Picture of the Day - My Bumblebee Jasper

In my previous POST I stated that in my next post I'd show what Diana March original wire-wrap necklace pendant I acquired last weekend at the 2nd Annual Spring Cambria Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show and here it is. This is not the best image I can take but I got a wild hair to take this as the sun was setting using the sunlight of that time of day. In fact, this was the last sunlight of Spring 2017 as Summer Solstice 2017 arrived at 9:24 p.m. PDT tonight. This is a gorgeous pendant made of Indonesian bumblebee jasper (which features arsenic-bearing orpiment or realgar depending upon if yellow or red-orange), my very first piece of this material to own and it is not a mineral specimen but rather in a piece of jewelry. This signifies the change in my character and tastes from purely collector of specimens to more and more a wearer of stone jewelry. Diana created this piece to sell at this show and it was the first thing in her booth that jumped out at me and it made the strongest impression of anything she brought and she brought many amazing things. What's next on my list of things I saw in her booth I'd like to later add to my nascent collection of wearable stone can be seen HERE. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - My Diana March Wish List

For several months now the idea of acquiring a Diana March original piece has grown in my mind as a higher and higher priority in life. She is my favorite wire-wrap jewelry artist and until the past year or so, I have not really been a jewelry-wearing kind of guy. A few years ago I commissioned her to create a custom wire-wrap around a stone I provided which finished product you can  see HERE. However, that is not the same as a Diana March original wherein she selects the stone or fossil or artifact and creates custom jewelry around it with her amazing eye for design and respect for the stone or fossil or artifact. Her motto is "Always honor the stone" which she does with religious conviction and faithfulness.

After missing a few Cayucos/Cambria shows, she and Max were back this past weekend for 2nd Annual Spring Cambria Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show. Nobody was happier to see them than me. In my next post HERE I will show you what I acquired today. For now, here in the photos above and below is the short list from which I desire to acquire (God-willing) one such piece (and yes, those are meteorites) when she comes back into town at the end of next October. All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

26th Annual Rockhound Roundup Display Cases

Here are the competitive display case offering from the 26th Annual Rockhounds Roundup Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show hosted by the Santa Lucia Rockhounds at the Midstate Fairgrounds in Paso Robles, CA, this weekend. To see the dealers and other elements of the show go HERE.

Outer space gemstones..... olivine (peridot) inside slice of pallasite meteorite from Russia.... and behind it is a backlit chunk of Libyan Desert Glass.... this was in my favorite booth at the show.... it is also featured in the next two images below showing more of the booth.... but it did not win most popular.... there is no accounting for taste I suppose! Note: I am not sharing the name of the owner so as to protect his collection!

Jim Mills' fossilized pine cones are awesome!

I love collecting shark teeth like these from the very geologic deposit from which these came.... Bakersfield area northeast of town.

Nick Sherwin's agate beautiful slices.

This was the winning entry in the display case competition.... the Rock Mafia Dons won again!

David Nelson once again brought his florescent minerals to show off and they looked as great as ever.

I was shocked to learn today that Orcutt Mineral Society member Sandy Berthelot recently died.... I am so saddened by this.... what a sweet soul. RIP!

More amazing meteorites.... really BIG ones! Note the Widmanstatten pattern within the sliced specimen.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Latest Jewels Of The Earth By Diana

This past weekend at the 54th Annual Cayucos Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show I had the privilege of renewing my acquaintance with Diana March and her awesome husband. She is my favorite wire-wrap artist and whose work is the only jewelry to grace my body which is saying quite a bit about her work given I am not a jewelry person. A year ago I shared her then inventory HERE. I am updating you all as to her latest creations which are very much on par with what she was doing a year ago. She is a great metal artist but the key to her art is in her own words on her website: ALWAYS HONOR THE STONE! Do enjoy the following images accounting for my shortcomings as a photographer and do be cool and acquire one of these pieces for yourself.

*Note: Be sure to check out Main Event and Rock Photography Set XIV.

Lapiz Lazuil

Columbian Amber

Megalodon tooth Florida.

Various metallic minerals such as botryoidal Hematite.

Ammolite from Canada.

Russian Pallasite

Petrified Wood from Madagascar

Amethyst stalactite slab from Artigas, Uruguay.

Elbaite

Rhodochrosite

Boulder Opal from Oz.

Malachite from Katanga, Zaire.

Megalodon from Florida.

Sikote-Alin Meteorite from Russia.

I love the reddish Amethyst from Thunder Bay.

Precious Opal

Russian Pallasite slab.

Dioptase at left and Chrysoprase at right.

Fossilized Mastadon or Mammoth molar.

Garnet on Quartz.

Precious Opal

Ammolite Ammonite from Madagascar.

Sikote-Alin meteorite shrapnel from Russia.

Moldavite from Cech Republic.

Precious Opal

Agates including Crazy Lace at right.

Russian meteorite slab showing Widmanstatten Lines.

Malachite from Zaire

Precious Opal from Oz.

Africa-shaped pendent.

Labradorite from Madagascar

Amethyst stalactite slab from Artigas, Uruguay.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).