Diamond Hill Mine - Bryan Major

We had a wonderful chat with Bryan Major (www.Ultrarocks.net) about the Diamond Hill Mine in South Carolina at the Grassy Creek Gem and Mineral show this weekend.  He showed us some wonderful pieces of quartz and amethyst he had mined himself.

We added this stunning amethyst cluster to our private collection

Devin and I are hoping to get to Diamond Hill this fall to see what we can dig up.  Diamond Hill allows for digging by reservation only (910) 547-0427 or dhmine@rocketmail.com.

Above and below are iron oxide coated quarts from the Diamond Hill Mine.

Devin was drooling over this gorgeous smokey amethyst cluster:

©Bryan Major - photo

and here's a video of it: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RLGnW97zKk

Below are some greatYoutube videos of some of the Diamond Hill finds!

Digging Amethyst & Quartz Crystal Clusters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ta9UBof8Sw

Digging Quartz Crystals at Diamond Hill in South 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkXAanRHfGo

HUGE Amethyst Crystal Cluster found at Diamond Hill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ta9UBof8Sw

Egg Collection

I collect stone eggs.  It's started as a way to entertain myself while Dev spent hours pouring of each and ever piece of rough in a parcel at a gem show.  I pulled them all off the shelve today to give them a bath, and thought they made a nice picture drying on their towel.  There are quartz of all kinds, marble, lapis, tourmaline, aqua, opal, turquois, garnet, topaz, jaspers, and more.

Photos of 2012 PrettyRock.com Faceting Contest Winners!

Here they are:
http://www.prettyrock.com/2012-PrettyRock-Faceting-Competition-Winners.htm

2012 PrettyRock.com Faceting Contest Winners!

This years entries are gorgeous!  As always, there were some tough decision making for our judges.
The material for this year's contest was rutilated quartz.
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-Best Over All -  Michiko Huynh  - Grand Prize of $500 worth of faceting rough (winner’s choice)
Stone description: 3.7 ct (10 mm x 7 mm) Amaryllis (orginal design)
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-Cabbing -

First Place - Ivan Smith -  $150 worth of faceting rough (winner’s choice)
Stone description 19.6 ct (16 x 20 mm ) oval cab

Second Place - Scott Holmes -  $100 worth of faceting rough (winner’s choice)
Stone description  20.15 ct  (20 x 27 mm ) freehand pear cab
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-Faceting -

First Place - Charles McCoy -  $150 worth of faceting rough (winner’s choice)
2.19 ct  (10 x 8 mm) oval

Second Place - Richard Moriyama- $100 worth of faceting rough (winner’s choice)
12 ct (14 x 10 mm )  eight-sided round

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I will add photos soon.  We wanted to let the winners know as soon as it was final.

The Synthetics are here! The Synthetics are Here!

The synthetic corundums (ruby, padparascha, pink, sapphire blue, white) are all back in stock!  Also the cz in many colors including a few new ones.   Check them out here.  http://www.prettyrock.com/php/synthetic-rough.php

Check out this sapphire...it looks like a candy corn.  I would love to see how someone can cut to get the most out of those gorgeous lines of color! More pics here

Lots of new rough going up this week!

Come check it out!

Large Pink Diamond Found

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/slideshow/rare-pink-diamond-worth-12-million-2165601

Won't this make a pretty stone! Not sure where you could ever actually wear it... Inaugural ball?  Oscars?

A follow up on that big emerald!

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120128/bc_emerald_auction_120128?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Looks like the owner was up to no good!


Don't forget to mail your entries for the faceting contest.  They are due March 1st.  It has been exciting seeing all the beautiful entries this year!  Details for the contest here:
http://www.prettyrock.com/2012facetingcompetition.htm

And the winner is...

The winner of the January Book Give Away is Darrin Fry!

Congratulations!

Giant Emerald

Beautiful or giant door stop?

January 2012 - Free Shipping and a Give Away!

Click here to check out our recently added rough!

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To celebrate the New Year we are offering free shipping!  Just plug FreeShipJanUSA  into the coupon box at check out to receive free shipping any where in the USA.  (Sorry, offer not available for international customers.)

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Also, we will be giving away a copy of Modern Jeweler's Gem Profile/2  The Second 60  by David Federman and Tino Hammid.   For a chance to win, just leave a comment with anote about why you love rocks! One comment per person please.

We will draw randomly from all the entries at the end of the month.  (I even marked it on my calendar so I wouldn't forget!)

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Time to get started on your entry for the PrettyRock Rock Beauty Contest! Rocks are due March 1st 2012 See this page for details:
http://www.prettyrock.com/2012facetingcompetition.htm

Happy New Year everyone!

Beth and Dev

Scenes from Grassy Creek Gem Show

We got to go up to the Grassy Creek gem show last weekend.  The weather smiled on us and it was actually under 100 degrees that day.  I didn't make it to the Franklin show this year, we had a Breast Cancer Walk Fundraiser.  Dev went, and said it was a great show.  Looked like it was a bit slow in the sales department for the vendors though.    I didn't get many shots before my camera battery died, but here they are:

We got some fantastic Mexican, Australian, and Ethiopian opal that will be up on the site over the coming weeks.  For my personal collection, I bagged a couple of gorgeous square cut Columbian emeralds.  Now I just have to wait for the price of gold to come down so I can afford to have them set in earrings :)

5% of Summer Sales to Avon Breast Cancer Walk!

Best Pink Rock I have!

Beth has committed to participating in the Charlotte Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. The walk is 26 miles the first day and 12 miles the second day. (That's a lot of walking!) The money I raise will be managed and disbursed by the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade to help provide access to care for those that most need it, fund educational programs, and accelerate research into new treatments and potential cures.


I will be walking and fund raisingwith an amazing group called Team Tuff Girl!



PrettyRock.com is donating 5% of all orders this summer to Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

To donate directly: http://info.avonfoundation.org/goto/Beth

Learn more about the walk click here! http://www.avonwalk.org/
 
Proceeds from the items in my etsy shop will also go the Walk!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ejmstudios
 
(oh yea, and there's some new rough up!)

New Rough! Gorgeous Citrine

We've added some new citrine rough, including the one above!  Check here for the latest rocks:
http://www.prettyrock.com/php/facet-rough-all-recent.php
or you can always use the search function at the top of each prettyrock.com page.

Fight Breast Cancer!
Sponsor Beth in the 2011 Avon Breast Cancer Walk (click here)

Emeralds! and Spring Fever Free Shipping

Some pretty little emeralds up!

These are some of the emeralds we got in Brazil.  If you haven't read about our trip, check it out here.

Dev is already talking about going to Tucson in 2012...which means we need to sell rocks, so we can go buy more rocks!  So here's a free shipping coupon for you!  Just put springfever  in the voucher box at check out to get your free shipping! I think the coupon code is case sensitive, type it in just like you see it...doesn't have to be green :) Exp May 31 2011

Spinel

This is from our free wallpaper...it's an oldie but a goodie! I just love spinel crystals...

Paraiba!

8.61 carats, 10 x 10 x 8 mm, 95% clean, Brazil

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Winner's Glamour Shots

And the winners are...

We are thrilled to announce the winners of our 2011 PrettyRock.com Faceting Competition!
Thank you to everyone involved.  As always we had a wonderful time seeing all the "pretty rocks" that were entered!  Judging came down to the wire on this one!

Winners will receive a gift certificate for facet rough in the amount shown by their name.


Best in Overall:
Michiko Huynh - $500 facet rough

Traditional Cut Category -
1 st Michiko Huynh - $150
2 nd Ivan D. Smith - $100
3 rd Charles McCoy (1.31 ct) - $50

Creative Cut Category - Charles McCoy $150

Mexican Fire Opal!