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.

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

Some great options on the silent auction table!

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!

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

The club met early at 6pm with an incredible potluck spread. After chatting and chowing down, it was time to pick a rock themed gift from the pile. Anyone who brought a gift could grab one and then could trade at the end.

Who knew we had so many members!?!

After eating and gifts it was time to formally elect the new officers.

President: Rick Hicks steps up!

Vice president: Kim Noyes

Secretary: Evelyn Lopez

Librarian: Don Moore

Show chair: Mary Rafferty

CFMS rep: Dan Manion

Treasurer: still need someone!

We will start a junior rockhound program by Kim, Don, and Mike at 6:15 pm on meeting days. Then done by 7 into general meeting! The program for January will be jasper in all of its forms.

We had a great showing for the meeting this month, which included volunteering people for elected positions within the club. Kim and Mary have been wearing too many hats for years and were ready to hand over the reins.

• Dan signed up for CFMS liaison.
• Mary continues as show chair.
• Kim will cover meeting planning, donations, emails, field trip coordination, and start a junior rockhound program. He reluctantly continues as president.
• Mike is considering taking on the junior rockhound program where kids can earn badges and prizes.
• Tammy was volunteered to continue as vice president in absentia.
• Robbie is willing to take on treasurer if he can have a better list of the duties.
• Jeff continues as editor and secretary.
• Tamar continues as webmaster.
• Hospitality – no takers.
• Jim as correspondence secretary.

We watched a movie about Oregon sunstone.

People shared rocks and crafts. Little Colton won an award!

There’s also the silent auction each month with so much cool stuff for practically pennies.

Our September “Gems By The Sea” show met our goals as a fund raising event.  Now we would like to donate a portion of the “Gems By The Sea”  show profits to our San Luis Obispo County K-12 schools in support of education.

If there are materials on your wish list that you would like in order to enhance your lessons — books, DVDs, equipment, samples etc. – the San Luis Obispo Gem And Mineral Club wants to hear from you.  We will consider requests up to a maximum of $500.  Preference will be given to items directly related to earth sciences or the role that mineral resources have played in history as well as today’s society and then to other STEM related items.

Email treasurer@slogem.org with your needs. Please provide a description of what it is you are requesting as well as approximate costs.  Include your name, school email address, school name, school mailing address, grade(s) taught and the contact information for  the school principal.

The San Luis Obispo Gem and Mineral Club wants to make a difference in the education of our kids.

 

The 2023 Gems By The Sea show will happen in just three more weeks.  We are expecting these two dozen dealers to participate in the show.

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

Bruce Autolitano

Beads Zone
Semiprecious stone beads and findings

Elethea & Cliff Brewen
Jewelry, finished rock, rough rock

Crystal Monster
Minerals, fossils, gemstones, beads & jewelry

Crystal Rapture
Crystals, quartz, minerals, dream catchers

Nicolette Deichler

Diamond Diane Consulting
Gemstones, some jewelry, appraisals and gem ident servies

Eloina’s jewelry creations
Stone jewelry, mineral specimens, UV flashlights

Rick Hicks
Specimens, slabs, rough rock, jade, jewelry, supplies

Jade Coast Jewelry
Jade jewelry – earrings, pendants, rings — gold & silver

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

Karin Gray
Jewelry and gem stones

LaserGlass Art Corporation
Petrified wood, mineral specimens

Donnie Moore

Paradise Jewelry
Various jewelry, hand made, artifacts

Mary Rafferty
Unique faceted gemstones

Redstone Minerals
Rocks and fossils

Rubicon Crystals
Carvings, towers, rough stone, polished stone, specimens and jewelry

Rocks & Relic
Minerals, fossils, meteorites, polished stones, decorator stone items

Sister Stones
Gems, minerals, amber, meteorites,fossils,jewelry, beads

Stone Medicine Design
Sterling silver & gold jewelry with gemstones

True West Silver Works
Cabs, handmade sterling jewelry

Nancy Valentine
Jewelry and mineral specimens

Classified – For Sale to support the club, which is a nonprofit focused on earth sciences education.

Facet Machine – Ultra Tec V2 faceting machine.

Ultra-Tec is still in business in Santa Ana and has a good reputation for customer service. And the Ultra Tec faceting machines are considered to be upper end machines. This machine also has an assortment of accessories, a set of topper cutting laps and a lot of polishing films, plus some other laps (some of which may be suitable only as paper weights). There are a couple of parts which may need to be replaced from the manufacturer unless they turn up in the buckets of rocks we still need to sort before the show. (I found dops and an index wheel mixed in with the rocks. ) Asking $1000 for club members.  [SOLD]

“Seattle” Fac-Ette GemMaster

This machine has a number of laps, an assortment of index wheels, a tool box with some of the smaller accessories such as dops, allen wrenches, wax and so forth. Unlike the portable table models of that era which have a cone drive mechanism, this type has a belt drive and must be mounted as the motor drops down below the base. It has been used for demonstrations in the past for local club shows. (Photo is from one of those events.) Along with Ultra Tec, the Fac- Ette machines are the high end machines and both have scores of cutters who would not consider switching to a different machine. The manufacturer for the GemMaster retired and closed the business, so these machines now only appear on the second hand market. Asking $1500 for club members.