An Animated Christmas Card - nothing to do with rocks!

http://prettyrock.com/winter_wonderland.html

Click the link above to see my Christmas card to everyone!  (It has nothing to do with rocks!)
I made it using CSS3/HTML5 animation. If you are interested in the geeky side of its creation, ask. I would be happy to share. What you are seeing is generated by computer code. The only actual images are the snowflakes in the background and the little hearts.

It needs to be viewed in a "modern" browser, preferably Chrome, but does okay in current IE or passably in firefox and opera. No idea how it will look on your phone or ipad. If you see snowman body parts flying around, you probably need to try a different browser  Chrome works best...really.

Edit: my niece just said it works fine on her IPad

Iolite Prospecting with Professor Hausel

image source: http://iolite-wyoming.blogspot.com/

http://iolite-wyoming.blogspot.com/

Check out this great blog about prospecting for iolite and other gems in Wyoming with Professor Hausel.  Fascinating!

Rock Star: Petroleum Included Quartz

Look! Bubbles!

 24.27ct Petroleum Included Quartz

See more here!

I LOVE these rocks! I'm kind of an inclusion nerd anyway, and these rocks just blow me away. 

They are so cool to look at with a loupe or microscope.  You can get lost in there!

From the description:

This is an extraordinarily rare herkimer-like doubly-terminated enhydro quartz crystal with three phase inclusions including petroleum, water, air, and anthraxolite. The petroleum is the yellow liquid that glows blue in black light. The anthraxolite is the black solid material floating in the petroleum or water. 

Give-a-away #1 Winner!

The winner of the give-a-away for

 Julie the Rockhound and Amethyst Geode

is Nyla!  Congratulations!

Nyla please contact us with your address so we can send you your prize.  Contact us at hello{@}prettyrock.com  (without the {})

New Wallpaper - Pyrite Wreath

We have a new wallpaper up. It's a naturally formed pyrite wreath! 

There is the simple version above, or the blinged out version below:

(okay, so maybe I got a little carried away... )

Available here: http://prettyrock.com/free-wallpaper-minerals.htm

Happy Thanksgiving!

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy Thanksgiving!

On the Desk at PrettyRock - Nov 27 2013

Working on a new wallpaper paper photo :)

Pretty Rock Spot Light: 11.62 Spessartite Garnet

Such a pretty little spessartite, just had to share :)

Give Away #2: 10x Loupe and Rutilated Crystal!

Took this pic with my cell phone!  Too cool that it worked!

We are giving away a 10 X Loupe and since you will need something to look at with your new loupe, a rutilated quartz crystal!  This would make a great gift for anyone!

The winner will be randomly selected on Dec 4th 2013.  Winners will be posted on the blog, and emailed if you include an email with you comment. Value: Around $40 give or take. Sorry, due to budget constraints, the prize can only be shipped to an address within the United States.   Not valid where not legal and all that other fine print stuff.To enter, just post a comment here! One comment per person.  For an extra entries, like us on facebook or follow us on twitter and note that in your comment that you did.

AND THE WINNER IS...Kelly Martin!  (How come no one fussed at me when I forgot to draw a winner?  :) )

New Rough: Nov 24 2013 - Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Aqua, Heliodor

Tsavorite Garnet 3.04 ct

New Rough: Nov 24 2013 - Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Aqua, Heliodor, Tsavorite 

 Click to see all recent rough!

New Rough: Nov 21 - Red Spinel, Blue Ziron, Sphene

Red Spinel Crystals

You can see all the new rough here!

Sapphire, emerald, ruby coming up later (Dev had tennis this morning :) )

Getting started on our rock posting marathon!  I am off for a walk to rest my eyes, will be back posting in a little while.

Give Away! Julie the Rockhound and Amethyst Geode

We thought it would be fun to have a few little give away's to ring in the holiday season.  Today we have an autographed copy of Julie the RockHound and a little amethyst geode crystal to go along with the book. I think it will make a great gift for a child or grandchild!  More about the book:

When a young girl finds a shiny quartz crystal, her dad shows her how to dig for minerals, and she becomes Julie the Rockhound.  This book has beautiful color illustrations and learning pages in the back of the book. The perfect gift for the young rockhounds in your life!

Written by Gail L. Karwoski 
Illustrated by Lisa Downey 
Signed by the author 
-Fiction 
-For ages 5 to 9 
-Paper Back 
-8.5 x 10 inches 
-16 pages

We only have a few copies of this book left in stock: http://www.prettyrock.com/php/product-detail.php?q=&v=&item=6410   If you don't want to wait and see if you won, you can always order one.

  The winner will be randomly selected on Dec 1st 2013.  Value: Around $20 give or take. Sorry, due to budget contraints, the prize can only be shipped to an address within the United States.   Valid where not legal and all that other fine print stuff.
To enter, just post a comment here! One comment per person.  For an extra entries, like us on facebook or follow us on twitter and note that in your comment that you did.

Sneak Peek!

A little preview of some of the rough going up this weekend!

There will be sapphire, emerald, ruby, heliodor, aquamarine, tourmaline, oregon sunstone,

and even a couple of these crazy cool sci-fi type spessartite garnets:

Rock Posting Marathon Coming Up!

We are getting bags ready for a rock posting marathon this weekend! Be sure to check the new rough page next week. Chief gives the tsavorite his approval!

World Record Paraiba -Ethereal Carolina Divine Paraiba'

Now that is a statement necklace...

According to The Jewellery Editor:
The 'Ethereal Carolina Divine Paraiba', at 191.87ct the world's largest cut Paraiba tourmaline, has been set into a one-of-a-kind necklace by Canadian jewellery house  Kaufmann de Suisse.  See the full story here:

http://www.thejewelleryeditor.com/2013/11/paraiba-queen-of-the-ocean/

Fresh Rough Alert: Nov 18 2013

http://www.prettyrock.com/php/facet-rough-all-recent.php

got blue zircon, yellow appatite, and some little aquas! get'em while their hot!

Fresh Rocks: 11/08/2013

http://prettyrock.com/php/facet-rough-all-recent.php

This is a set of odd rocks including sphene, scapolite, rhodonite, enstatite.

Sorry for the long time between rocks!  I am waiting on new glasses.  Bi-focals if you must know.  I strained my eyes putting off getting them.   For the moment, I can only post rough that doesn't require looking at it too closely.  Getting old is not for the faint of heart!

Truly Rare Gems

Jeremejevite

Photo by Kenneth Larsen-Smithsonian Collection

Over the next few blog posts we will be covering each one more in depth.  If you have any stories or photos of these gems to share, we would love to hear from you!  Do you agree with this list?  have one to add?



Black Opal

Jeremejevite

Red Beryl

Musgravite

Grandidierite

Painite

Blue Garnet

Serendibite

Red Diamonds

Jadeite

Pricey in Pink

Reuters/David Gray

Roberto A. Ferdman: "On November 13 in Geneva, Switzerland, Sotheby’s will auction off “The Pink Star,” a flawless 59.60-carat colored diamond, which it expects to sell for over $60 million, Sotheby’s said in a statement (pdf). According to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the stone is the largest internally flawless pink diamond it has ever graded."

Read the rest of the story here: PRICEY IN PINK

Random Pretty Rock from the Smithsonian Collection!

Random Pretty Rock from the Smithsonian Collection!

Photograph of a large pear-cut ametrine (G9576) 

from the National Gem Collection  - Photo by Chip Clark

- See more at: http://geogallery.si.edu/index.php/en/1006972/ametrine#sthash.WUetBrEq.dpuf

Boy Finds Diamond at Arkansas' Crater of Diamond State Park

image from CNN article

Boy Scout Michael Detlaff, 12, was visiting an Arkansas park with his family on July 31 when he found a 5.16-carat "honey brown diamond" in the park's "diamond search area."

Dev went to this park and spent a day or two digging around a few years ago.  All he brought home was mud covered clothes and a t-shirt :)

Buried Treasure: The Cheapside Hoard

Museum of London

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonydemarco/2013/08/12/a-buried-treasure-of-jewels-from-17th-century-london-to-go-on-display-in-october/

Sometime in the 1600's someone, probably a goldsmith, hide a stash of jewels in their basement and never returned for them.  What happened to him? Why did he hide the jewels?  Historians are trying to solve this mystery.  While they are sluthing, the treasure will be on display at the Museum of London.

All the the treasure tells a story.  But, I especially love this emerald watch  (above), just amazing.  If anyone is in London and gets to see the exhibit, we would love to hear about it.

Faceters! Win $50 by helping us out!

We have some new colors of synthetic corundum (and CZ coming soon) and need some sample stones cut to show what these stones look like.  You will receive a $50 gift certificate if we use your stone/photo!

We will give you credit on the photo, like this:

Rules:

1. The stone has to be pretty! Not, perfect mind you, but it should be something you take pride in.  Your name will be on the photo.  We reserve the right to reject any stone that doesn't meet our standards.
2. Only one gift certificate per faceter.  
3. Only one gift certificate per color.  The first stone/ usable photo we receive will get the gift certificate.
4. We don't care what cut you use..can be a plain old round brilliant or something you make up!
5. The stone has to be cut from rough you purchased from us. 
6. We need a stone for each color.  So check out the synthetics page to see which colors have an stone example. I will keep a list here, but always a good idea to double check there.
7. Send stones to:  PrettyRock.com PO Box 38930 Charlotte NC 28278.  Please let us know it is on its way, I am bad about checking the mail box unless I know something is being sent.  We will return your stone after its glamour photo shoot.
8. If you are sending a photo, it must look similar to the one above.  It must be very very sharp, and bright.  It is unlikely you will be able to do this with the camera on your phone!  You do not have to show the rough with the stone and I will add the text to the photo. You will NOT get the $50 if you send us a dark blurry photo.  Check here for gem photo tutorials: http://www.facetersguild.com/2009/10/how-to-photograph-gemstones/
9. We need photos for: (http://prettyrock.com/php/synthetic-rough.php )

Blue Spinel

Sapphire: 

               Medium Blue

               Dark Ruby

               Dark Pink

               Medium Pink

               Light Pink

               Dark Purple

               White

CZ:

Amethyst

Light Champagne

Cobalt Blue

White

(more colors coming)

Please ask if you have any questions!  We haven't done this before, so it's a work in progress.

Diamonds are BS?

image from huffington post article

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rohin-dhar/diamonds-are-bullshit_b_3708562.html

I know that if I had it to do over again, I would ask for a ruby or blue sapphire!  What do you all think?

Summer 2013 Coupon!

New Stones June 3 2013

See all the newest stones posted here!

From our Tucson 2013 stash...

Just a few from the listing:

 44.65ct Aquamarine

6.45ct Tanzanite

229ct Peach Topaz

Sleeping Beauty Turquoise!

See all the newest stones posted here!

These are beautiful stones, a gorgeous color!  Devin says they are sky blue, I say they are robin's egg blue.  We were told the mine was closed in June 2012 and they are now just pulling from the leavings outside the mine.  

Just a few from the listing:

59.8ct Sleeping Beauty Turquoise

58.85ct Sleeping Beauty Turquoise 

106.25ct Sleeping Beauty Turquoise

Tiny Crystal Flowers! Amazing!

Not the kind of crystal for faceting, but still so very cool!

"Scientists at Harvard have coaxed microscopic crystal flowers to form in a beaker of fluid.

When one thinks of the word "crystal", you think, perhaps, of wedges of quartz stone, ice crystals and salt — not organic, flowing forms or flowers. But, by manipulating chemical gradients in a beaker of fluid, postdoctoral fellow Wim L, Noorduin at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has managed to control the growth of barium carbonate crystals to form very controlled sculptures of flowers, with petals, stems and leaves."

Read the rest of the article here:
Tiny crystal flowers grow in a beaker!

Diamond Heist!

31 Suspects In 3 Nations Nabbed In $50 Million Diamond Heist

Big diamond heist! Sounds like a plot from Oceans 11.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/05/08/182204886/31-suspects-in-3-nations-nabbed-for-50m-diamond-heist?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130508

Spring has Sprung!

New wallpaper! http://www.prettyrock.com/free-wallpaper-minerals.htm

Keep an eye on the new rough section!  We will be posting some of the treasures we found in Tucson over the next month.

Get $20 off your next order of  $100 or more!  Just use the coupon Code:  LuckyRock in the coupon box at check out.  Valid until 4/30/2012.  Discounts can not be combined. Sorry, no cash value and can not be used on Ultra Tec machines.

Stunning new Rhodochrosite Rough!

7ct Rhodochrosite

5.5ct Rhodochrosite 

5ct Rhodochrosite

A new app makes it easy to navigate Tucson Gem Shows | KVOA.com | Tucson, Arizona

A new app makes it easy to navigate Tucson Gem Shows | KVOA.com | Tucson, Arizona

Heading to Tucson!

I hope to get a better Tucson pic this year!

Dev and I are going to Tucson this year!  woot!   What do you wish PrettyRock had more of in the way of rocks?  Let us know, we are making up our shopping list.

$300,000 gold nugget found in Australia

According to the article, "The man, described as an amateur explorer who wants to remain anonymous, unearthed a 5.5 kilogram golden nugget 60 centimeters in the ground outside Ballarat, a city about an hour and a half drive west of Melbourne."  Way to go rock hound!  read more here:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/18/business/australia-gold-nugget-discovery/index.html?hpt=hp_c3