Yes I confess. I am a gemstone and rock junkie. It started out slowly. I began designing jewelry using copper and sterling. Right away I knew that gemstones were going to be part of the designs. In the beginning I learned about a few basic stones and used them exclusively. Amethyst, malachite, turquoise, tigers eye, sodalite, rhodochrosite and picture jasper adorned most of my earlier designs.

Every year I attend the Tucson Gems Shows, I make it a practice to add at least one new gem to my arsenal. As a result, along came red creek jasper, polychrome jasper, serpentine, jade, druzy quartz, coral (ok not technically a stone but still a staple in many designs), onyx, sardonyx, charoite, amethyst geodes and probably a few more that have slipped my mind! Each time I discover a new gem, I research it to find out more about where they are mined and some of the history and legends behind each gem. As a result, many of these are featured in my YouTube channel.

Fast forward to today and my life with gemstones is exploding! I realize now that even though I knew a little about gems and rocks, I was only taking baby steps in this arena.

Today I continue to add new gems and yes RAW rocks to my collection. Because many of these gems are new to me I continue to learn . It turns out there are endless varieties of gems and rocks because each time another element in added to a gem it is renamed to include either the name of the mine or the person who first discovered it. What can I say? I am HOOKED and never plan to look back. Investing in many gemstone and rock books helps my education. To date my gem and rock collection now includes peridot, blue chalcedony, rainbow solar quartz, Baltic amber, crazy lace agate, leopard jasper, labradorite, iolite, citrine, garnet, ruby zoisite, moonstone, rose quartz, petrified palmwood root, moss agate, carnelian and more. Life is good.

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