The transformation from a found piece of rough to a cabbed or faceted gem is beautiful and dramatic. Sometimes the finished piece bears little resemblance to its humble beginnings. Here are a few before and after photos of the beauty of nature’s treasures from mine to mine.

Hematite Hematite is one of the most important sources of iron because of its high iron content, wide distribution, and abundance. Hematite derivс its name from the blood-red color of its powder. It has been used as a paint pigment since prehistoric times.

Malachite Malachite derives its name from a Greek word meaning “mallow green color.” Copper can be obtained from malachite using the smelting process. Malachite was used as an eye paint by the Egyptians and as a paint pigment starting in the 7th century.

Agate Most of the Tennesee Paint Rock agate deposits are located on the west side of the Cumberland Plateau near the Tennesee-Alabama border. Agate is a common variety of chalcedony and is found with bands of different colors and transparency. Agate often gets their name from the location where they are found.

Smoky Quartz Smoky quartz is produced when clear quartz is exposed to natural radiation. It is transparent to opaque and has a brownish-gray color. With a Mohs hardness of seven, it is a good candidate for use in the jewelry trade.

Tiger’s Eye Tiger’s eye is a variety of cryptocrystalline chalcedony quartz. Its chatoyant property (cat’s eye effect ) makes it popular with collectors. Tiger’s eye is naturally golden brown. Other colors, such as red, are sold in stores and have been treated to achieve different colors.

This story about rough gemstones to jewelry appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Richard Gross and Pam Freeman.

The post From Rough Gemstones to Jewelry first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Exactly what are the lapidary arts? Succinctly put, lapidary arts are the activities involved with shaping stones, minerals and gems into decorative items such as cabochons and faceted gems.

Access = Growth

I have been playing and working in the lapidary world for the past ten years. I facet, cab and carve gemstones, sell rough materials to other lapidary artists, teach faceting and carving, along with selling ULTRA TEC faceting machines. From 1988 to 2000, I worked as a researcher and developer on the National Science Foundation project that kickstarted the birth of the Internet. I am seeing parallels between the amazing digital communications paradigm shift and the lapidary arts’ evolution. The internet is the main catalyst driving the current renaissance of lapidary arts. The other major factors propelling lapidary arts forward are design software, new equipment and materials, and the ability for people to work from home – a unique opportunity for growth in our industry.

Now information is at our fingertips and traveling to buy rough stones and lapidary materials is a luxury and an adventure. People can travel to the Bolivia mine to buy the world’s finest ametrine for gemstone faceting, but they can alternately receive photos, videos, descriptions, and pricing via WhatsApp minutes after a request. Payment takes just seconds and a purchase can be delivered in days. This replaces the old mine-to-broker-to-exporter-to-importer-to-broker-to-gemstone cutter system and negates the additional markup of price for each of these hand-offs. Being able to conduct business online is significant because it provides lapidary artists and jewelers quick, affordable, and easy access to gemstones and rough from around the world.

Learning & Sharing

Previous generations of cutters were constrained to years of training through the apprenticeship model of instruction. The internet has freed newcomers by providing access to most of the information needed to get started and the ability to purchase the necessary materials. On a personal note, I can provide remote video faceting training globally. Follow-up questions are answered via email text and messaging. Although in-studio lessons are superior, the ability to provide a live video lesson brings the cost of learning gemstone faceting down significantly.

We can share information easily, but that does not mean that it happens. As with most trades, crafts, and artistic endeavors, processes and techniques have often been secretive. I see that the new generation of lapidary artists is more willing to share their knowledge with colleagues and beginners. We are starting to understand that knowledge is power, but only when it is shared. Social media provides rapid sharing and co-development of ideas, allowing quick development of new designs, techniques, and collaborations.

Selling Online

Easily available e-commerce gives stone dealers, cutters, and jewelers the ability to sell their materials online. Using social media, we have been able to create profitable and growing businesses. We no longer have to own a physical storefront, visit jewelry store clients, or attend gem and mineral shows. In four years, I was able to amass 60,000 followers on Instagram and Facebook. The result of this social media growth translates into my gemstone faceting business being booked nine months out. The cost of presenting and selling my finished lapidary creations is now at a minimum. My faceting students can set up and sell their gemstones six months after their first lesson with minimal sales infrastructure investment.

Digital Lapidary Design

The digital benefits of lapidary are not limited to information and commerce. Over the past years, gemstone designers have used computers to calculate the mathematical equations and geometry necessary to both improve and create better-performing and spectacular gemstones. Robert Wood Strickland developed the GemCad and GemRay programs that allow any gemstone cutter to use a computer to design and optimize their gemstone creations. The recent addition of the Gem Cut Studio has made creating gemstone designs available to anyone who has a computer, the time to read the manual, and a commitment to practice. All the basics of math, geometry, and gemstone attributes (such as material hardness and refractive indexes) have been put in the CAD (Computer-Aided Design) programs. The programs/apps shorten the learning curve in gemstone design by months if not years. Of course, knowing the basic principles of these disciplines is beneficial, but no longer an obstacle to generating cutting-edge designs. These programs are tools that put current cutters years ahead of their predecessors.

Precision Lapidary Tools & Materials

Newly developed precision tools have allowed artists to work faster, more accurately, and with finer detail. There are also new materials such as better abrasives for faceting, cabbing, and carving all varieties of rocks and gems. In addition, cutters are using instruments made for different media in their lapidary work. In Henry Hunt’s book, “American Lapidary, Designing the Carved Gemstone,” the author claims that in any artistic endeavor, originality follows the introduction of new tools and techniques. With this break from tradition, we are seeing the new generation of lapidary artists developing new processes and techniques that are innovative and exciting.

An Exciting Future for Lapidary Work

All of these innovations and advancements put new and young individuals looking to create their own lapidary art business in a unique and advantageous position. The ability to build one’s own business is a catalyst in the evolution of the lapidary arts.

We have a new generation of craftspeople and artists who grew up understanding and applying the components of this digital and readily accessible world. They find more rewarding and meaningful employment with the freedom to define their lives on their own terms. The recent development of accessible individual health care and the stay-at-home mentality that COVID-19 instilled also advanced this new breed of independent workers. These shifts enabled people to work at their home studios and within a new business model. Lapidary artists can make and sell whatever they want and whenever they want and are no longer restricted by a brick-and-mortar store, corporate structure, or marketing research reports.

Driven by Industry Pioneers

A renaissance is driven by a group of pioneers. There are dozens of lapidary artists, engineers, and free thinkers who have laid the path for the new generation of lapidary artists. It’s worth your time to look at some of the groundbreaking lapidary artists in the United States. Enjoy their creations and get inspired.

Years from now, when the next generation of lapidary artists looks back at this era of lapidary advancement, I hope that they see what I am seeing – a revolution, an evolution, and a renaissance. This is what happens when advanced technology, global trade, instant communications, social media e-commerce, and a new generational shift of the paradigm exists. I invite you to be aware, open your eyes, seek out, and enjoy the magnificent and wondrous creations of our contemporary lapidary artists during these innovative times.

This story about a lapidary renaissance appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Mark Oros.

The post Exploring a Lapidary Renaissance first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Tips For Cutting the Kal-Toh Design

1. Since we do not have the luxury of meetpoint faceting in this design, try to keep the visual proportions that Kim shows in the diagrams. Do not worry about getting the proportions perfect on rough grit laps, but work on getting the proportions of the facets closer each time you go to a new lap/grit.

2. Choose the optimal material to cut. Kim Lembke suggests that it be faceted in medium saturation garnet. I decided to facet the gemstone in golden citrine to give it a more dramatic effect by adding some extinction to the gemstone. Extinction is when the gemstone loses light and we see dark areas in the gemstone. To quote Tuvok, “Without the darkness, how would we recognize the light?”

Although this worked for my purposes, I would suggest following Kim’s suggestion and using medium saturated garnet or YAG, Yttrium Aluminum Garnet, a synthetic gem material used for optic and laser technology.

3. If you are a North American gem cutter, facet G1 after P2. Kim is from Australia and I have noticed that Australian gemstone designers tend to use a different cutting sequence on the pavilion. Their North American colleagues usually facet the girdle early in their gemstone cutting sequence. Regardless of when you facet the girdle, keep in mind that the crown is very high on this gemstone and you should leave enough room to cut the girdle and crown. The pavilion is the same depth as the girdle and crown both are high.

4. When faceting the pavilion, I do not cut P6 and P7 until I have polished all the other pavilion facets. This gives me the ability to be more precise with putting in the frosted facets of P6 and P7. I use a worn-out 1,200-grit lap to cut P6 and P7 to give me the frosted facets and dramatize the difference between these facets and the polished facets. I cut my frosted facets in my example in a similar proportion as shown in the diagram, however, I think a variation of thinner facets or polished facets for P6 and P7 would be a welcome variation.

5. When cutting the crown, the only meet points you have are on the table. Your table size will depend on the depth that you cut C2 and C3. The deeper you cut these facets (or the smaller C1 is) the larger the outcome of your table. Gauge the table size when cutting in C2 and C3 with your rough grit laps and refine your facet sizes as you progress with your finer grit laps. Keep an eye on the place and size of the table.

Give it a Try!

Kal-toh is a challenging gemstone to facet. In the game, “Kal-toh is to chess what chess is to tic-tac-toe” said Tuvok. I hope that you give this gemstone design a try and that my suggestions make the faceting experience a pleasant journey. Keep in mind that a no-meet-point design also gives you the ability to play with the proportions and the gemstone’s final outcome. As Captain James T. Kirk said, “Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity.”

This story about gem faceting the Kal Toh design appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Mark Oros.

The post Gem Faceting: Kal-Toh Design first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

The Impact of Light

Light is a major component of art and craft. Light is what reflects and allows us to see shape, color and the subtleties that the hand and eye created. However, the lapidary who facets (the process of turning the rough gem crystal material into a decorative gemstone) a stone has to consider light in another dimension. Light is an essential part of the medium and process, just like paint is essential to painting a portrait.

Light and the gemstone’s material are married in the creation of a jewel. Light reflects off the gemstone surface and returns to your eye like any craft or art. However, how to cut gemstones properly involves light also entering the gemstone and bouncing around, and returning from inside the gemstone. The greater quantity of light that can be captured and moved within the gemstone, the more exciting the jewel becomes. Poorly cut facet angles will allow the light to simply pass through the gemstone making a window. Correct angle facets can also be cut to break up the returning light, creating scintillation. Now, the gem sparkles! The attention given to light is a major difference between mass-produced faceted colored gemstones and performance-faceted colored gemstones cut by lapidary artists.

Learning to Work With Light

Gaining knowledge, as well as understanding and learning how to cut gemstones to apply it to faceting is complex and takes time. Like playing an instrument or learning to dance, the key element to success is practice. Through practice, artists begin to see the results of their efforts and understand the effects of subtle changes and modifications. With this knowledge and experience, a lapidary can then start to develop new and better techniques to improve a jewel’s performance.

When designing and faceting a gemstone, a designer has to consider and make decisions regarding the different performance attributes of the stone that result from various cutting techniques. These attributes include the following.

• Color depends on how to cut gemstones to enhance their natural color, resulting in a variety of saturations, hues and transparencies.

• Brightness is perceived when light enters the stone, bounces around and reflects back to the viewer’s eyes.

• Scintillation comes from different facets and their ability to create different beams of light that make a sparkling effect.

• Dispersion of light creates secondary and tertiary colors and is made by creating angles that separate the colors of the light spectrum.

• The darkness or lightness of a gemstone is determined both by how to cut gemstones using faceting angles and the depth of the cuts to darken or lighten the stone and ultimately affect the jewel’s weight.

Everything All at Once?

In a perfect world, artists try to maximize all of the performance attributes of a finished jewel. However, it is a balancing act because enhancing one performance aspect of a jewel means another may suffer. Making a stone lighter in color and also maximizing its weight by making it larger doesn’t necessarily work together.

The different attributes of light performance must be balanced and work together to create the best outcome for the jewel. These trade-offs are usually driven by the buyer. Lapidaries must consider the capabilities of each individual gemstone both in performance and the potential market value of the resulting design/ cut. With beauty being in the eye of the beholder, lapidary techniques must be applied to meet the eye of its new beholder (personal beauty) and the generations to come (timeless beauty).

Mass Market Vs. Small Business

Gemstones are cut for different markets based on that market’s perception of value. The two major attributes of the mass market for gemstones are color and weight. This is based on years of market development along with the original sizes and shapes of available rough gemstone crystals. The lapidaries that facet these gemstones are talented, but they are restricted to creating a standard and repeatable result to meet the size and color expectations of the industry. They do not have the luxury of forfeiting the gemstone’s color or weight for better light performance.

However, movement and play-of-light is the biggest component of a jewel’s performance. Many lapidaries prefer to create gemstones where light performance takes priority over weight and color. The artists and their clients see value in this. While weight and color are still top of mind, the beauty of the finished jewel is viewed from a different perspective than the mass market. It is not only the shape, design and size of the gemstone, but also how the light will play within it to create beauty for the new owner.

How to Cut Gemstones: The Science of Light

How to cut gemstones is the result of understanding and applying the disciplines of geology, gemology, geometry, chemistry and optics. Understanding the science of light and its movement within a faceted gemstone is important to get the brightest, most sparkling and most beautiful gemstone.

Material refractive indexes, dispersion and critical angles are major components to getting the best light performance from a gemstone Gemstone designer, Jim Perkins had a gemstone performance mission. He wanted to design gemstones that dazzled the beholder. He would create new and unique gemstone designs, but his forte was taking classic gemstone designs and maximizing their performance. He used to say that his designs were “10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration,” meaning that he worked harder at the gemstone performance attributes of light return and scintillation than he did at making new geometric designs.

Client Satisfaction

On a personal note, I began using Jim Perkins’ gemstone designs and started to get immediate reactions from my jewelry design and setting clients. I remember the first couple of times I brought a set of Jim’s designs faceted in quartz, amethyst, citrine and rose quartz to show my jewelry clients. They were startled. I asked them what was wrong and they all said the same thing, “I didn’t know tourmaline came in this color.” I informed them it was a quartz gemstone and they all said the same thing, “You can’t make quartz do that!” But there it was in their hands, a beautiful piece of performance-based faceted quartz using Jim Perkins’ design, born from his perspiration and affinity for bouncing the light back to the viewer.

Light performance within a jewel has always been a major component of gemstone design. Over the centuries, we have been able to use science to better understand and apply the knowledge of light performance and crystal structure to our lapidary designs and techniques. In the past 50 years, lapidary has started to look at gemstone design and fabrication differently by using increased knowledge and newly developed tools. Cutters have found a growing market willing to pay for beauty that is both innovative and performance-based.

This story about how to cut gemstones appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Mark Oros.

The post How to Cut Gemstones to Reflect Light first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Agate Facts

Agate has a seven Mohs hardness, making it desirable in the lapidary trade. Agate is translucent and exhibits a vitreous luster. As with other varieties of quartz, its chemical formula is SiO2. The name agate comes from the river Achates in Sicily and was given that name by the Greek philosopher, Theophrastus. Agate names can be derived from the location where they are found such as Botswana agate or Laguna agate or because of a feature they exhibit like lace, fire or moss.

How Agates Are Formed

Agate formation takes place when silica solutions fill voids in cavities layer by layer such as in Florida’s agatized coral. The voids typically are in solidified volcanic lava flows and the layering over long periods of time can result in different colors because of chemical changes in the silica solutions. The layering can deposit the chalcedony in concentric circles around the wall of the cavity or build the layers up from the bottom of the cavity.

Decorative Agates

Agate is used to produce cabochons, beads, and free-form objects in jewelry making. Book-ends, ashtrays, and sculptures are also made using agate.

Positively Agate

In the metaphysical realm, agate is said to change negative energy into positive energy and to heal anxiety and internal anger. Agate may also help with concentration and boost mental function.

Where to Find Agates

In the United States, agates are found in Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, Idaho, California, Washington, New Mexico, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Utah, Florida, Colorado, Arkansas, and Nevada. Around the world, they are found in Australia, Germany, Brazil, Czechia, Botswana, Mexico, Morocco, Afghanistan, Argentina, Canada, Chile, India, China, and over 40 other countries.

This agate field guide appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Richard Gross.

The post A Field Guide to Agate first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Gifts For New Rockhounds

New rockhounds can be easy to purchase a gift for because they’re usually still stocking up on the basics.

Rock Hammers: Start with one of the most essential tools, a rock hammer. There’s a wide range of rock hammers available with different prices, weights and materials. Good rock hammers are well-balanced and made of a single piece of hardened steel. Handle grips may be made of rubber or leather for cushioning.

Rock hammers weighing eight ounces or less are suitable for children, while those weighing 16 to 22 ounces are good for adults. The ideal weight depends on the hardness of the rocks. Hammers may have a chisel edge or pointed tip. The pointed-tip rock hammers are usually called rock picks. Either version is bound to be a hit–literally.

Starter Kits: Ready-made starter kits are available or you can customize one just for your favorite rockhound. Items for a well-rounded starter kit include:

• A heavy-duty bag to carry tools and rocks
• Rock hammer
• Two or three rock chisels
• A short-handled or collapsible shovel
• Cleaning brushes
• A jeweler’s loupe
• Safety goggles
• Sturdy gloves

Safety items to include are a whistle and compass for emergencies and guidance.

Field Guides and Books About Rocks: Field guides and books that are tailored to rockhounding as a hobby, rock identification and even places to visit make wonderful gifts. Rowman & Littlefield Falcon Guides include books on rockhounding in specific states, with many scheduled for updated releases.

GPS Units: Handheld GPS units make wonderful gifts. Yes, cell phones have a mapping system, but internet access can be spotty in places. GPS units work off a satellite so they’re less likely to lose their signal in canyons and other areas you typically lose cell signals. Units designed for hiking also include detailed topography maps.

High-quality Garmin receivers are WAASenabled, a more accurate navigation system than the standard GPS found in most phones. These can get pricey, which is why some rockhounds won’t splurge on one themselves.

Seasoned Rockhounds

Seasoned rockhounds can be a little more challenging when buying gifts for them because they usually have all the latest rock-hunting gadgets. Outside-the-box thinking can be helpful. Consider replacements for rockhounding tools that may have worn out, such as rock hammers and chisels, especially if they use them a lot. Also consider buying higher-quality items than what they currently have.

Rock Hammer Sheath: Long-time rockhounds probably have a quality rock hammer but may have never splurged on a rock hammer sheath or holder opting to toss their hammer in a collection bag or bucket or simply tuck it into their belt. Nearly all popular rock hammers fit in these holders to provide easier access.

Rock Collecting Bags: Collection bags or pouches built specifically for rock collecting make practical and well-appreciated gifts, especially if your rockhound still lugs around a five-gallon bucket. On a fruitful rock collecting day, tossing all those keeper rocks into a bucket makes it heavy and cumbersome. Durable canvas or leather rock collecting bags have adjustable straps and often fit across the body to evenly distribute the weight while freeing up hands to dig for specimens.

UV Flashlights: Many minerals glow under ultraviolet light, making it one of the easiest ways to confirm if something is the real deal. High-quality portable UV flashlights let rockhounds easily identify minerals in the field instead of waiting until they get home. Look for a lightweight rechargeable UV flashlight that doesn’t take up much room in a pack but is durable enough to handle a potentially rough ride.

Updated Books & Journals: Even seasoned rockhounds appreciate updated field guides with the latest rock, gem and mineral information. Believe it or not, things do change from time to time. Look for new editions of popular guides on the best places to hunt for rocks or ask at the local bookstore. For those who enjoy recurring reading material, consider a print and/or digital subscription to Rock & Gem magazine.

You could also opt for a new waterproof journal for cataloging and note-taking. Excellent all-weather journals have paper that repels water, sweat, mud and grease.

Fun Novelty Gifts for Anyone

Consider something a little kitschy for the rockhound with everything and/or a great sense of humor. Novelty gifts can put a smile on your rock collector’s face and give them a fun item to use while broadcasting their love of rocks. Generic gifts like socks and soap are generally boring, unappreciated gifts but not so when they have a rock-related twist.

Rock Replica Soap: What better way to scrub away the dirt after a day of hunting for rocks than with a bar of soap that looks just like a rock? Incredible geode-shaped soaps make clean-up fun and a potentially great gift for kids and/or that hard to buy for rockhound.

Keychains: Give the gift that lets rock and gem fans decorate their car and/or house keys with a keychain featuring raw or tumbled stones. Choose their birthstone or a favorite stone if they have one. There are even keychains with multiple tiny stones, like a seven-stone chakra keychain that’s perfect for metaphysical friends.

Worry Stones: These stones make great gifts for rockhounds or anyone who likes rocks and/or needs a way to relax. Worry stones, also known as palm stones, are smooth polished gemstones with a thumb-sized indentation made for rubbing. Gift one to a recipient who enjoys carrying it in their pocket for stress relief.

Bookends: For rock fans with an extensive collection of rock-related (or unrelated) books, what better way to display them than with stone bookends? You generally have a choice of materials and colors so you can personalize it to fit your rock-loving friends and family. Common bookend materials include agates (natural or dyed) and rose quartz. Other unique gifts for rockhounds include household décor items such as agate coasters and candle holders made of stone.

Novelty Shirts: T-shirts and sweatshirts with humorous and/or witty slogans are fun for any occasion, and a surprisingly large number are dedicated to rock hunting and collecting. The selection of shirts for rock collectors is constantly changing, with new designs coming out just in time for the holidays. You can also find cute rock-related socks and bolo ties featuring various rocks and gems.

Gifts For Metaphysical Friends

People who believe in the metaphysical aspects of rocks and crystals are rock collectors of a different kind. They’re also often easier for selecting gifts for rockhounds. Friends and family members who’ve just discovered the metaphysical world probably have a limited collection, providing plenty of gift-giving options. However, even advanced practitioners appreciate new and/or unique additions to their collections. Visit a metaphysical boutique and you’ll find numerous gift ideas.

Books and Guides: Visit any brick-and-mortar or online bookstore, and you’ll find numerous books about the healing properties of crystals. These include books and reference guides for beginners and advanced practitioners with detailed photos and information. You can also find this information in chart form. Popular options include:

• Crystals for Healing: The Complete Reference Guide With Over 200 Remedies for Mind, Heart & Soul Hardcover by Karen Frazier (paperback or hardback). Includes detailed photography and alphabetized references to recognize crystals and gemstones.
• Crystals for Beginners: The Guide to Get Started with the Healing Power of
• Crystals by Karen Frazier (paperback or spiral-bound). Includes comprehensive crystal profiles and healing remedies with clear instructions.

Starter Collections: Chakra therapy starter collections typically come with several Chakra stones and may include other crystals and stones with various healing properties. It’s a great option when you know someone has just started their spiritual journey with rocks and crystals. You can also create your own collection by choosing individual gemstones and crystals and placing them in a beautiful wooden box. Instead of loose crystals and gems, you can also opt for earrings, bracelets and pendants featuring a favorite stone or birthstone.

Animal Lovers: Advanced metaphysical practitioners may extend their crystal healing to their four-legged family members. A thoughtful gift might be a pet amulet worn on the pet’s collar or harness. Because different crystals have different healing properties, it’s best if you know a little about the pet. For example, practitioners recommend blue lace agate for rescue pets, but other pets also find the stone calming. They also recommend black onyx for outdoor pets and increasing strength and stamina.

Gifts For Rockhounds: Kids

Kids and rocks often go hand-in-hand, or you may encourage rock hunting to increase a child’s interest in the natural world and playing outdoors. When buying gifts for rockhounds, buying for kids is generally the easiest task.

Rock Books for Kids: National Geographic is an excellent provider of rock-related gifts for your little rockhounds. It’s also a popular source of kid-friendly reading material, including books on rocks. New books for kids in 2022 include:

• National Geographic Readers: Bling! (L3): 100 Fun Facts About Rocks and Gems (Paperback) January 4, 2022
• Weird But True Know-It-All: Rocks & Minerals (Paperback) February 15, 2022

Kid-Sized Rock Tools: Rock hunting feeds many kids’ natural desire to play in the dirt, making it an easy way to encourage outdoor play. Purchase a ready-made kit or create a mini pack of rock-hunting tools perfect for those little hands. Tool kits for kids can include:

• Small pail and bag for tools and rocks
• Rock hammer
• Sand scoop
• Colander or sieve
• Safety goggles
• A kid-sized rock tumbler to polish rocks

Rock Kits: Get them started with a kit containing hundreds of different stones to identify. Kits usually contain a collection of real fossils, geodes, jasper, rose quartz and many more rocks and gems. They also frequently come with a book or suggest a book to accompany the kit. You can also opt for a dig kit, which comes with fewer gems but has tools to dig them up.

Rock Projects & Crafts: There are all sorts of kits online for crafts and other projects using rocks. One popular option is a rock painting kit that lets kids paint the rocks included and the stones they find themselves. Another option is a Mohs hardness kit with samples.

When All Else Fails

Gift cards aren’t very personal but work well as gifts for rockhounds in a pinch when you have no idea what to get the rock lover(s) on your list. Surprisingly, many shops with rocks and rock-related gadgets offer gift cards or certificates. However, if the ones closest to you don’t, a generic gift card works, too. On the plus side, you know they’ll get something they really want because gift cards let them choose for themselves. Other options include tickets to a nearby rock and gem show or an envelope of cold hard cash to pitch in for their next rock-hunting adventure.

Bonus Gifts for Rockhounds: Stocking Stuffers

When thinking of gifts for rockhounds, stockings are great for those little tools that rockhounds invariably lose in the field, like rock chisels. These come in various sizes and lengths and should be specifically for working with rocks, or they’ll quickly break. Stockings are also a good place for those cute rock socks you saw online or some good sunblock to help protect their skin from all those hours spent outdoors. A new pair of safety goggles, sturdy gloves, or even a set of shoestrings for their favorite hiking boots also fill stockings well. Small rocks (not lumps of coal) make fun stocking stuffers, then, for giggles, throw in some rock candy and Pop Rocks, and you’re good to go!

This story about gifts for rockhounds appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Moira K. McGhee.

The post Gifts for Rockhounds first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Our magazine writers have been reflecting on their most cherished rockhound gifts and what they hope to find under the tree. Whether it’s a practical tool, a book that has become a trusted companion or a beautiful specimen piece, these gifts reflect the essence of rockhounding – a shared appreciation for Earth’s treasures, minerals and jewelry.

We hope you’ll find inspiration and ideas for gifts for rock collectors and for celebrating the season with the fellow rockhounds in your life.

“Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Silverton, Colorado — its history, mines, people, scenery and of course, the train. They also know that a good book is always on my wish list. Over the years, I have purchased over 60 books from Silverton local, Scott Fetchenhier of Fetch’s Mercantile. Scott is a geologist, miner, snare drummer in the town band and the author of one of my favorite books, “Ghosts and Gold,” the history of the Old One Hundred Mine just outside of Silverton. These days, the Old One Hundred offers tours and is owned by Bill Jones, brother of Bob Jones, editor emeritus of Rock & Gem magazine. It would make a wonderful gift if your rockhound has these same interests. I also included a second favorite book — a coffee table book of black and white photographs of San Juan County, Colorado mines, mills and Ghost Towns which tickles my fancy of mines and photography by local, Colorado photographer Thomas Livingstone, “Historic Treasures of the San Juan Mountains”–also purchased from ‘Fetch.’” – Sue Eyre

“I usually don’t receive rockhound gifts from my family because I have too much stuff already. Although, a couple of years ago, I did receive a slab of Davis Creek obsidian from my grandson who accompanied me on a rockhounding trip to Northern California and Southern Oregon.” – Bob Rush

“My rockhounding partner in crime (and dirt), Charles, gave me a mother-of-pearl necklace years ago that I adore to this day. I love the origin story of this mineral otherwise known as nacre and, as a Cancer and water sign, I do believe these natural gems of the sea resonate for me in calm and healing ways. We’re hoping to visit Washington D.C. for the holidays, so if Charles will indulge me in a visit to the Smithsonian’s mineral and gem collection at the Museum of Natural History to say ‘hello’ to the Hope Diamond (especially after enjoying Steve Voynick’s October article on its purported curse), that’s all I could ask for (okay, and maybe a new pair of Uggs).” – LA Sokolowski

“My father, Floyd Painter, was given a small assortment of Carboniferous plant fossils collected at Cloyd’s Mountain in Pulaski County, Virginia, by an anthropology student at Old Dominion University as a trade for some Native American artifacts. The fossils included some fossil fern carbonized imprints on shale, a small (6-inch) piece of a Lepidodendron trunk, the leaves of Sigillaria, a giant lycopod, as well as one large (9-inch) Stigmaria fossil of gray sandstone. My father gave me this and a couple of the smaller pieces for Christmas of 1991 or 1992. They are my favorites because they were part of the very first real forests in the world, forests composed of strange-looking, huge versions of plants whose modern relatives are so small that they are often not even noticed in the woods and fields. There is nothing quite like them in the world today and if I show them to people, they will hopefully remember them for the amazing things they are and not just think of them as some old shell. This year, I’m asking for a gift card to an airline to put toward fare for a trip to observe and/ or collect more fossils and minerals.” – Deborah Painter

“I know it is sacrilege, but I really do not need any rocks, gemstones or crystals. In fact, I really need to sell one or two thousand pounds of stones, but giving these away for holiday gifts is not always a thoughtful or personal gift. So, this year, I am buying my rockhound friends the agate book bundle by Marco Campos Venuti. The two books in this bundle are Genesis and Classification of Agates and Jaspers: A New Theory and Banded Agates: A Genetic Approach. Being a self-confessed agate enthusiast, I find the two books fascinating in their exploration of the origin of these beautiful gemstones and the photos capture some of the most wondrous agate specimens in the world. After reading these books, or just looking at the pictures, I guarantee you will never look or think about agates the same way again.

“This holiday season, I am asking Santa for the Deluxe Hardness Pick Set from mineralab.com. Sure, asking for a specific gift rules out the element of surprise, but it is something I really need in my lapidary studio and it is a gift that won’t need to be returned. This is a replacement gift because I have almost worn out my current pick set. It is an essential tool for me to identify rocks and gems quickly. I already have a specific gravity testing setup, dichroscope, refractometer and other gem identification tools, but the Deluxe Hardness Pick Set is my first line for identifying rough rocks and gemstones. It is not to be used on finished gemstones and lapidary art. Although my old pick set is still working, a new one will ensure accurate testing and I can give my old one to a junior rockhound in need.” – Mark Oros

“My favorite gifts are books, everything from field-collecting guides to the full range of Earth science topics. They don’t wear out and never lose their value or use. I’m hoping to get the Maine edition of the great Roadside Geology series by Mountain Press to add to my home library this year.” – Steve Voynick

“My daughters bought me an Estwing paleontological hammer with a leather grip and had it engraved with my moniker PALEOJOE. That hammer has seen a great deal of use and made some wonderful discoveries. My next wish is for a Marine Corps K-Bar knife and sheath. Believe it or not, it works great for splitting sediment while looking for dinosaur bones.” – Joe Kchodl

“My favorite gift was a UV flashlight that enables me to check out new specimens. Before receiving this gift, I had a little dinky light that was practically useless unless it was completely dark. This light is powerful enough to use while I’m standing up with the room light on. I am pretty certain my friend got it from Amazon. It’s a uvBEAST Black Light UV flashlight. For the holidays, my friends and family know that any type of geode that I do not have is welcome. The quest for this may well be the premise for a new Mission Impossible flick!” – Richard Gross

“The gifts I enjoy most are the ones I give. The first gift is a 350-pound polished malachite from Africa. It was given to the Alfie Norville University of Arizona Gem and Mineral Museum in Tucson in memory of my first wife who was a U of A graduate. The next gift is set to go to the Pima County Gem and Mineral Museum. It is a large mass of schist with several emeralds embedded in the schist and the upper part is a series of carved busts.” – Bob Jones

“My favorite rockhound gift? Art Clay Silver. It provides hours of fun transforming sand dollars and other little marvels tossed up along our local beaches into pure silver jewelry that I, in turn, can give as gifts throughout the year. For this year, Santa, bring more Art Clay Silver! Not to be greedy, but Art Clay Gold would be good, too!” – Jim Brace-Thompson

“My favorite rockhound gift was my first pair of good steel-toed hiking boots that I received for Christmas in 1980 when I was a sophomore in college. I was about to leave for my first real field geology class that January, and it was great to have a pair of boots that did not fall apart in the wilderness. Many of my fellow students had cheap boots that literally came apart at the seams in the mountains, but my quality boots stayed intact. As I recall they were a pair of Timberlands.

“The rockhound gift that I am asking for this year is for as many family members as possible to join me on a rock-collecting trip to the mountains. Field trips are more enjoyable with lots of people, but I will settle for anyone who wants to come. Getting family motivated to come on field trips is often a challenge!” – Robert Beard

“My favorite in my gifts for rock collectors list is an amethyst bookend from my daughter. She bought a pair of them and kept one for herself and I have the other. This is special because she is moving away from home for her first job. It has such a sentiment for me as my first child leaves the nest.

I do have some picks for gifts for rock collectors as the editor. These are great products for rockhounds to consider as they are making purchases this year. The first is an Easy Saw Rotating Clamp (www.easyrotatingclamp. com) for jewelry makers. According to their website, “It features a 360-degree rotating clamp that can securely hold a variety of materials, including sheet metal, carving wax, and coins.” If you do purchase this and make some jewelry with it, please share photos of your creations. I’d love to see them.

My second pick is the Tumble-Vibe 10 (No Drain 115V) Professional Rock Polishing Kit from Raytech (www.raytech-ind.com). This tumbler takes your game to the next level and is designed specifically for rockhounds. It has everything you need to immediately plug and play (minus the rocks).

Last but not least is a faceting machine from Ultra Tec. If you’ve been thinking about learning to facet gems, Ultra Tec offers top-quality machines and superb customer service to help in your journey. I like Ultra Tec so much that I’m often tempted to learn how to facet myself.” – Pam Freeman

This story about gifts for rock collectors appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Pam Freeman.

The post Holiday Gifts for Rock Collectors first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Throughout history, the precious metals gold and silver have been admired for their beauty, hoarded for their value, coveted for their workability, fashioned into jewelry, and coined as currency. But the story of platinum metal is much different. It was once cursed, discarded as worthless and used as a counterfeiting agent.

Platinum Metal

Platinum is a rare, silvery-white metal. Its specific gravity of 21.45 and Mohs hardness of 4.0 make it somewhat more dense and much harder than gold. Although not as quite as inert as gold, it nevertheless does not oxidize, retaining its gleaming, white metallic luster and taking a superb polish. Platinum also has excellent electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance, and catalytic properties, plus a high melting point. Platinum is about as rare as gold but, unlike gold, it is rarely found in economic concentrations suitable for mining. Platinum occurs in some 20 minerals and is also found in nature, usually as silvery-gray grains and nuggets.

Platina

In the early 1500s, Spain’s colonial gold miners, in what is now Colombia, found platinum in gold placers. They roundly cursed this discovery because the metal then had neither use nor value and was difficult to separate from gold. The Spanish named the metal platina, a derogatory term meaning “little silver” and the root of our English word “platinum.” In the early 1600s, Spanish mint workers at the future site of Bogotá, Colombia, dumped large amounts of worthless platina into rivers to create extraordinarily rich placer deposits that would end up being mined centuries later. In 1670, Spanish metallurgists found platina’s first practical use as an alloying agent to enhance the hardness and durability of bronze cannon.

In 1700, metallurgists learned that gold alloyed with platina changed very little in weight or color. Spanish mint workers subsequently began adulterating gold coins with platina and pocketing the displaced gold. To suppress this rampant counterfeiting, the Spanish Crown banned private possession of platina under penalty of death. But when counterfeiting continued, it began offering a bounty for all platina turned in, giving the metal its first formal valuation. The Crown later secretly debased its own gold coinage with platina, using these “special” issues to settle foreign debts.

The Russian Experience

In 1824, Russian gold prospectors in the Ural Mountains discovered the rich Nizhne-Tagilsk platinum placers. The Russian government quickly monopolized platinum mining and refining, then began fabricating platinum jewelry which consumers promptly rejected as a cheap “silver imitation.” Determined to benefit from its platinum, the Russian government next issued legal-tender, platinum ruble coins. But by 1843, the number of circulating platinum rubles had far exceeded the official mint issues because European counterfeiters had been acquiring worthless Colombian platina and striking counterfeit rubles.

Coming of Age

During the 1850s, European scientists took advantage of platinum’s high melting point and chemical inertness to fabricate high-quality laboratory instruments and crucibles. Growing demand soon drove platinum’s price to $1.50 per troy ounce, higher than that of silver. By the 1890s, platinum’s extraordinary catalytic properties that accelerated many chemical reactions had made it the standard catalyst for acid manufacturing and petroleum “cracking.”

At the same time, platinum gained popularity as a jewelry metal when prestigious designers Louis Cartier, Charles Lewis Tiffany and Peter Carl Fabergé began combining platinum’s brilliant, white gleam with the glitter of diamonds and sapphires. By 1905, combined jewelry and industrial demand had driven platinum’s price above that of gold (then $20.67 per troy ounce) for the first time. Breaking the gold-price “barrier” earned platinum worldwide acceptance as a bona fide precious metal.

Industrial Platinum Metal

Platinum demand soared in the 1970s when federally mandated reductions in automotive-exhaust emissions required new automobiles to be equipped with catalytic converters to break down noxious hydrocarbons and nitrous oxides. Today’s automotive converters contain about one-half a troy ounce of platinum in a ceramic honeycomb called “autocatalyst,” which is currently the biggest use of platinum. Eight million troy ounces of platinum are now mined each year, mostly in South Africa and Russia, with lesser amounts recovered in Canada and the United States. The United States’ production comes almost entirely from Montana’s underground Stillwater Mine.

Jewelry Platinum Metal

About 1.5 million troy ounces of 85-to-95- percent-pure platinum are made into jewelry each year. Platinum purity, expressed in parts per thousand, is stated in hallmarks similar to gold karat marks. A “Pt950” or “Plat950” hallmark indicates a composition of 95 percent platinum; the remaining five percent is usually copper or palladium which enhances workability. Platinum’s white gleam complements or contrasts nicely with both colorless and colored gemstones. Popular composite jewelry creations combine the rich yellow of gold with the gleaming white of platinum—a fitting combination for a metal that, in less than 120 years, has gone from rags to riches.

This story about platinum appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Steve Voynick.

The post Platinum Metal’s Rise to Fame first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

What is Fool’s Gold?

Fool’s gold is a mineral called pyrite, also called iron pyrite. Its name comes because it fools people into thinking they’ve found genuine gold.

“Pyrite is usually found in quartz veins, sedimentary rock, metaphoric rock even igneous rock. It has a very cubic form and a nice brassy luster, so it’s confused for gold a lot. There aren’t too many things out there that look like gold besides gold,” said Michael George, Assistant Chief of the Nonferrous and Precious Metals Group in the Mineral Commodities Section of the National Minerals Information Center of the U.S. Geological Survey.

George has been with the USGS (www. usgs.gov) for almost 20 years. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mineral economics from Penn State and his master’s degree from George Mason in geographic and cartographic science.

How Fool’s Gold Differs From Real Gold

Looking at it from a scientific standpoint, fool’s gold and real gold aren’t alike at all.

“Chemically, pyrite is made up of the chemicals iron and sulfur where gold is its own element. Gold only has molecules of gold in it. Pyrite has one iron molecule for every two sulfur molecules. Their chemical compositions are completely different,” explained Cynthia Pridmore, a California Geological Survey (CGS) Senior Engineering Geologist.

Pridmore has spent 33 years with the CGS. Although most of her work has primarily been in earthquake hazards, because gold is California’s state mineral, she feels it’s something all employees should know about.

“Gold doesn’t really have a form, it’s pretty much an amorphic blob when it’s found in nature,” added George. “While pyrite usually has a cubic structure, it usually has flat edges on it. If you see something with flat edges and shiny, you’re pretty much guaranteed that it’s pyrite.”

Simple Tests to Tell the Difference

There are several simple ways to tell the difference between fools’ gold and the real deal. One quick way to tell is if you bite it and it hurts, it’s not gold. However, this test isn’t recommended if you want to keep your teeth!

“This kind of goes back to when you’d watch old movies and you see the gold miner bite on the gold nugget and says, ‘Ah, that’s real gold,’ that’s because he’s denting it with his teeth,” she said. “The gold nugget is going to be soft enough that teeth will dent it. However, if you bite on too many rocks that aren’t gold, you’ll start wearing your teeth away.”

Hardness, however, is one of the easiest tests, but Pridmore has a better solution than the old bite test.

“If you take a metal probe or metal fingernail file or anything that has steel in it and you touch gold, it’ll deform. Kind of like a ball of aluminum foil kind of crushes,” said Pridmore. “Gold is malleable, it’s soft and it can dent easily. If you don’t want to dent it too much, you can dent it lightly and look at it with a hand lens to see the dent in it. The hardness is really important. Pyrite is brittle. You’ll either scratch it or you’ll chip off a piece of it.”

She said another easy way to tell the difference is in color. Pyrite is often described as brassy, but it has a bit of greenish color in it when compared side by side with gold. In the field, you can compare your find to a piece of gold you’ve already confirmed as genuine, like a wedding band.

Both Pridmore and George agree that shape is also a reliable way to tell the difference between fool’s gold and real gold. They both describe pyrite’s shape as cubic. George also describes the edges as straight, while Pridmore describes the crystals of the pyrite as usually being at right angles.

When asked about the most accurate ways to distinguish pyrite from gold, Pridmore suggested panning and George described a fun streak test.

“Gold is heavier than pyrite,” Pridmore said. “If you break the substances up into a fine material and pan it, you’ll see that the heavier mineral is what’s left behind. Pyrite isn’t that heavy, so it’d get flung out of the pan.”

George added that “in Geology 101, we’re taught what’s called the Streak Test. If you take a chunk of pyrite and rub it against a white unglazed porcelain tile, it’ll streak black. It’s very noticeable. But if you use gold, it’ll leave a light yellow streak. All you’re doing is transferring the gold onto the porcelain. It’s really easy to tell. This is a fun test. I used to go to elementary schools and do geology talks, and this was always a fun one to show them. You don’t expect it to happen.”

Other Minerals That Might Fool You

It’s not just pyrite that can fool a person.

“Besides pyrite, sometimes people mistake weathered mica for gold, which is a flaky mineral. But mica is only mistaken when it’s weathered because it’ll usually catch the sunlight. If you see it at a certain angle, it’ll catch the sunlight and reflect back maybe yellowish hue. However, once you get close to it, you’ll clearly note that it’s not gold. It just looks like a flake, like Formica,” said George.

While pyrite (fool’s gold) is the most common mineral mistaken for gold, chalcopyrite also appears and looks like gold, but it’s also brittle and not soft like gold. Weathered mica could look like gold, particularly when you’re panning.

“If you do see gold, you’ll see that little bit of grain in the bottom of the pan with the heavy dark minerals. But mica is sometimes in there, too, because it’s flat and it floats around,” said Pridmore. “Kids get really excited, especially if you’re at the river and you stir up the sand, and you see all those things twinkling at you, that’s mica. It can look like it’s flashing gold at you, but it’s not gold. It scratches very easily. If you take a little metal probe and scratch the mica, it’s brittle. It’ll scratch, but it’ll scratch in crumbs and break into powdery pieces. Whereas gold, if you poke it, it’s going to be soft and not break.”

What’s Pyrite Worth?

Much of the information you find on pyrite declares the mineral relatively worthless. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not used for certain things that can give it some value.

“Back in the ancient times, it was a useful thing to find because it would spark so it was used a lot against steel to start fires. Now, not so much,” said George. “Domestically in the United States, we don’t use it for anything other than pretty rocks, which I guess is a useful thing,” he said. “You’ll often see it as an ornamental rock on somebody’s desk. I’ve got several pieces in my office. It does look nice and pretty.”

Elsewhere in the world, pyrite is used to produce sulfur dioxide to make sulfuric acid. Sometimes it’s used in the fertilizer industry.

Armed with these details on fool’s gold, you should be able tell if those shiny specks are truly gold that’ll put a little cha-ching in your wallet.

This story about fool’s gold appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Moira McGhee.

The post Get to Know Fool’s Gold first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Seraphinite Properties

The mica inclusions give the stone wonderful chatoyancy. The inclusions grow at different lengths, the longer ones give that feather appearance. Other times you get shorter growth patterns in rows that give the mystic forest appearance. The radial growth patterns in this stone are more highly sought after and make for beautiful designs in cabochons.

Finding Seraphinite

Although seraphinite is getting rather scarce to find, it is still available for sale at shows and online. Most of the time you can easily see what you’re getting, as the patterns will be quite visible on the outside. If you are looking for certain patterns and a higher grade, buying pre-cut slabs is the way to go. If you have never cut seraphinite before, know there are some pitfalls with this material. It’s soft and can easily break in the trimming or cabbing process. It also has varying hardnesses, so it can tend to undercut, as well as easily chip on the edges.

Cutting to Enhance the Patterns

When getting started on cutting slabs, there is a general direction to cut. Most of the time you will see radial or partial radial sprays at the bottom portion of the stone. That will give you a grasp of what is top and bottom, so you can cut north to south for your slabs. This will yield the best chatoyant patterns in the stone. I would also suggest cutting your slabs a slight bit thicker than the average stone because of its softness.

This gives you greater odds against it breaking in the cabbing process. Once your slabs are cut, many times you will get two predominant patterns for design. The top portion usually has smaller feather patterns that are tight together. The bottom portion will give you more radial sprays and longer feathery designs. Both sections are great to design cabs with but remember that the solid green areas are harder than the mica inclusions, and will tend to undercut. The lighter the color, the softer that portion.

Cabbing Seraphinite

Once your preforms are trimmed out and you are ready to cab, I would suggest a different routine than cabbing agates or jaspers. I like to start on a worn 80-grit steel wheel, or a 140-grit soft resin, as this material tends to grind away super easily and quickly. Use a soft touch to shape your outside design, then move to a 140-grit or even the 280-grit soft resin wheel to dome the top and clean up your edges and girdle on the cab.

Remember, the lighter the color, the softer it is, so beware when trying to cab thin cabs or long pointy cabs, it can break easily!

Once you have completed shaping and doming the cab on the 280-grit wheel, stop and dry it off thoroughly and be sure you have removed all the scratches by this point. With the mica inclusions running in a certain direction, you will easily see if there are any scratches, as they will stand out going against the feathery sprays.

From this point, start polishing gently on the 600-grit wheel, trying not to put too much pressure on the surface to alleviate any unwanted undercutting. Continue to the 1200 grit wheel and end on either the 3k grit or 8k grit wheel. At this point, it will give you a nice glossy finish where no added polishing compounds are needed.

This story about seraphinite previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Russ Kaniuth.

The post Seraphinite – What to Cut first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.