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Post by paulshiroma on May 17, 2012 23:10:44 GMT -5
Hi All: I'd like to jump into this as well! Here's a bit about me (following Helen's lead): Background: My Dad bought me a little hobby tumbler when I was about eight. Then we discovered that the field across the street had a sand stone stratum full of fossil shells and snails. I was hooked. He and I even took a one-day trip to El Paso, TX years back to do some rockhounding. Even now (he¡¦s 84), we talk rocks and when my parents are down, we dig around the piles in the garage and chat. I've still got those fossils I found 40 years ago and my boys still find a few when we visit my parents place in Walnut Creek. My Interests: On the rockhounding-side, I'm more into the collecting/polishing/tumbling for specimens and show pieces vs. wire-wrapping or jewelry making. I'm not that creative so my few attempts at wire-wrapping were pretty pathetic . My boys and I head out about once-per month to do some rockhounding around SoCal and we¡¦ll occasionally plan field trips where we can bring along the other kids from our Bible Study group from church. It gets pretty amusing trying to herd five or six boys between the ages of six and ten. Other hobbies which have now been shut down or "de-funded" to fund the current addiction: Reef and freshwater aquariums, Lionel model trains, gardening (although I still have to mow the lawn). Rock Equipment: A couple of Thumlers tumblers. An older Covington 10" combination unit (10" saw, 2x8" diamond wheels, expando drum) that I've slowly been refurbishing with a lot of advice from the forum members and purchases through John (JSGems). Ultimately, I'd like to get the unit to the point where I can polish pieces for shelf-display at home or use as birthday gifts. A Dremel which occasionally sees service as a rock hounding tool. What I'd like to See: Since I'm more into the specimen/collecting side of this hobby, I'm more interested in un-cut rocks or unpolished slabs. What I can Contribute: - Locally collected agates and jasper from around SoCal; pet wood; obsidian.
- Occasionally mineral specimens, such as actinolite.
- Various slabs - generally any size.
- Basic pre-forms since I know others can do something better with them than I.
- Un-cut rocks, both cutting sized and tumbling rough. Sometimes with an end cut off so we know what¡¦s inside.
Thanks for staring this up, Helen! Paul
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Post by paulshiroma on May 17, 2012 23:14:46 GMT -5
I like this idea. We can use the candy as environmentally friendly packing materials rather than those foam peanuts (like in "Bolt"). Great idea! Just fill any extra space up with, oh, I don't know, Candy. :-) Everybody likes candy.
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Post by paulshiroma on May 18, 2012 8:52:58 GMT -5
Helen, let me know if you want some raw rocks, slabs/tumbling materials or wrapping stuff sent out early to help fill the box at the start. I'd be glad to. Hi Sue:). My only hesitation with that is that I may not have enough to fill it. BUT... I DO have some great uncut rock varieties, and I'm relieved to know that there are going to be participants with saws already. So sounds good, Med box it is:). Helen
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unclestu
Cave Dweller
WINNER OF THE FIRST RTH KILLER CAB CONTEST UNCLESTU'S AGUA NUEVA AGATE
Member since April 2011
Posts: 2,298
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Post by unclestu on May 18, 2012 9:46:36 GMT -5
Funny that you mention candy as a packing aid. It reminds me of a story that I read with regard to packing pop corn. It seemed that back in the day a person discovered that the movie theater would throw away the old pop corn as it got a bit stale. He saw the potential of it's use in his shipping business and made arrangements to collect and discard all of the old pop corn from the various theaters in his area. Thus the birth of packing pop corn. One thing to consider if adding candy to the box and that is the reaction to heat/humidity as the box travels from stste to state. The softer type of candy that might have a cushion effect might also tend to melt and make a mess. Just a thought to consider. Stu
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Post by helens on May 18, 2012 10:11:47 GMT -5
Hi Paul:)! I'm so glad you decided to join us:)!! I have the box almost 1/2 filled now, and Don (JakesRocks) said he was sending some things to help start the box, and Tony (Catmandewe) has also offered to help with starting the box too. I invited both Tony and Don to participate rather than donate, just because that way, they get some goodies too. I have not heard back from Tony yet, but both just want to help out the newbies, and probably don't have time to directly participate. I will be shipping out the Newbie box to start on Monday the 28th of May. On May 24, I am going to see a rock sale, where she's sellng Florida Agates, and I wanted to get some for the box too (seeing how the first box is coming from Florida, it should have some Florida rocks!). There might also be a slight delay on the 2nd box, because I'm assuming that I will be buying whole geodes, and the person getting the second box (Wampidy-Jim in case I need things cut), will most likely have to slice 1 or 2 geodes. (they are not cut, she doesn't have a saw, and they are BIG - some are the size of a full milk crate she said, and I couldn't get that in the box even if I had the whole box! I'm going to try to get her smallest geodes, but til I see them, I can't guesstimate how much room I need yet). So at this point, it doesn't look like I will need additional help to fill the box beyond the 2 offers that are coming, Don's and Tony's:). Also, it looks like we will have full participation soon. Meta99 and TonyTerner are going to join us, and I'm adding them to the list now, but they will be posting soon too:). Meta99 (Sue) lives near the Ohio Flint Ridge Flint, and traded me a whole box full a few months back. She doesn't JUST have Ohio Flint River Flint, she has the SUPER SUPER colorful kind (Sue's box was what started me on the whole 'picture rock' obsession, the colors in those rocks are sunsets and deserts)!! TonyTerner is the template guy, that so many have gotten template patterns from for years, and I invited him to the newbie box after asking him to send me the template pdfs too (he's been so generous doing that) , both are 'old timers' in rocks, and I'm thrilled they want to participate with us!! (I put Sue in the newbie section because I don't think she's equipped for rock cutting, she's just been hounding a long time). This is going to be an amazing box! It's crossing the ENTIRE USA (not just continental!), from Florida to Alaska and back again:)!! Once we are full, I'm going to reshuffle the shipping order, so everyone, particularly the newbies, can have a good national cross section, so the box will have to make that cross country trips at least 2x so those in California aren't only trading with other Californians if they are all clumped together for shipping. I'll figure this out, logistics are one of my specialties:P. I will start taking photos this afternoon of what I am packing (will not get all the photos done til closer to shipping because of the generous contributions from Don and Tony, the Florida Agate which size I can't yet predict, so probably having to reshuffle the box a few times before it goes out). To start, I made each participant something really cute to remember this first box by. Will at least post that later tonite or tomorrow, because that's going in the box no matter what:). I'm soooo excited, and I hope everyone else is too!!!
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Post by helens on May 18, 2012 10:12:42 GMT -5
Oh... no room for candy!!! This is going to get STUFFED very fast. If I have extra space in the box (unlikely), Jim will fill it to the top with Wyoming slabs anyway:).
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Post by Bluesky78987 on May 18, 2012 11:02:33 GMT -5
This is going to be so much fun, I can't wait! I'm going to a $2 slab sale on Sunday (Paul, you going?) so I should have an ample supply after that too in case there's any room in the box when it comes to me! I can't wait to see what the individual surprises are, that's so sweet of you!
Are there any other beginner (or interested in trying for first time) soapstone carvers on the list? If so I have something fun I can throw in.
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Post by helens on May 18, 2012 11:14:06 GMT -5
I just added Greyfingers to the list, and our roster is technically full (we are at 15 people)!!
I am still waiting on Tony (IdahoRockShop) to get back with me about being the last 'old timer'. I know he's always busy carting TONS AND TONS of rocks around every day, but I'm hoping he (or Chris his lovely wife) might want to participate just for fun, and there's still 1 spot in the 'old timers' section if he wants to:).
Once I hear from him, I'm going to get the final shipping sequence reposted, and redo the first post:).
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Post by helens on May 18, 2012 12:06:56 GMT -5
JUST recieved Don's box, it's a SFRB full of beautiful small slabs! THANK YOU DON!!!
Will take pix of that later today, still working on notes for mapping:).
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Post by helens on May 18, 2012 12:12:59 GMT -5
Update: Meta99 can't do it after all:(. We have 1 more spot if anyone's interested:).
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grayfingers
Cave Dweller
Member since November 2007
Posts: 4,575
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Post by grayfingers on May 18, 2012 12:21:26 GMT -5
Okay folks, as noted above, I am in as well. Most of the material I have to offer up is small slabs of Montana agate and jaspers I have collected. I have some black Yellowstone obsidian, a few baby Brazilian slabbetes and could put together some mixed tumbling rough. My interests lie in agate, jasper and pet wood. I have a couple tumblers and a tile saw, no cabbing machine but I make more cabs and pendants than anything. Kudos to you Helen, for spearheading this adventure.
Bill
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unclestu
Cave Dweller
WINNER OF THE FIRST RTH KILLER CAB CONTEST UNCLESTU'S AGUA NUEVA AGATE
Member since April 2011
Posts: 2,298
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Post by unclestu on May 18, 2012 12:40:06 GMT -5
Hellen I am glad that there is no room for candy in the box because with my sweet tooth I would most likely emd up swapping slabs for sweets LOL You are doing a fine job with this Stu
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Post by Tonyterner on May 18, 2012 12:47:09 GMT -5
Spoke with Helen through PM's and she threatened me if I didn't join. ;D Just kidding. I'd like to join in on this one to help out the newer members here. Hopefully the box isn't too full when I get it. I don't need any more slabs but have plenty I can give away.
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Post by helens on May 18, 2012 13:43:27 GMT -5
LOL! Tony, I did not threaten you! But I'm glad you and Greyfingers have joined us too:). This is going to be great!! I'm trying to match up what people say they most want with those who posted what they had the most of... so if you haven't covered that yet, please do. I'm also thinking proximity matters less in the routing, because the USPS takes 2-3 days to ship almost anywhere Continental. The schedule is not set because we don't know if we are adding more people yet. If anyone drops tho, it will mess up planning, so all changes I hope are made BEFORE I ship the first box leg out. I will post the final, WITH a picture routing map, after our participant list is finalized. We have ONE spot left!!! Note: Someone said that with traveling boxes, people can be added later. Not for this one unless someone drops. The reason is, I want to put a little souvenir for everyone in the swap, and if someone adds later, they won't get one. Plus, the routing is planned to match recipients with what they have said they most wanted. So while we could a couple more people BEFORE the first box ships, I'm not adding anyone after. The 'old timer' list are the most flexible... I'm taking NO account of what you like, only what you have, so you'll be shipping to a newbie who could use more diversity, with the assumption that you have tons of rocks and don't mind the possible work of having to slab raw rocks that are not specimens, or repacking the box if it's falling apart:). In other words, being 'old' means you get more work!! Don, I haven't pawed through your box yet to know for sure, but I will when I go take pix of it:). Sorry for note edits. I do not edit once someone posts after me for date consistency, but til there's another post after mine, I often change posts to clarify (cept for the 1st post on the thread which is going to get edited a LOT). Anyway, edited out who's shipping to who until we know the full list of participants and have all the data:).
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Post by helens on May 18, 2012 16:46:42 GMT -5
I took some pix:). First, pix of Don's generous box:)!! I think one of the slabs broke in 1/2 and a chip came off another, but overall, they were intact and wonderful!! Since I won't get to see the box again til the very end, I pillaged the slab on the top right, and one of the 1/2s of the broken one to the left. I don't have a saw, so getting rocks flat is not something I can do myself, so I'm replacing the slabs with these 2, both are bigger than Don's (the below is a thick end cut that can be cut in 1/2 again, and similar to Don's, but I have no way to cut it in 1/2): and this (bloody basin - it's either cabbable or specimen slab): These are the small gifts I made everyone. 1 pair per person. The earring wires are Sterling Silver, stamped 925. Everything else is plated Silver (can't make memory wire in sterling). I figured earrings would work for everyone, and the men can give something to their wives/daughters/moms for putting up with them:). The reason I think they'd make a great souvenir is because you can put 2 small tumbles/pieces that you got from this box, and put them inside the spirals as a keepsake. Since I have no way of knowing what rocks you are going to keep, I have not filled them, leaving you to fill them with small bits of whatever favorite rock you got:). Also, the stones in them can be changed out at will. I am sending 2 sizes, bigger or tiny. The tiny is great for those who don't like bigger earrings, AND can double as charms for a charm bracelet. The teeny ones are ADORABLE. Pick the size you prefer, there's a pair for everyone:). Here is how they look filled with small pieces of my glass: Here's with several pieces of glass (yes you can fit more tumbles in). Now you have something to put TEENY tumble fragments in:P: Below are some things I have already put in the box already: Specimens - These are OLD OLD specimens, the Barite Rose is the Oklahoma state rock... but I have not seen a single specimen this big anywhere... most of them are 1-2"... this guy is 4" in diameter, and collected in the 1960s. The little other thing is a pyrite specimen which is interesting because it's growing with quartz crystals too:). Snakeskin Agate samples - one of each color, red, yellow, white. These are so cute! I got 2 of them from Tony, and the white one from Christopher1234, and both of them may have more if you didn't get it: Odd little geode inside - not brightly colored, but interesting for a crystal collector maybe: 1/2 a thunder egg with crystals. I'm definitely sending this one, maybe more, depending on box space: Unique from me small cab sized slabs (please leave enough so everyone can get one, I put more than 15 pieces in, teeny pieces don't count) of Kayanite IN Mica Shist. These will cab, but only by hand, do NOT tumble it will undercut because the mica is softer than the kayanite. The few people locally I gave small pieces to for cabbing sold them instantly at their show... metaphysical people go nuts over it! I am sure you haven't seen this stuff before, it is not available on the market. It's rare to see Kayanite in the 'feather' form in a rock before it's chipped out, so it's pretty neat. The Mica has a silver sheen that's gorgeous and unique too. For those who don't know, metaphysically, Kaynite is considered the purifying rock that is used to 'cleanse' other rocks of bad vibes. Mica Shist is an amplifier of the effects of any other rock. Combined, it's supposed to be a super duper mental/focus enhancer that clears all bad vibes from the surroundings. HOWEVER, I am not a metaphysical rock person, just telling you what the properties are, you take the info however you want. Closeup: Some huge tumbled OLD stock Owyhee Picture Jasper that I bought at the Estate sale (everything is from the 1960s): 15 pieces of VERY vintage odd jewelry from the 1960s that I also picked up from the estate sale (EVERYTHING was from the 1960s there). I thought you guys might like it because they are either rock or rock related. You can take as many as you'd like, but replace them:). The 3 small crosses are malachite, the big one is crysocolla I think, the 2 dark green are real jade insets, the bull skull is turquoise composite, the cloisonne sand dollars are enamel, and I thought someone would find the metal 'arrow heads' interesting, especially for a knapper. The 2 tomahawks are really odd... there's a teeny silver 'coin' inset into each one... I wondered if they meant anything. I would like Bill (Greyfingers) to have one because of his indian heritage if possible. Will bag with his name on it. Here's a closeup of the tomahawk 'coin', anyone have a clue who's teeny head that is?? (it's all wet because I was shooting the photos of the rocks in the same spot first, and my hands were already wet - it's all dry now:P) Here are the slabs/tumble pieces already in the box, including the closeups above (still sorting stuff): The above are a variety of different things, and each one is interesting in its own way. The hunk of agate in the front for example is a 'phantom' I think, it's got shadows and things going on inside. Everything else has a really strong color or has really strong plumes, and everything in the rock bag should take a high polish. Now with the rocks, I'm still sorting and putting in, so I will add to the photos as we get closer to shipping date (May 28) I haven't started on jewelry findings yet either, and of course, I'm getting Florida Agates for the box, and Tony's still sending his donation box. Before I ship, I will take a group shot for the main front page too. I think the box will be pretty full:).
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meta99
has rocks in the head
Ohio Flint Ridge flint
Member since October 2010
Posts: 540
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Post by meta99 on May 18, 2012 16:46:58 GMT -5
OK, Helen is persistent if nothing else! So I guess I am in (unless someone is dying to take my spot!) I'm real busy at the moment but as it may take a while for the box to get to me, I'll find a way...I did this last year half way through as I didn't have a good enough slab blade to feel good enough to participate. I've been here almost two years so I'm somewhere between "new" and "old"...that goes for age as well as time on the board I have a lot of different things...slabs, cabs, tumble rough, specimens (many of the same as kap as we hound together!), and cutting rough. I have a faceter, a Frantom cabbing machine, several 10" slab saws, and now tumblers (both rotary and vibe)! I rock hound for specimens, slab, cab, tumble, wire wrap and facet. I really have quite a bit of stuff, so leave me enough room to contribute as my dear husband might kill me if I bring home lots more stuff! I go by Sue so we need to see if Bluesky78987 goes by Susan or Sue...if she is "sue" then I'll be meta! Sue/meta99
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Post by Bluesky78987 on May 18, 2012 16:53:57 GMT -5
Ha, You can be Sue, I'll be Susan.
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Post by helens on May 18, 2012 16:56:04 GMT -5
Awesome Sue!!! Ok, Box list is DONE!!! Only waiting to hear from Tony (Catmandewe) now:).
Guys, since you posted after I put it up, I just wanted to let you know that I posted a partial list of what's going in the box. Still have not gotten to packing findings, glass, and more rocks yet:).
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Post by helens on May 18, 2012 18:05:04 GMT -5
Ok, Tony (Catmandewe or IdahoRockShop) is IN:). Working on map now:).
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Post by kap on May 18, 2012 19:11:18 GMT -5
Helen you know that May 28 is a holiday and the post office will be closed right
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