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).

Picture of the Day - Muh Spoils

These are my spoils from the 26th Annual Rockhounds Roundup Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show.... I spent more than I intended but still stayed within my means and picked up killer deals in each case. See if you can spot each of these: Ocean Jasper (Madagascar), two lone red quarter crystals (Morocco), red quarter crystal cluster (Morocco), biconoid core (Templeton, CA), smokey quartz scepter (Hallelujah Junction, CA), three doubly-terminated quartz crystals (Tibet), petrified dinosaur bone (Utah), lapiz lazuli (Afghanistan), petrified coral (Florida), and Roman glass bottle fragment strand (Afghanistan). Photo 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).

26th Annual Rockhounds Roundup Show

Today was Day One of the 26th Annual Rockhounds Roundup Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show hosted by the Santa Lucia Rockhounds. I was the dealer chairman again this year, the third year this show has been held at the Mid-State Fairgrounds in Paso Robles, CA. This collection of images does not represent the entirety of our great dealer line-up as some images I took of our other dealers did not turn out well enough to do them service so they are not included here by no fault of their own. Check out our competitive display cases HERE. Check out what I purchased at the show HERE. Check out something I was given at the show HERE. Check out the coolest gemstone I saw at the show HERE.





My friend Keith Olivas of Art of Stone out front just as he requested.


We had a solid group of volunteers at the welcome table all weekend long.


Member Wayne Mills was our "Rock Doc" both days of the show.

My friend Pam Spears represented Sister Stones in their usual spot.

  Redstone was a new addition this year.

Janet Harrison as Miriam Medicine Woman was back again this year with her special vibe.

My Hafid Aboubker from Morocco was new to our show this year and a welcome addition.

Sandra Mendoza was back in our show this year after a one-year hiatus. Here, her husband Mark hams it up with my friends the Judds.

Scary Gary from Tulare hamming it up in the Gary's Jewelry and Lapidary Supplies booth.

Kirk Brock of Rock Solid Jade is always rock solid in any show.

Michael Santos brought his A-game StarStruck Meteorites extraterrestrial inventory again this year which topic was the theme of the show.

Jen and daughters represented the Rocks & Relics booth this year.

A spry Walt Lombardo brought the books and other goodies again this year.

Richard Sittinger brought his Wonderworks inventory to our show for the first time and we were blessed to have him here.

Mirwise Azam debuted his Afghan inventory this weekend and we hope to have him back.

My friend Mike Lyons was back this year and brought his beautiful inventory of gemstones and jade.

Greg Howell reconned our show last year and made a down payment on this spot a year in advance and occupied it this weekend sharing his splendid opal inventory.

Tom Demaris and granddaughter rocked their outdoor booth again this year... it was nice having him back after a one-year hiatus during which we had no outdoor show aspect.

We had a second Moroccan dealer this year whose name escapes me, but he was outdoors while Hafid was inside.

We were blessed to have Sal Ramirez represent Mexican minerals for us again this year.

Kaihua Wen of Nature Little Stone debuted this year outside and showed off his botryoidal prehnite pride and joy.

Barbara Grill was back with his gorgeous crystals and other goodies.... I picked up a killer Ocean Jasper polished stalactitic cluster for a great price in her booth.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).