Twin Golden Calcite Crystal

Ok so one more fabulous piece (museum quality) that will be at the Mineral Market show on May 22nd in Seattle. If you have questions on this specimen, contact me. Check my website WWW.earthlightgems.com for contact information.

This is a twin golden calcite crystal (actually two crystals radiating out from the same root between them) on a matrix of barite crystals from Elmwood, Tenn. The calcite is perched beautifully on the matrix of barite. The photograph does not show the barite however if the shot is taken from the other side, the calcite presents perched on a wall of finely articulated barite crystals rather than matrix so it is sort of a two sided piece with each side having its own features. With the appropriate lighting, the calcite "shoots" beautiful rainbows from within.

The mine in Elmwood, Tenn. has been closed for years and specimens from this locality have been highly prized both here in the states and particularly in Europe for the last 30 years due to the extraordinary associations of different minerals expressing in highly aesthetic compositions. This is a classic.

Dimensions: overall dimensions of the specimen is 12" long x 9.5" high x 4.5" deep with the calcite crystal/s itself 8" from tip to tip.

Sneak Peak at Mineral Market Show in Seattle

Here is a sneak peak at a few things I will be bringing to the Mineral Market Show in Seattle at Lake City Center on May 22nd. I have information about this show on my website. WWW.earthlightgems.com

Youngite with Druzy, Selenite Ball, Marcasite Stalagtite.
This Marcasite Stalagtite, is very long, the longest I have ever seen.
This is a very large polished FreeForm Labradorite, it has a gorgeous blue flash.
Ok this picture does not do this justice it is a gorgeous huge cluster of Green Fluorite.
Fabulous Amethyst Crystal Cluster with a carved stand made to fit.
This is an upclose picture of the Large Selenite Ball, so cool.
This picture has some more marcasite stalagtites, a fabulous druzy cluster, and some Aquamarine specimens with Muscuvite
This is a huge slab of polished specular hematite, along with a blue cluster of Fluorite.
Ok so I love this Rhodocrosite freeform polished dish, so beautiful. I also have a very nice smokey quartz and a gorgeous stibnite.
This picture has a fabulous smokey septer, Lapis, Druzy cluster,Pink/Purple Fluorite, and a sample of one of the spinel pieces I am bringing.

I will have two tables and a lot of things as back stock to fill in as things sell. This is a don't miss show. I will be waiting to bring these items into the shop until after the show, so don't miss out. Alot of the things I am bringing are one of a kind items, and I may not ever see them again.

Crystals in the Rough

This is what I started with, a whole box with a bushel of Dirty Quartz Crystals from Arkansas. I ordered an entire bushel, it came in this large garbage bag in a large box, I will be pulling out trays of crystals for awhile to clean.

This is going to take weeks and weeks of cleaning if the weather stays good. All I plan on using is a toothbrush and water.

Up close of some of the crystals.

See the side by side view before & after 1/2 of the tray is cleaned. This took hours the rest will have to wait until next weekend.

Lots more to go, but here are some of the cleaned crystals.

Here is some more of the finished crystals after scrubbing with a toothbrush and water for hours I think these turned out pretty clean. I probably won't even need to do the soak in the acid wash, as most people do. But of course this will take a lot more work then just soaking in the acid wash for a week.
I like the feel and satisfaction you get when you clean the crystals yourself.

Field Trip to Kalama , WA.

Ok so last weekend I went on a field trip to Kalama, WA. with my rock club East Kingco Rock Club we had lots of fun. Granted I dug for 8 hours and was exhausted by the end of it. I did get almost a whole bucket full of carnelian & various agates. I also got some crystals and jaspers. If you have not joined your local rock club yet, get to it for lots of fun and exercise. My daughter also brought a friend and they had fun playing around a creek and collecting easy finds, no digging involved. Check out a small sample of some of the things I found that day. Some of these I will sell rough in my rock shop, others I will tumble up, or bag for others to tumble, so much fun. Enjoy.

Tucson Rock Show 2010

I went to Tucson at the Beginning of February. It was a work trip, and it was fun, but it required a lot of planning. I wanted to give you some pointers if you ever plan on going.

First thing you will need is a lot of money, a budget and a list of things you need or want. There are over 43 shows and many of the shows have 100-1000 vendors. You can technically do one show a day and never see it all. So don't worry you won't see it all, realize that and move on.

I checked out the shows ahead of time and made a list in priority of what shows I had to see and who I wanted to check out at each one.

We packed one whole suitcase with bubble wrap, flat rate boxes and wrapping tape.
I shopped from morning to night, from show opening to closing. Then at the end of the day I would finally eat dinner, take a dip in the pool/jacuzzi at the hotel. Then I would be up for hours packing what I purchased that day.

I also kept an expense log, on it I put what I got where and what I spent at each vendor. In addition to the log, if I saw a vendor I wanted to purchase from in the future I took a business card & wrote on the back of the card what I liked that they had and a price range or contact name if needed.

I shipped 7 boxes ahead of time, which beat me back to the shop. I realized on the third day that I needed more then the flat rate boxes would allow. I had found a fabulous large Druzy Red Amethyst with Calcite Crystals. This was way too large then the flat rate boxes. This was the day I decided to get a truck and have pallets delivered to the shop (Earthlight, Inc.) I found one of the shops that I bought a lot of merchandise from and arranged the trucking thru them. I had to pack and round up everything that I purchased for the next few days - until the day before we left town. Then the morning we were to leave we delivered all of the other items and added them to the boxes already purchased and palletized it all for shipping. Since the money was spent and the truck was packed, we browsed around and only purchased a small amount of Amber the last day, that we could carry onto the plane. We only had a couple of hours to shop around then off to the airport and back home.

I was only in Arizona 6 days- next year I will try for two weeks. I just need to save up more money, and then I can stay longer and go to more shows. Fabulous.
The pictures are from the trip, with my daughter and some awesome finds that we did not purchase



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Rose Quartz

I have decided to feature a stone - Rose Quartz

The color of rose quartz is produced by impurities of titanium or inclusions of manganese. Rose quartz is the quartz of the heart, and emotional release and balancing stone. Its pink color resonates warmth and love. It helps all types of lonely and deprived souls. It is especially good for children and those who needed love when children. the rose energy flows in with the circulation of the heart vessels. Rose quartz is the state mineral of South Dakota. (4th chakra)

Here is a link to this product if you are interested in purchasing it or looking at more of my rocks on my website, enjoy.

http://www.earthlightgems.com/catalog/i170.html

New Website Finally Up

Hi everyone,
I finally got my new website up for my Rock Shop in Kirkland, it has been around for 21 years. I will be listing alot more on it, of course the store has many many more items then on the web site, but it is looking great.

http://www.earthlightgems.com

check it out.,
Thanks
Kim