Rocks, the Ryder Cup and Glimmers of Autumn - A Perfect Sunday

Yesterday started out crisp - sweatshirt and light jacket crisp for me with my felted gloves for extra warmth, a light leather coat for DH who has a cooler internal temperature comfort level than I do. We headed over to the State Fairgrounds to the new location of the Minnesota Mineral Club's annual rock sale and show. This has been a favorite show of ours for decades, and we sorely missed it last year when everything was shelved for a year of recovery. But, although it's in a new location and some of the outdoor vendors didn't opt to exhibit this year, the general consensus was that the change in location has been positive, the sales and attendance is good, and people are also enjoying the Mini-Donuts and the Taco food trucks that parked in the lot behind the exhibition hall. If we had left a bit later, DH would probably have purchased a taco - they were declared a tasty success by vendors I spoke to. 

I'm starting out with photos from some of the outdoor 
vendors. Here you can see pieces of slabbed rock in 
identified bins, under water. Water is essential to really 
see what the grain of the rocks look like, so most vendors 
will either have them underwater like here, or provide 
lots of spray bottles hanging around their rocks. 

There are some vendors who exhibit cut stones, although 
I'm more likely to buy my faceted gemstones at a different
show. But I don't really need any more stone - slab, 
slice or faceted. I have a BUNCH of it. But I love stone, 
and just can't resist a good rock show. 

We started with the outside dealers - we always hit them first because they usually have the larger selections of raw stone, and because they're a lot of fun to chat with. This year most of them had more polished and finished stone, so DH was disappointed, but I found a lovely slice of Scenic Jasper for $5, and a really nice slice of Plume Agate for $8. I sometimes prefer slices instead of cutting my own - it allows me to dive into something without having to wait a few hours for the slab saw to do its' work. 

There were quite a few vendors exhibiting finished work using 
stone. Here we've got rock skulls, wands, bracelets, and 
various statuary. Nobody had what I really wanted, so I'll 
have to make it myself. Not too hard, but I don't have all of 
the materials. I'm not in a rush, though. 

After the outside (which DH deemed disappointing because most items were finished or polished), we headed indoors. In years past there had been a small entrance fee of $2, but this year they requested donations of $1 each, although admission was actually no charge. We donated, of course. There was a LOT more space for the vendors than their old location had available, and lots of room for the informational exhibits and demonstrations too. We wandered up and down the aisles, losing each other sometimes, then finding each other again. We finally ended up in the northwestern corner where one of the raw rock guys had set up. DH was in heaven, and I indulged as well. 

This kind of display is DH's idea of heaven, and I succumbed 
as well. Bins and bins of raw stone, the prices calculated by 
the weight of the stone. Some can be quite pricey - Larimar, 
Turquoise, Blue Lace Agate - those were quite a lot more 
expensive than the more standard Jaspers and Agates. Still, 
these were all fairly priced, and there was a lot of variety.
We spent serious time and bought a nice selection. 

I'm not sure if DH broke down and bought some Tiger Eye 
or not. I know he was looking at some and had some 
weighed out for himself. I like Tiger Eye, but I have plenty 
of it, so I didn't indulge in this one. 

By the end of a lot of picking and choosing, I had two pieces - a nice piece of Fluorite with great color in enough of a band that I think I can play with the saw and get some interesting slices to polish, and a chunk of Fossil Coral which, (I was assured by their stone guy), would have the hexagonal coral shapes throughout the piece. It might be really fun when cut, shaped and polished, so I took a chance. My two pieces were less than $25, and the rest of the money was all spent on a pile of stone that DH had chosen. He'll bring bags home from the shop today and we'll label them and get them put into our storage bins until we can work on them when we've got new oil for the slab saw. 

I did indulge in a nice piece of Fluorite. It had 
wonderful color change, and I'm hoping it'll survive 
cutting and polishing and become something beautiful. 

I also indulged in some Fossil Coral from Morocco. I have 
hopes for this stone, although I don't really know what it's 
going to look like after it's cleaned up and polished. It could 
be quite interesting. 

I've peppered this post with photos, but they're not that much to look at (admittedly). I did treat myself to an "Inspiration" piece - a finished piece of stone set into an intarsia stone framework. I learned how to do intarsia several years ago - I'm thinking 2014, 2015, or 2016. I took a three day class in intarsia for jewelry at Bead & Button, and ended up buying my 6-wheel stone grinding lapidary set from the teacher who was selling all three of the machines we were using in the class, at a really good price. I had driven to the show that year, so put the wheels into the back of my car (I think it might have been my PT Cruiser at that time) and took it home with me. I love my polishing/grinding wheels, they work really well, and I loved learning the technique. Now I want to use that technique to make some pieces that have been perched in my mind. Time to play with my notebook and get designing. It might be awesome, or awful, and there are many directions I can go with it, but that's the fun of it all. 

We're getting the beginning of Autumn coming in now. The 
willow is past it's bright green Spring and it's more mellow 
mid-green Summer, and now has hints of olive coming through.
Against the amazing blue sky with those light, 
sculpted clouds - it was one more reminder of why I love 
living up here so much. I might hate the winters, but 
the other three seasons more than make up for it. 

We returned home and watched the rest of the Ryder Cup (yippee for the USA - a pretty awesome three days of amazing golf). As I was driving to Chipotle to get dinner, I saw the big willow across the main street from me hitting sunlight just perfectly to show the beginning of fall against an amazing blue sky. So I end my photos (and long narrative) with a quick shot of this wonderful tree - one of my favorites in the neighborhood. Have an excellent Monday, be kind and please stay safe. I'll be back tomorrow.