24kt gold, sterling silver, copper and precious metals. In addition, 300 styles of chains available in 24kt gold overlay, rhodium overlay, copper finish and black finish, and over 3,000 styles of charm castings. International ballroom#I114 & 115www.realmofthegoddess.com  When you enter the California Ballroom the wall of precious stones from MINE GEMS is close to overwhelming and the lesson that I will take away from this seller is the simple yet dramatic display. Of course that would mean nothing if their gems were anything but the finest! Yummy clear Emerald, Ruby, Sapphires of all colors and Kyanite in a deep rich blue, that could step in for the finest Ceylon Sapphire. Custom cut fine gemstones, hard-to-find minerals and natural specimens. California Ballroom #C204  The Spring Time theme shows through in the beads and focals from my friend Vlad of GOLEM DESIGNS' who's work is being represented By Allene's Beads--Dramatic, colorful stoneware beads, integrating ancient and contemporary art forms by bead makers Vladislav Ivanov and Kremena Ivanova, artist family from Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. International ballroom #I152 golem.mlhweb.us/I made a couple purchases - first at ArtClay World USA from a very funny and frustrated Katie Baum...thanks for the "butt" card Katie! I picked up several rubber stamps - while I know that these are for imprinting clay, I plan to use them for etching on brass and copper...I picked up some single strips and one of Lisa Pavelka's sets of stamps. I will let you know if this project works out - it will hopefully be a tutorial.  I have for a long while wanted to try my hand with resin - but the smell of most products have kept me from doing this again. Today I found the coolest product from little windows - Brilliant Photo Jewelry. What makes this different is ease, it's a kit - and odor, you can do this on your kitchen counter. So my Mom and I are going to give it a go! Check out their blog for some great project ideas - http://www.little-windows.com/blog/
 ...and glorious fabrics interpreted in many styles, all with the ability to celebrate your body, from: ANNA KONYA http://www.annakonyadesigns.com SUZY CLICK http://www.suziclick.com/  New Year's Day at the Himalaya...a SoCal Tradition!
No - we didn't camp out on Colorado Blvd. or go to the Rose Bowl or even post up in front of the TV for a glut of food and football. We joined about 50 people and dug through a pile of dirt!!!!  The New Year's Day dig at the Himalaya Mine has become an eagerly awaited event around our house!!!! Chris Rose - the mine owner started this tradition that has grown with each incarnation...bet they don't have New Year's Day Digs in many states...as you can see, in SoCal it was in the 7o's and a beautiful day!  The nice thing about the dig this year was that we had friends visiting from Australia and the Southern Rockhounds (South Adelaide that is!)! I met Raelene and Geoff when they attended a Silent Auction for the Woodland Hills Rock Chippers years ago and we have stayed in contact since. We met early in the AM for our drive to the Pala region near San Diego...under two hours from the edge of LA and OC countries where we met up. The nice thing about an early morning event on New Years Day - no traffic!!! Most of the mines in SoCal have adopted an off site dig policy - I am not sure why though I can think of several reasons...insurance, safety and security making the top of the list. The Himalaya dig takes place just outside the Lake Henshaw Resort. The resort is your last chance to pick up water and sunscreen - it is also where you will find my recommendation for the best burgers in SoCal!!! check my report on the Resort here.  So following a drive through the resort, an off road experience of it's own - especially in my little Saturn - and a climb up a tiny hill...you reach the dig site. Under a bright blue tent you will find some of the nicest folks with some gorgeous examples of material found at the all of the gem holdings of High Desert Gems and Minerals...and the tourmaline crystals we will be looking for today! The mine provides everything you need - there are large wooden tables that hold your water pan - you get a bucket and a screen at check-in...and you are good to go!  The day got off to a good start when my boyfriend (Bobby) found his "Sha-BAM" piece in his first bucket full of dirt...and a few minutes later the couple from Cypress that was working beside us found it's twin! ...it was ON!  Around noon there was a raffle - we won a faceted Sunstone and Gary from the Culver City Rock Club won a $100 bag of high grade mine rough (which he worked through during the dig - providing some great ooohs and ahhhs)!  The mine operators are great at getting the kids involved in the entertainment that these raffles provide! ...and a second raffle about 2pm. where Raelene won a great specimen piece of Tourmaline in Quartz with a few slivers of Clevelandite on a bed of Feldspar...and Bobby got a BIG chunk of Puzzle Jasper (this piece is going back to Australia where Raelene does beautiful Gemstone Inlay).  Several local clubs were represented (if you read this please leave your club/meeting info in the comments so folks can find you) - a Paleontology Group, the two groups I have been a member of in the past Culver City Rock Club and the Woodland Hills Rock Chippers - there were folks from as far away as San Francisco! At this point - I will bet you are asking - so how do I find out about the New Year's Day dig? Chris posts the info on the local Rockhound gathering spot LARocks a Yahoo Group that was set up by my friend and mentor Brad Smith...click through and join us for some great rock talk along with field trip and show announcements!!!!  A great day was had by all and we headed to the restaurant - dirty and dusty - but ready for a burger!!!! Sated and tired we drove home to do a rock trade - I am down sizing and need to move some rough...and Geoff and Raelene brought me a gorgeous Topaz that he faceted and my favorite Zircon - I love the browns that have a pink overtone! Raelene brought me some sweet Chysoprase, Black Jade and Opal...she actually brought much more but I just can't add to the stack I have! My motto for the New Year - Everything is Good...in moderation! Moderation is the word this year - after which it will hopefully become my way of life! Click on the Photos for a larger view! 
Labor Day Trip to the Spectrum Sunstone Mine
So you might ask - what took so long to post the trip? Well - we just got the stones back from the faceter and WOW! These need to be seen!!! I am always up for a mine trip but to do it with someone who is experienced is priceless...there is no learning curve...he knows what to look for and how to get to it! Shep works the graveyard shift so he really needed to catch a nap - so I drove - wasn't a bad drive. Just under 12 hours and since we chose to drive overnight the traffic was wonderful (Driving from the Los Angeles Area this was a great change of pace!).  Going over Donner Pass was a little trippy - especially in complete darkness! We were on a constant lookout (Bobby stayed awake to help) for critters and had to stop for a deer once. The road is wonderful almost all the way to the Sunstone mines - when you start to get close you end up on quite a long, rough dirt road. We arrived early enough to drop a couple large items at our chosen campsite (see helpful hints) - not necessarily by choice - we had to to get to our digging equipment - and the mine hadn't opened yet.
BTW - just a side note - I was worried about the heat being close to Labor Day but the weather wasn't to bad...I couldn't have done any HARD rock mining but for our purposes it was lovely. This is important because as you can see from the photos (provided by my friend Paul over on the Cash and Treasures Wiki - if you haven't joined you should!)  We were the first guests to get to the mine and they were just setting up - Jessica came out to meet us and offer us coffee - Shep followed her to get a little coffee jolt to replace the sleep he missed and we waited at the Office door. We were soon joined by a lovely couple that were staying in the TeePee that the mine rents out for overnights. Wouldn't that be a romantic Rock Hound Honeymoon? Out on the high desert in a teepee with a fire roaring sounds great to me!  When Jessica and Shep return we get the legalities out of the way (everyone starts at the office - you must sign a waiver to dig on the mine property). After about an hour of digging in the open pit I was starting to feel the heat (I am a big wimp when it comes to heat) - so with a little push from me - we all decided it was time to give the belt a try! 2nd Helpful Hint - Do the Conveyor Belt run! From the Spectrum website: High-Grade Conveyor Belt Run...For the ultimate mining experience, pick off our commercial screen plant conveyor belt and our crew will help you pick the gems and payer gets to keep everything that shows up in one hour of running the plant, $200 per hour, nearly 6 tons of ore is processed during the hour and many stones are found. Water is used to wash the dirt from the ore processed on the conveyor belt.  The addition of water from the belt run was a lifesaver for me - we cooled right down and got down to business - this is a BLAST! High Grade Ore is carried by Front Loader bucketfuls to a shaker machine (I know probably not the technical term) and then it is shaken in a steady stream onto a table with a small water feed - the tabletop is a belt that moves continually - are you getting flashbacks to the I Love Lucy episode with Lucy & Ethel in the Candy Factory? you should be!!!! In the interest of fairness we stopped halfway through and switched positions on the belt - the first person on the belt is at a definite advantage! Around 3pm we were BEAT!!! we said our goodbyes - the staff at the Spectrum couldn't be nicer folks! Back at the campsite we pitched tents, setup the stove for supper and got a few minutes of discovery in. 3rd Helpful Hint: Take a walk around the BLM Grounds around Sunset or Sunrise - there is lots of Sunstone sprinkled through the grounds...you aren't going to find anything with color but the sun just sparkles off it and you can pick up several decent sized pieces.  OK - so now you know how I got the Sunstone and where I got the Sunstone...the question now is what do you do with close to 7 lbs. of Sunstone? This is where having a network of rockhounds is so important - I wanted to get some of our better pieces faceted but I couldn't afford to break the bank doing it! so the last helpful hint comes in the form of a referral.  4th Helpful Hint: Shep's favorite gem-cutter is Victor Albert of NorthWest Jewelers in Clackamas, OR - complete contact info at the end of post. I only wish that my photography skills could do his cutting skills justice! Contact Info: Victor Albert NorthWest Jewelers, LLC. PO Box 1866 Clackamas, OR 97015 503-722-5190 FAX: 503-210-7144 info@nwjewelers.com http://nwjewelers.com  Within The Stone by Bill Atkinson
Within The Stone by Bill Atkinson
 Ron Ringsrud and the Emeralds of Colombia...
 Nevada Mineral & Book was a buzz of energy - it was a packed house and everyone was there to learn about the finest emeralds in the market the rare Colombian! Ron brought with him a case that was packed with some great mineral specimens from small to large cabinet size, a selection of lively gemstones and a glorious belt that was studded with emeralds that would rival some of the finest emerald pieces in the Smithsonian.  People milled through the shop having sampling yummy treats and sipping coffee and soda as the crowd swelled, we were ushered into the back room for a presentation.
To say that Ron is passionate about emerald would be an understatement - Ron is passionate about everything Colombian....  It is obvious that he has fallen hard for this beautiful country that has become a second home for him. He talked about the country, the geology that creates emerald, the miners that dig the emerald and the system that exists from the owners to the dealers in the marketplace.  Of course all of this was interspersed with stories about the people and Ron's personal experiences. His personal and easy going style made this an enjoyable evening for everyone in attendance. The presentation ended with a drawing for a half-kilo of Colombian Coffeebeans.  Ron stayed, conversed and signed his beautiful book Emerald, A Passionate Guide until the wee hours....a great time was had by all. You still have a chance to meet Ron Ringsrud and catch the "Colombian Fever" 
342 S. Tustin Street, Orange, CA 92866.
Saturday, December 19: Book signing 10 a.m.–12 noon with a one-hour lecture at 11 a.m. Keep your eyes open for more in the "Meet The Author" series and lots more activities from Nevada Mineral and Book...and you aren't limited by geographic location - Walt & Sandy are more than happy to take phone orders for this event.  More Recent Articles |
This book is page after page of gorgeous abstract artworks that just happen to be a polished surface of Mother Nature's design.
Last night I attended the "Meet The Author" event at Nevada Mineral and Book. This is the most recent installment in a series that has included some of the finest and most well known authors in the Gem and Mineral Fields...Renee Newman, Fred Ward and now 
