Hello!
We hope you are all doing well. The weather has warmed up nicely. It was darn cold here for the first week. We have been busy running around finishing orders, and visiting with many of our friends who do the actual mining of the crystals and minerals. We were also able to visit with some of our family who happened to be in town at the same time. A wonderful treat for us!
For all of you Rhodochrosite lovers, this blog will be right up your alley. I would say the Rhodo, and the Lattice Sunstone have been our most unusual finds this year. Day 12 was our last day and it was filled with jewelry that is created by the best of the best in the industry. Many of the photos are of the Spectrum Award Winners from the AGTA. The Spectrum Awards are equivalent to the Academy Awards for the jewelry industry. Please note that my pictures do nothing to show how fabulous these pieces are in person.
Once we get back to Boulder, I will be writing more blogs with photos of many more of the crystals, minerals, jewelry and carvings that did not make it into these blogs. Please email, text or call us if anything appeals to you. info@handsofspirit.com, 303 541 9727 office, or 720 352 3224 my cell.
First picks are always a big to do. You can see Karen in her retro blue coat waiting in line 40 min before the opening. The line wrapped around the building and continued on. We need some linebackers to accompany us!
Here are the three gel Rhodochrosite necklaces. I can't tell you how happy we are to have these. The quality is exactly what we like to see when a piece is being made into jewelry. Each necklace is graduated which also makes it more valuable. I don't know about you, but we are suckers for Rhodochrosite, as you will see later on in the blog. The middle necklace is spoken for, but the other two are available.
No, this is not candy, so please don't eat them. I know they look tempting. This is the coveted mined out Rainbow Fluorite from Argentina! Look at the polish on these gems. such a great surprise to find. Always fun when some old rough comes out of hiding.
The fire is a bit hard to see when this piece is not being moved, but hopefully you can catch some of the red and orange glints coming off of this Quartz cluster. This is Anandalite, also known as 7 Rainbow Quartz or Aurora Quartz This is the Earth's version of Opal Aura Quartz. The flashes of color are natural where as the Opal Aura Quartz is a human process where the Quartz is plated.The flashes of color in the Anandalite are said to come from Rhodium which is actually what is used to plate white gold jewelry to make it look bright white.
How cute are these two? We had to partake in the famous Sonoran Hotdogs this year. Clearly the boys enjoyed themselves.
More owls! These three brilliant colored Lapis owls will be joining the Labradorite owl from the previous blog . We have hired them on as our night watch owls.
We would love to have brought this home, but it was a bit large. This sphere is a Mookaite Jasper and is larger than a basketball so you have some perspective.
One day they will make the cameras in our cell phones even better, so I apologize for the bad photo. This was the new moon coming up over the mountains. As always, so much prettier in person, but maybe you can imagine it a bit.
In our search for a special order we learned an interesting piece of information. The purple Fluorite that comes from the Elmwood Mine, TN has not been found for 15 years! The combination of Dogtooth Calcite with Fluorite is also very rare. If you have a piece of the Fluorite, make sure to hold onto it.
For those that did not see this pile of candy on FB, I wanted to share it here as well. This is Kunzite and Hiddenite which are varieties of Spodumene. The dark purplish pink pieces made me drool. I could not put them down, but because they were on the more expensive side, I had to walk away. I put the post up and had some interest, so I sent Bruce and Luke back the next day to get a few custom orders, and to see if the large two tone piece was still available. They called and said it had sold. I was sick. I had failed to follow one of the oldest lessons in the book; If you can't stop thinking about it, you need to get it. Well, Bruce and Luke filled the orders and found two additional gemmy pieces to bring back to the Crystalline Temple.
Later that night, we were having dinner with my Aunt and Uncle who came down from Seattle. When I came back from washing up in the restroom, I had a treat sitting on my appetizer plate! My wonderful hubby found my piece and surprised me with it.
Here she is! She is actually 3 tones. There is a patch of blue at the top that does not show too well in the picture. Lucky me!
Some more rare and exciting finds that we stumbled upon while looking for a special request. Ginger Quartz and Fluorite crystals in Quartz. The oval Ginger Quartz is spoken for, but the piece above it will be available. This is the real true Ginger Quartz. Be very careful if you are ever purchasing Strawberry or Ginger Quartz that you are getting the real stuff! 99% of the pieces out there are not the real material.
Feed a dinosaur chocolate and you will have a friend for life!
Our new pet!
Agate is a stone that is often dyed. the dye takes very well to the muted tones of natural agate, creating brilliant coloring. When we saw these pieces, we thought they were dyed at first. However, after speaking to the miner, we found out they were natural Agates from Kazakhstan.
Tourmaline slice the size of my palm! Had to share this, though we did not get it.
Another interesting picture to share. You can see the six sided stars in these natural rubies that were polished into cabochons while keeping their natural crystal shape.
I did say we were Rhodochrosite crazed right? Wait until you see these pieces! I can't stop playing with them.
Some of the smaller pieces closer up for you to see how yummy they are.
I picked this piece up right away, then put it down, then Luke picked it up later so we decided to add this one to our collection. Look how it gels with a light under it! The opposite side has the same markings but smaller.
These next pictures are for your enjoyment. As I said in the beginning, many are Spectrum Award winners. This is a Morganite, a variety of Beryl.
Bi-colored Tourmaline with green, yellow and pink Tourmaline surrounding it.
Pearl and Diamond pendant.
Faceted Rhodochrosites, I wish the color had come out better, they were more salmon colored than pink.
Paraiba Tourmaline and Diamond earrings. One of my favorite pieces.
These were my other favorites. Ruby and Diamond earrings. The workmanship was mind boggling.
A piece that Karen has had her eye on for a few years. These are faceted rondelle gemstone beads that are about 16mm at the largest. Again, I really wish these photos could show how beautiful these pieces are.
Not sure where one would wear this stunning piece, but I would not say no to it. Pink Tourmaline and Diamonds.
Opal and Diamond Necklace. The opals have deep blue play of color or fire.
A piece I fell in love with. Pink Fluorite! I have never seen this shade of Fluorite before.
I thought you may enjoy seeing these paired gemstone sets. Jewelers take these and set them into jewelry.
Last but not least. This was another favorite. Large Pink Kunzite in Gold. What a magnificent representation of this stone.
Inukshuck and Winston woke up with us this morning, and helped us load up the car. They say goodbye and can't wait for their next adventure!
Luke and I have been driving all day to get home. As I was coming to a close with this blog, the sun was setting over a snow capped mountain down by Walsenburg. A perfect ending to a wonderful trip.
Thank you for having some fun with us while we made our way around the world. We appreciate the support you have shown us. We love being a part of your lives and hope that we have brought some smiles to your faces. Make sure to stay tuned in the coming weeks. We will have so much more to share with you.
Signing off,
Mirabai
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