News

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  • 2025 Dealer List for Gems By The Sea

    The 2025 Gems By The Sea show is September 27th and 28th at the San Luis Obispo Veterans Memorial Hall.  We are expecting the following dealers to participate in the show.

     

    Beachwalker Stones
    Natural stone pendants set in metals including sterling silver bezel set pieces.  Earrings will also be of natural semi-precious gemstone material set in silver.

    Beads Zone
    Semiprecious gemstone beads, freshwater pearl beads

    Buddha Gems and Minerals
    Minerals crystals, carvings

    Christensen Minerals
    Mineral specimens

    Crystal Rapture
    Quartz, minerals, carvings, dream catchers, rocks, rings and necklaces.

    Diamond Diane Consulting
    Minerals and Gems, some sterling jewelry, appraisals and gem identification services

    Ethiopia Gemstone Int.
    Rough and cut opals

    Freeform Lapidary
    Cabs

    Gem Cove
    Jade, rocks, crystals, cabs

    Grandma’s Bead Box
    Beads, findings, jewelry tools, handmade jewelry

    Gray Designs
    Handcrafted jewelry, raw gem material, books, sun catchers, glass art, rocks and minerals, grab bags, kid products

    Rick Hicks
    Specimens, slabs, cabochons

    Kristin Inman
    Sterling silver jewelry with precious and semi-precious gemstones

    Jade and Jewelry
    jade jewelry and gemstone jewelry in silver and gold

    Joy Discovers
    S.T.E.M. kits for kids, educational materials, tumbled stones, natural crystals, fossils, fluorescent stones, wire wrapped tumbled stones & fossils, explorer / collector necklaces for kids.

    Laser Art Glass
    Petrified wood

    Linda Lewis
    Silver and gold jewelry with semi-precious stones and enamels

    Don Moore
    Jade

    Paradise Jewelry
    Sterling silver and hand made jewelry with natural stones

    Perfect Imperfections
    Slabs and rough

    Rocks & Relics
    Minerals, fossils, meteorites, polished stones, decorator minerals and crystals

    Stone Medicine Design
    Hand fabricated sterling silver & gold jewelry made with natural stones and gemstones

    Central Coast Rocks
    Rough rocks, slabs, cabochons, pendants, fossils. earrings, tumbled rocks

     

    During the show we also will have demonstrations of lapidary arts and related crafts.  Examples of their craft work may also be available for purchase. Here are the expected demonstrators.

    Raea Gems
    Leslie Nelson  will be showing how to make simple wire jewelry.

    Mary Rafferty
    Mary Rafferty will be demonstrating faceting of gemstones.

     

     

  • October 9, 2024 Meeting

    At 6:15, junior rockhounds began with a lesson on the layers of our earth followed by a chance to cut open thunder eggs and geodes on a saw!

    The younger kids were helped at the saw but the older kids could cut on their own, with full safety gear, of course!

    These locally connected thunder eggs were beautiful inside and the kids got to keep them.

    At 7 pm, the general meeting began. People showed off purchases from the show and other things collected or made. The silent auction table was resplendent.

    Come join us the second Wednesday of each month! You don’t need to be a member to hang out with us.

  • 2024 Dealer List for Gems By The Sea

    The 2024 Gems By The Sea show is coming up September 29th and 29th at the San Luis Obispo Veterans Memorial Hall.  We are expecting these two dozen dealers to participate in the show.

    Amber Gifts
    Gem trees, cabs, slabs, rocks, jewelry, fossils

    Beads Zone
    Semiprecious stone beads and findings

    Elethea & Cliff Brewen
    Jewelry, spheres, polished stones

    Christensen Minerals
    Mineral specimens

    Crystal Monster
    Minerals, fossils, gemstones, beads & jewelry

    Crystal Rapture
    Quartz, minerals, carvings, dream catchers, some fossils

    Crystalz at Tiffanys
    Carvings, spheres, specimens

    Diamond Diane Consulting
    Minerals and Gems, some sterling jewelry, appraisals and gem ident services

    Gem Cove

    Grandma’s Bead Box
    Beads, findings, jewelry tools, handmade jewelry

    Gray Designs
    Jewelry, art, raw material in rocks, gems and fossils

    Rick Hicks
    Specimens, slabs, cabochons

    Jade and Jewelry
    jade jewelry and gemstone jewelry in silver and gold

    Joy Discovers
    Tumbled stones, natural crystals, sets of geodes or fossils mostly geared toward children

    Linda Lewis
    Fine art jewelry

    Don Moore

    Paradise Jewelry
    Sterling silver and hand made jewelry with natural stones

    Rock Solid Jade
    local jade and other stones, silver jewelry with stones, carvings, rough rock, cabs

    Rocks & Relics
    Minerals, fossils, meteorites, polished stones, decorator minerals and crystals

    Stone Medicine Design
    Sterling silver & gold jewelry made with natural stones and gemstones

    Colton Shultz
    Rough rocks, slabs, cabochons, pendants, fossils. earrings, tumbled rocks

    The Crystal Scout
    Minerals, fossils

    True West Silver Works
    Cabs, handmade sterling jewelry

    Nancy Valentine
    Jewelry and mineral specimens

  • August 14, 2024 Meeting

    This was a great one! At junior rockhounds, Jo taught the kids about how to best display rocks in a display cabinet for the upcoming September show.

    The main event included a hands-on tutorial from Leslie for making gemstone wire wrapped rings! Even kids got to participate with the adults in making their rings.

    The silent auction table had some awesome choices.

  • July 10, 2024 Meeting

    Colton demonstrated the flat lap to the junior rockhounds. They each got a chance to try it out and learned about switching out the wheels to finer grit levels. Then they got to paint rocks during the general meeting.

    The general meeting had the usual refreshments, awesome raffle prizes, and great silent auction options. They watched a video of mineral explorers after discussing club business.

  • May 8, 2024 Meeting

    Junior Rockhounds and Pebble Pups received their first certificates, patches, and backpacks! 

    Jeff Bissely presented on meteorites with an excellent presentation and collection.

  • April 10, 2024 Meeting

    A great showing for both the junior rockhounds program and the general program! In junior rockhounds, the kids learned about the three types of rocks: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Then they learned about mineral identification: the Mohs scale, a scratch test on tile, and an acid test (which didn’t fizz as much as we hoped so we’ll try again next time!). They are on their way to earning their badges!

    The general program, a special presentation by Scott Johnson, Geology Faculty Member from Cal Poly – about “Local Geological Formations” was very informative. These included the Franciscan Complex melange made of many types of rocks. The volcanic Morros are younger and popped up through the Franciscan Complex.

  • March 13, 2024 Meeting

    Junior rockhounds is taking off! We had nine kids join the second meeting, where they learned about jaspers and piezoelectricity m quartz.

    San Luis Obispo gemclub meeting

    The general meeting, which was packed,  included a special presentation from the O.G. rockhound, Jim Mills, “Rockhound Nostalgia.”

    Some bad rock shop dinosaurs in Jim Mills presentation

    We had the awesome silent auction and the raffle. Join us! Everyone is welcome!

  • February 14, 2024 Meeting <3

    Today we held the very first (of many) junior rockhound programs at 6:15 pm before the general meeting! Kim led with an intro to quartz. The kids got to keep specimens in their newly gifted rock boxes. This may have been the very first meeting, but a good number of families showed up. All the kids said they wanted to come back!

    SLO Gem and Mineral club meeting

    After junior rockhounds ended, the general meeting began at 7 pm. A lot of new people attended.

    Silent auction at SLO Gem and Mineral club

    The silent auction had great stuff and the raffle prizes (if you attend, you get a ticket) were excellent. Then we heard about the huge (250 vendors) Pow Wow show in Quartzite, Arizona from Jeff. This was followed by show and tell. Lots of specimens were given away!

    SLO Gem and Mineral club show and tell

    Come and join some fellow rock nerds. Everyone is welcome!

  • January 10, 2024 Meeting

    Some great options on the silent auction table!

    Silent auction at SLO Gem club Today was a day for show and tell. Many members brought in cool finds and things they needed help identifying! There was petrified whale bone from Santa Barbara county, Benitoite (California’s state gemstone) from Benito County, lots of quartz, UV rocks, and more!

    Show and tell stones, minerals, and gems

    The first junior rockhound meeting will be happening in the February meeting at 6:15pm before the main meeting starts.