Unutterably Silly Marc is missing!!!!!!

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

wow, that sounds brilliant !! post photos ? i'd love to see those.

Here we go with some collection samples.



(Left to Right) One type of sea urchin, a sponge, and the lower half of a crab's claw.




(Clockwise) A piece of petrified wood from the ranch. A large Oyster, a Small Oyster (original carbonate), and another type of sea urchin.




A nautilus inside. The original outer shell is gone, but you can see the inner separations, and the indent in the side. Nautiluses are not common in the strata, ammonites (their cousins) are.

I like you new avatar, :leer:

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

aha, okay ! thanks. how is that formed ? sediment or inclusions ?

(i still don't get the jokes. maybe i need a nap. that sounds really tempting right now. perhaps i should make some tea instead. arg, work.)

What Pshrynk doesn't understand is that we aren't joking.

[pshrynk]

Picture rock: avatar: salacity: just too much to think about.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Here we go with some collection samples.

pretty !! sea urchins are beautiful. do you have any ammonites ? if they look like nautiluses (nautili ?) they must be beautiful too.

I like you new avatar, :leer:

heh. no leering, it's Art. and you can thank vr for it.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Picture rock: avatar: salacity: just too much to think about.

ah. so in fact i didn't get the jokes because i am far too pure of heart.

(i could still do with a nap though.)

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

pretty !! sea urchins are beautiful. do you have any ammonites ? if they look like nautiluses (nautili ?) they must be beautiful too.

heh. no leering, it's Art. and you can thank vr for it.

Not the I've personally collected. Ammonites around here are Texas size, and I don't have the room. (I've seen and touched one over 1.5 meters across.) The nautilus in the picture is 15cm and weight about a kilo. I have some commercially collected ones that are small, but I was showing off what I'd collected...

Smart Doggie... Check you avatar thread for some real art (courtesy of Roty)

[mjh215]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

LOL! Me too! They say I'm like a bird, because I have to see and touch everyone's jewelry. I hope you are still friendly enough with the GF that she can show you where the big shiny rocks are lurking. Let's talk ROCKS!

We are still friends, but she is in Texas. Other then the Smithsonian, perhaps, the nicest mineral collection I've seen was when I was down there with her and visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I was drooling over the Beryl's and such that looked like they came from Superman's fortress of solitude...

You are close enough to NC to go pick up some fist-sized pretty amythests in NC. www.gemmountain.com

Probably 10-12 hour drive from me, heh. There was a Quartz mine upstate, in PA, but it has been shut down for a couple years now. I was actually going there one weekend and we had the remnants of a hurricane pass thru flooding most of the state. http://www.raytowneinc.com/CrystalPointDiamondMines.htm

Next year, probably in the late spring, I'm going to take Faceting and Tim is taking Silversmithing at the lapidary college.

I have a few books on silversmithing. I have the GIA diamond course, bout it on faceting. I almost got ahold of a faceting machine, but was short that week. I do have a diamond bruting lathe, which is an interesting story in itself.

We will probably go on a field trip with the rock club up to Franklin, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Remember to bring a good UV source, worlds largest source of fluorescent minerals. Also about the most diverse mineral deposit in the world, though some recent Russian digs have started to come up with a huge amount of unique material. http://www.franklinmineralmuseum.com/

I've got a gorgeous cabachon pendant of picture rock, set in silver, that came from there. It's not the usual brown desert scene that comes from Oregon, but it is blues and greens, and it makes a fairy glade scene. I got the cab for $5 at a rock show, believe it or not! It's so unusual that I believe it would sell for upwards of $1000 or more - but they would have to pry it out of my cold dead hands to get it away from me!

Today, I'm wearing a brand new pendant that I didn't make because I can't facet. It's a rubellite, emerald cut, ~1 ct, 14k gold, that I found at Gem Mountain. You can get all sorts of sparklies out of the dirt there!

Some of those jaspers are amazing. I have a few little agate pieces. Some blue topaz, a trilobite , but mostly I just admire others. Haven't really gotten a collection going yet. Probably cause I drool over museum grade stuff and have a hard time settling for a thumbnail specimin of rhodolite, lol.

Me and the ex-g/f sometimes get on chat and start looking at sites like http://www.exceptionalminerals.com/ together. It's a good way to kill a night.

-MJ

[pshrynk]

Ummm... Anyone happy that we found Marc?

[mjh215]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Ummm... Anyone happy that we found Marc?

Did we find him?

-MJ

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by mjh215

Did we find him?

-MJ

Him or a reasonable clone, yah.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Not the I've personally collected. Ammonites around here are Texas size, and I don't have the room. (I've seen and touched one over 1.5 meters across.)

Smart Doggie... Check you avatar thread for some real art (courtesy of Roty)

"real" art ?? what have you got against surrealism ?? (think very carefully before you answer that...)

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Ummm... Anyone happy that we found Marc?

Originally Posted by mjh215

Did we find him?

-MJ

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Him or a reasonable clone, yah.

well that's all right then.

[mjh215]

I meant rhodochrosite, not rhodolite...

-MJ

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by mjh215

I meant rhodochrosite, not rhodolite...

-MJ

OK, now I have to look up rhodochrosite. I betcha it's something pink!

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by RWood

Swaps? What (or who) are we getting for Marc?

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i can't think of anyone crazy enough to swap something for marc.

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Ummm... Anyone happy that we found Marc?

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Him or a reasonable clone, yah.

Well, *I*'m sure glad we found Marc. How can I continue to crush on him, if he goes missing? I would have swapped my entire collection for him. Sheesh. I'm lost without a crush-ee.