New Synthetic Rough Available!

We have bunch of new synthetics available. A couple of new synthetic corundum colors, and a whole boat load of CZ that we are offering for the first time!

Check it out, and get yourself a hunk to play with!

http://www.prettyrock.com/php/synthetic-rough.php

The image above is available as wallpaper:
http://www.prettyrock.com/free-wallpaper-minerals.htm

Old Gold!

(Photo from CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/09/24/staffordshire.uk.gold.hoard/index.html

An amazing find by an metal detecting hobbyist! You know.. maybe I should dust off that metal detector out in our garage. Not that we will find a Anglo-Saxon gold hoard in NC, but there just maybe some pirate treasure left on the Outer Banks!

Be sure to check out the other photos.

The Hope Diamond - 50 Years at the Smithsonian

Image from the Smithsonian Channel website, showing the Hope under ultraviolet light.


The Smithsonian is has a wonderful page up on the history and science of the Hope Diamond. They are celebrating its 50th anniversary at the museum by having the stone set in a new setting voted on by readers. The new design will be announced September 23 (Wednesday!)

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/smithsonian/hope.html

Wire Wrapping Newbie!

Today I took a wire wrapping class sponsered by the Charlotte Gem and Mineral Club I have never done wire wrapping before and always excited to learn a new craft (because I need another hobby! ha!) Our teacher is Linda Simon, and she did a wonderful job of both helping the beginning students and answering the questions of the verteran wire wrappers. We had a great time and did a design called "stick man."

I know that sometimes all we see are the very best of the best of a craft like wire wrapping and that can be intimitating! So, I am going to share my first attempts here, realizing that they are a bit wobbly and off kilter :) I want to show that some designs are less complicated, and if I can do it, you can do it!

Julie the Rockhound

We have a new children's book in stock.

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

The Ratters of Lightening Ridge by Richard Holmes

Devin and the author, Richard Holmes

Over the weekend, Dev and I attended a small show put together to support the Charlotte Gem and Mineral Club. At the show, we were fortunate enough to meet Richard Holmes, the author of The Ratters of Lightening Ridge, and Bryan Cook, his illustrator. Richard was kind enough to show some of the gorgeous opals that he has cut. They are just stunning. In facet, I had a hard time concentrating on the conversation, I was too mesmerized by the opal in Richard's pendant. (See picture above)

His book, The Ratters of Lightening Ridge, is a fictional novel that draws on the author's life for inspiration. Ratters is not only an entertaining story, it is chocked full of information about opal and opal mining. It is also a great way to learn Aussie vocabulary for opals! The expressive line drawings by Bryan Cook lend a great charm to the book.

What is a ratter? From the book:

Ratting comes in many forms. A miner rats on a friend. A neighbor rats on his neighbor's claim by mining into it. People come in secret by day or by bight and gouge out opal ratting a friends claim. A miner rats on his partner. Maybe a miner finds opal and never lets his investment partner know, or just shorts him with the hunk opal and none of the good stuff. A miner can be out of money and have to sell his good opal to someone who says it is cracked and worth nothing. There is no end of the ways people dream up ratting for valuable opal when it come into their possession.

The book is available here. (This would make a great gift for any rockhound!)

Back from William Holland

Dev and I went to William Holland Lapidary School for the last week in August. We had a great time as always. We try to pick this week because the Spruce Pine NC Rock Show is the weekend before and the Grassy Creek Show is the weekend after. I took faceting 1 and Dev took advanced opal cutting. I got all of one rock cut and that was actually a marble. I refer to it as a non-copper bearing, "Paraiba" type marble...sounds so much better that way. Dev cut some beautiful opals! See below:

4th of July Celebration!

We are having a 4th of July celebration to thank our wonderful customers for their support!

Games!

Prizes!

Lots of Rock chat!

Special Discounts!

Check out the main page: http://www.prettyrock.com/ for more details

Get'm While Their Hot! BATTWings!

No.. they aren't deep fried crispy wings of a bat.. they are the new laps from the maker of the BATT™ Lap. They have two sections allowing for prepolish and polish on the same lap..saving you time and money! Check them out here!

From the Gem Collection of Dr Edward Gubelin

New Rocks Posted 6/01/09

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

New Rocks Posted 5/25/09

Oops! Forgot to post this one! check out the new rough: http://www.prettyrock.com/php/facet-rough-all-recent.php

Faceted Quartz Box by the Van Pelts

Made by Harold and Erica Van Pelt Lapidary (photos from 2007 Tucson show)

Two-part faceted quartz box with dendrites in quartz top, and 18 karat gold frame and hinge

Edward Erickson Gem Sculpter and Faceter

Another display from Tucson 2007.

Information displayed said:
Edward "Bud" Grant Erickson sculpted, hand-cut, faceted and polished all the "Super Gems" in this exhibit.

the boules were grown under *** by Dr. Milan Kakas at the Union Carl*** in Wasbegal Washington, specifically for Mr. Erickson's work.

Over a 38-year career Bud lead state of the art solids state *** associated electro-optic development.

***can read this word from photo, I should have gotten a better close up of it!

New Rocks Posted 5/18/09

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

French Fried Tourmaline

What happens when tourmaline gets just a tad too warm...
http://gringa-gem-news.blogspot.com/2009/05/french-fried-tourmalines-in-teofilo.html

(BTW this is a great blog, check out the rest of it while you are there.)

Pearls in the news...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=afP5QnoYfINQ&refer=home


best quote: “Squeeze the goo like a pimple and the pearls pop out,” says Montfort-Jones.


oooo just what every woman wants to wear around her neck :)

More Opals..

An opal display by True Blue Opals at the Tucson Show:
Painted Ladies and Boulder Opal
Belemnite fossils (same family as modern squid)
Pineapple (Pseudomorph of Opal after Ikaite) These are just too cool...

PrettyRock.com : New Rocks Posted 5/10/09

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

Cool Pyrite

Looks like a snowy day...

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Amazing video from the TED talks.

Wanna go?

Mike & Mary Jaworski Mineral Collection

This display is from the Tucson 2007 show is part of Mike and Mary Jaworski's Mineral Collection. Try not to drool on your keyboard...

New Rocks Posted 5/03/09

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

Trip to Meteor Crater, AZ

While we were in Tucson, Dev and I took a side trip to the Grand Canyon, and Sedona. We stopped by the Meteorcrator. It was pretty darn cool. You can learn more about it here:http://www.meteorcrater.com/index.php

And yes, that white stuff is snow. We had snow at the Grand Canyon, too.

These are the attack ostriches that grabbed Devin feed cup and made a run for it. No, they don't roam the crater, they were at the ostrich farm out side of Tucson on the way back. One of the best parts of the whole trip If you are heading that way, check it out: http://www.roostercogburn.com/

Big Red: The Rhodochrosite Chrystal

This a big ol' rhodochrosite specimen from the Tucson 2007 show:

PrettyRock.com's First Annual America Rocks Marathon

Hey sneak preview for you all...gonna have an online party on the weekend of the 4th of July. We are calling it PrettyRock.com's First Annual America Rocks Marathon. Gonna have online games and prizes, rough going up every hour, what ever else we can think of to do. More info to come!

PrettyRock.com: New Facet Rough 4/26/2009

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

Tree of Life Opal Carving

This is an amazing opal carving!

Great site for ruby and sapphire inclusion photos

http://www.gemresearch.ch/inclusions/

check these out!

Star Trapiche Emeralds

Another find from that set of photos from Tucson 2007:

Hiddenite Emeralds

I was digging around in my computer and saw these photos from the 2007 Tucson show. They are of Jamie Hill's collection of emerals from Hiddenite NC.

Watch for Rocks!

Dev and I saw this sign on the road from Sedona to Tucson for the big show :)

McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center.

If anyone is near New Hampshire, this looks like a great place to explore: McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center. Dev and I just sent their education center a little care package from PrettyRock.com. They are new and need all the help they can get, this is a hard time to be getting a new program up and running. Go science! :)

http://www.starhop.com/

Gemstones Found Only in One Location

Imperial Topaz found only in Ouro Preto, Brazil

I am working on a list of gemstones found only in one location. This is what I have so far. Please share if you know of any other or if any of these are wrong, let me know. This is all just off the internet, so who knows if it is right or not :)(Using the term gem loosely here.)

Tanzanite - Tanzania
Red Beryl - Wah Wah mountains of Utah (Bixbite)
Imperial Topaz - Ouro Preto Brazil
Larimar - Dominican Republic
Benitoite - San Benito County, California
Blue and green amber - Dominican Republic
Moldavite - Czech Republic
Fanta-coloured mandarin garnet - Namibia
Fire Opal - Mexico
Chrome diopside - Sakha (formerly Yakutia) in Russia
Charoite - Chary River in Russia
Mawsitsit - northern Myanmar (Burma)
Spectrolite (high-grade labradorite) - Finland
Diaspore - Turkey’s Anatolian Mountains
Petoskey Stones - northern beaches of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron
Michigan Green Stone - "Isle Royale" of the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan
Lodolite (variety of quartz with inclusions of chlorite, iron and calcite) - Minas Gerais, Brazil

The First of the Brazil Pages

are up! This is still a work in progress. Dev won't be able to add the video until his paper is done in a week or two.http://www.prettyrock.com/brazil-2009-introduction.htm