Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Saddle Mountain

On Saturday April 25th a small but merry band of rockhounders met up with Tony Johnson at the Shell station in Mattawa. There were six of us total. The weather was a wee bit on the nippy side with a very brisk wind blowing but that was better than the snow flurries we encountered at Snowqualmie Pass. We climbed into our vehicles and followed Tony to the collecting site. Tony pointed out a few areas to collect and Jim Sawaya and I settled on an area that has petrified wood with a reddish hue to it. The digging was relatively easy and we started to find limb casts pretty quickly. We realized that the best pieces were in a very narrow area so we concentrated our attention there. We soon realized that we had way more than the 25 lbs. each we were allowed so we did some serious high grading and left a lot for future rockhounders to find. We didn't even have to fill in our hole because someone else wanted to work it. As we proceeded to head back to my Jimmy some sort of insect flew into Jim's boot and stung him. We ran into a guy who asked us what we were looking for so we showed him what we had found and pointed out some areas to dig and what to look for. He thanked us and walked back to his truck. When he came back he had a couple Fat Tire Ales which we graciously accepted and proceeded to toast a successful day. The gentleman again thanked us for our help and left. About this time Tony wandered back and four of us decided to head for the diatomaceous earth pit for some opal.
When we got there the wind had really picked up. After searching around a short while I managed to come up with three softball sized pieces that weren't real fractured up and a piece that weighs at least 50 lbs. The wind really started kicking up dirt and it looked like a rain storm was trying to move in so it was decided to head for home. It was a great trip too bad the rest of you missed it. Rock on!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Rife Lake

Jim Sawaya and I decided to try an area new to us today. So this morning we headed south to Rife Lake, more specifically Mossyrock Dam. Yet again it was cold and rainy as we headed out but being true rockhounds we went anyway. One of my employees had recommended the spot and after seeing some of what she found the last time she was there it wasn't hard to decide to go. With some vague directions we drove to the spot without too much trouble, except for the part where we drove right past the parking area. Once we got turned around we pulled up and parked. Now I've been to a lot of rockhounding sites but this was one of the few I've encountered that had portapotties and another bonus, they were pretty well maintained.
We headed down the stairs, yes another first for rockhounding, hopped a wall and started walking the boulder and rock strewn shoreline. I was told not to pay too much attention until we had walked a ways as most people stopped and hunted fairly close. So with an ever watchful eye I picked up the paced and gingerly moved on. Sure enough as I got further away I started to notice lots of boulders and rocks with tiny blue agate nodules in conjunction with albite in it's mass form. As I moved further along the nodules started to increase in size and I found some workable pieces that were blue-gray in color with nice fortifications. About this time Jim got a call on his cell from his daughter. She was running an extremely high fever so we decided it would be best to head back to town. I found enough quality agate to warrant a return trip. As a brief note albite is a feldspar and is the main component in granite. It does form crystals but not real commonly. I hope to find some in future trips and I know quartz crystals have been found there also. My fishing gear will get packed also as the fishing looked to be pretty good there. Rock on, Mark Baumann

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

New Lapidary Arts Division at the Puyallup Fair

Clay Denny has been instrumental in getting a new division developed this year at the Puyallup Fair in the Hobby Hall. The classes and prizes within the new Lapidary Arts Division Y are:

Class 1st prize is $10.00 and 2nd prize is $5.00
6700 GOLD/SILVER FABRICATION
focus on lapidary arts
6710 OTHER METAL ART to include casting
or freeform design metal, enamel art,
metal filigree with focus on lapidary art
6720 CABOCHAN CUTTING/POLISHING
6730 FREEFORM CUTTING/POLISHING
6740 CARVING/INTARSIA
6750 GEM TREES, TUMBLED STONES
6760 FLINT KNAPPING
6770 FOSSIL DISPLAY
6780 ORGANIC GEMS DISPLAY
6790 INORGANIC GEMS DISPLAY
6800 PRECIOUS GEMS DISPLAY
6810 SEMIPRECIOUS GEMS DISPLAY
6820 CRYSTALS DISPLAY
6830 OTHER LAPIDARY ARTS

There must be at least 3 entries per class for any judging and prizes to be awarded. You may only enter 1 item per class, but you can enter as many classes as you wish.
Additional Awards will be:
Grand Champion – Purple Rosette plus $100 premium
Reserve Grand Champion – Lavender Rosette plus $25 premium

Look for more information in the Rock-A-Teer on how the club can help you in getting your entry ready. One idea is to have hands on classes that focus on developing your entry, or fine tuning your skills in Gem Trees, Silversmithing, Lost Wax Casting, Intarsia, Wire wrap or Cabochon cutting. There is a Division for Jewelry which has a class of Wire/Metal work where any Wire Wrapped item would qualify if class 6710 did not. We will try to get some additional detail around that craft and where those entries would be placed. Display area is to be no larger than 12” x 12” x 8”, so if you are thinking about creating a fossil or gem display, please keep that in mind.

Submitted by Clay Denny and Dana James