Category: Jewelry & Lapidary

Sad Goodbye Picacho – Hello Again Quartzsite

On By thinkcarebelieveIn Jewelry & Lapidary, QuartzsiteLeave a comment

Our last sunset in Picacho, AZ.  We had a peaceful and restful week here.

We were sad to say goodbye to our neighbors, the Scotts and the Osterhofs.  They were great neighbors!

After contemplating where to go next, we decided to go back to Quartzsite and booked a month.  It was much easier to get a spot in an RV park now that it is February.  There are still some vendors here, but it is much saner and enjoyable.

This is my friend Jo (alias Aunuts on RTH).  We were glad to a little more time here and see her and her husband Terry again.  Today, Jo took me on a tour of the largest Gem and Mineral Club of its kind in the nation, right here in Quartzsite.

This is the cabbing room.  Have you ever seen so many cabbing machines in your life?  All in one room?  (and this isn’t all of them)

This is the casting room.

With centrifuge.

This is the saw room.  Lots O’ Big Saws!

Then we wet into the silver-smithing room.  This is where silver is cut, melted, soldered, filed, braised, polished, etc.

I see a beautiful Malachite getting a shiny new setting!

This is the opal working room.

This is the faceting room.

It’s a big room!  They have you start with a colored marble and turn it into a gem!

Then, we went into the wire wrapping room… another huge room packed with people!

Then we went outside where people were learning to carve.

They were using soap stone.

It was too cool!

I’m so grateful to Jo for taking little ole me (Jo) around to see it all.  I was amazed.

This evening our neighbor, Ralph, was working on a large spear point made of the most beautiful glass you could imagine.

He gave me a short preliminary lesson and now I can practice with the flint we found in Texas.  This will keep me busy!

Ralph really enjoys it here in Quartzsite during the winter and goes out daily in his little yellow buggy with his wife Roberta, and friends on the other side of us, Barb and Charlie.

Needless to say, we will be very busy here for a while.

Published Portfolios of the Work of Three Friends

On By thinkcarebelieveIn Jewelry & Lapidary, Rockhounding1 Comment

My RTH friend Lowell compiled the work of three selected RTH friends into portfolios.  Their work simply captures the finest in the artistry/hobby.  If you want to be enraptured and enthralled, (by their work, and by the beauty in rocks) take a look at these.

I think you have to download the file.  It’s in pdf format, well worth it and can be deleted after viewed, with no strings attached.  Enjoy!!

Picnic Table Cabbing

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Been working my goodies from Quartzsite out on the picnic table the last three days while watching the cowboys and critters.

Thought I’d share the result of my efforts… Autumn Jasper from Stonesthatrock.

Idon’tremember-ite

from Stonesthatrock.

Hawk’s Eye from Stonesthatrock.

Green Moss.  Bill did this one.

Bird’s Eye Rhyolite.

Found this sweet little one cab wonder on the ground while trekking around Quartzsite.

Rainbow Ledge Jasper from my friend Christopher from California.

Texas Gold Plume Agate from Stonesthatrock.

Varigated Jasper from our trip to Rockhound State Park in New Mexico a couple weeks ago.

Unknown Agate found on the ground at Quartzsite.

Cool Agatey-Jasper from our Brenda, AZ rockhounding trip last week.

And… a Montana found in the dump at Quartzsite (an area where the flint knappers and vendors dump their discards).

Same Montana cab backlit.

And lastly, this sweet lil Green Moss Agate was found on the ground in Quartzsite.  It pays to keep ones nose to the ground… LOL.  My rule is… if it is on the ground near a table and obviously fell out of a tray of slabs, and is still large enough for someone to buy, then I put it on the vendor’s table… if it is in a walkway or left on the ground after a vendor has left, then it is fair game.  And don’t think I’m the only one at Quartzsite with their eyes to the ground… LOL.

And here’s the same moss cab backlit.

Green Moonstone and Copper Necklace

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If you’re tired of seeing jewelry on here and are wanting travel pics, then I respectfully submit my apologies… you’ll be getting your travel fix soon (this weekend) when we head south to (hopefully) warmer weather.

It just so happens that I finished my latest piece, a necklace featuring Green Albite Moonstone in Copper yesterday while it rained.  I got to use my new lightbox workstation that was my Christmas gift from Laszlo-(Thank you Laz!!!  It worked great!)

This stone was one of my favorites from my hounding spot in PA.  The olive color has a silvery gold sheen when kissed by sunlight.  I chose copper to accentuate the beautiful magical green.

 After an eventful night of a ruptured water pipe here in the campground, and an early morning of digging and repairs, I settled down at my trusty picnic table to finally do the wirewrapped ring tutorial I promised my fellow RTH wirewrappers to produce.  Never a dull moment here at Bass Lake, friends stopped by to see Angie and see what the heck I’m getting into now, LOL.  Just as I was getting into the home stretch, bead artist Cathy Gardner (Cat) and hubby to pull in to the spot right next to us in their beautiful Airstream trailer. I had met Cathy briefly before Christmas where she turned me onto some gorgeous German Silver collars that have added flair to my wirewrapped pendants.

Cathy lives in Florida and finds sea glass as she walks beaches and then showcases them in gorgeously eclectic jewelry with her stylish intricate beadwork.  We did a quickie wirewrapped pendant together there on the picnic table and compared notes on teaching, resources, techniques and tools.  It was nice to spend time together before we both had to run and fix dinner.

Here is Cat modeling my newest creation.

She’s a natural, don’t you think?

She really had an appreciation for my style and choice of materials.  As she is active in the jewelry artist community, I was thrilled with her endorsement.

We had a wonderful afternoon in “Rock and Bead Zone”, an alternate Universe where nothing exists but unlimited resources, ideas and creativity… totally lost to our husbands, LOL.

Thanks Cat!  You rock!


Pendant Wins Award

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From the Stone Age Industries Website…

“The Shop Friend of the Month for December was Joanne Boyle with her Albite Intarsia.  Congratulations on your wonderful piece of jewelry Joanne!  Joanne sent in two entries and her Albite Moonstone and Albite Sunstone was judged to be the winner.  Joanne has much to be congratulated on, finding her stone, the work involved in making an intarsia and completing the pendant with a beautiful wirewrap.  Joanne wote the following:
 
When making the intarsia, I cut one edge of an Albite Sunstone and Moonstone slab as straight as possible on my 7″ saw.  Then, took it to my Ameritool grinder with 180 mesh pad and ground completely flat.  I then epoxied the two slabs together and let dry.


I then took this new “slab” and cut and ground one long side, perpendicular to the first seam, then followed suit with an Amazonite slab and joined these with epoxy.  After this piece was complete dry, I used a template to draw my cab shape and took it to my saw to cut out my intarsia preform.  Then cabbed normally. 

The wire work was a new design and I wanted to do this stone justice.  The concept came from doing bracelets where I had lined up the wire and bound to form a band.  By making two bands setting them at right angles, and alternating the connecting binds, I was able to make a bezel setting.  The stone is held in with some half round across the back.

To see Joanne’s other intarsia cab, check our Facebook page.  Rockhounds that can combine rock hunting and be talented enough to end up with a beautiful work of art are very fortunate!”

I am totally flabbergasted and honored.  🙂

Grinding Away 2010

On By thinkcarebelieveIn Jewelry & Lapidary, US Travel & RVing2 Comments

Still in Dillon, SC.  We’ll probably be leaving sometime this week and heading south.  Not many pics here, so I’ll share what I did to ring out the old year.

Two Labradorite cabochons.  These were a challenge because the slabs were originally cut at an incorrect angle for the blue flash to show when oriented upright, as they would be when worn around the neck.  It’s a common mistake, but I acquired these in a trade for one finished cabochon, so I was challenged to see if I could salvage them.  I ground the top dome on these freeforms at an angle, to allow light to penetrate the tiny stacked layers in prism fashion to create the Northern Lights special effects.


On the left is a Rainforest Jasper which comes comes from Australia.  This one has a problematic soft woody area (the tan spot toward the top) and I filled and stabilized it before grinding, thus avoiding undercutting.  The one on the right is an unknown (to me) type of dendritic Jasper/Agate.  Thought the colorful, flowery dendrites on white gave it a neat quality.  I’m really looking forward to wrapping this one.

These two Dinosaur Bone cabochons came from a chunk that I bought in Utah.  They were pricey, as most Dinosaur Bone is, but the purple color in these is quite rare, making my purchase a bargain.  I took it to my friend Randy after Thanksgiving and stood by him while he cut slabs in several directions, and we picked the pattern we liked best.  He only took a slab and an end cut for the use of his saw (and new blade).  I’m really tickled with these and can’t wait to wrap these either.

The end of 2010 brought some challenges for us in the form of working out a few more bugs with our traveling home.  First was our microwave.  It developed a problem causing it to shut off after a couple of minutes of cooking.  Since it was still under warranty, we contacted the proper parties.  Unfortunately, those parties were no longer in business, and we were stuck with it.  A call to Keystone (the manufacturer of our fifth wheel) solved it and they stood behind it, sending us a check to buy a new one.  It arrived the day after Christmas and we installed it ourselves.

The second problem was with our wireless router.  Although we bought it from Millenicom, we had to go to Cradlepoint.  After turning the unit off (when we left for DC), something fried inside and it was dead.  This is the second time this happened with our MBR900 router; Cradlepoint replacing it after the first occurrence.  After researching on the internet, we discovered this was a known problem.  Escapees full timer techno-guru Jack Mayer told me through email that he no longer recommends the MBR 900 for this reason.  At Jack’s recommendation, we asked Cradlepoint for an upgrade, and our request was granted, our new router to arrive sometime this week.

We still dream of getting a larger, homier Montana fifth wheel (the one with the front lounge… sigh), but don’t want to lose the flexibility that we have with our 30 AMP Cougar that we’ve worked so many bugs out of.  This one finally feels like home now.  You never know what the new year may bring, life always is an adventure no matter what your lifestyle.


And so, as the sun set on the last hour of daylight of 2010, I finished these cabs…

… and we watched a beautiful South Carolina sunset…

…and hoped that all our dear readers, family and friends have a 2011 that is better than their wildest dreams can imagine!

My Newest Wirewrapped Pendants

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Time for show and tell…

Here is a Rutilated Quartz that I found in a $20 bucket at Hiddenite Emerald Mine in NC.  The golden rods inside the stone are Titanium.  I cabbed the stone freeform and it is wrapped in 12K Gold-Filled wire.

When I visited with Mary Ann and Ralph at Stonesthatrock in Arizona a couple of months ago, they gifted me with this beautiful Blue Moss Agate cabochon.  I wrapped it in 12K Gold-Filled wire.

You can see more of Mary Ann and Ralph’s cabochons here.

This was a broken chunk from an Amethyst Cathedral (one of those giant geodes) that I found at the bottom of a bin in northern California.  I sent it to my RTH friend, Bobby, who lived in the state.  He very kindly cut it for me and sent me the cut pieces so I could make some cabs with my Ameritool Grinder.  He also sent me some surprise slabs, one of which you will see below.  This glassy, subtle lavender colored Amethyst gem is wrapped in tarnish resistant Argentium Silver.

When cruising the coast of Oregon, we visited a rockshop called Jailhouse Rocks in Bandon, upon the recommendation of another RTH friend.  I bought this finished Fire Agate because, to me, it had the shape of a foot, LOL.  The stone is wrapped in 12K Gold-Filled wire.

This is another Stonesthatrock Cab.  A Malachite and Azurite in a classic shield cut.  It is wrapped in 12K Gold-Filled wire.

You can see more of Mary Ann and Ralph’s cabochons here. 

I know I showed this before in my Sept. 21st blogpost, but here it is again, in a lightbox pic.  The cab is a tumbled Seraphinite and it is wrapped in 20g tarnish resistant Argentium Silver from Rio Grande.

My second set.  The stone is a Green Tree Agate that is wrapped in sterling and gold-filled.  I really like mixing metals, it makes coordination with other jewelry all the more possible.  I will be giving this set it’s own blog post very soon.  Many thanks to my friend Betty, who was generous of her time to take a previous set of pics of this set so that it could be an alternate entry in the Stone Age Industries Shop Friends of the Month contest last month.

You can check out Betty’s blog here.

Last but not least… this stunning Labradorite stone was sent to me by Bobby1 as a surprise.  I cabbed it and wrapped it in tarnish resistant Argentium wire.

Here is this beautiful piece shown in full sunlight.  A picnic table pic. 

Right now, I am working on a few Labradorite cabs for future projects….

Moonstone Wirewrap Set Wins Award

On By thinkcarebelieveIn Jewelry & Lapidary1 Comment

I was notified yesterday that my Pennsylvania Peach and Silver Moonstone set won the Stone Age Industries Shop Friends of the Month Award.

This was totally a thrill for me.  First when I found the stones, then to create the set, and now to be recognized for it.  Special thanks to Linna at Stone Age Industries for her support and her encouragement to continue this amazing journey.  😉

I haven’t entered a contest since I sent 117 entries into the Pennzoil Win a Jeep Wrangler contest in the mid-90’s, LOL.  This set would not have become a reality without the fore work of my RTH friends, Randy, Lori and Fran.

Hanging out with Stonesthatrock

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Ralph and Mary Ann of Stonesthatrock

We got to visit friends Ralph and Mary Ann who run Stonesthatrock in Mesa, AZ.  They specialize in slabs, cabochons and rough rock.  Their passion is inspiring.  You can see their rock at: http://www.stonesthatrock.net and their cabochons at http://www.cabochon.ws

Angie loved our visit and wants to come back soon.

Thanks for a fantastic experience.  We had a blast!