Rock Show Goodies!

Lots of new goodies! I tried to be smart about things this year, and was very selective on what I brought home, unlike last year where I was just walking around in a daze of "OMG TEH SHINY!" and bought everything I saw. Even if I had no clue what to do with it or HOW to do anything with it. Most of last year's haul... I still have. 

Silly excitable shinygrrl is ... silly and very excitable.

This year it seemed several Rockhounds didn't make it. There were a couple/few I really wanted to hook up with again but couldn't find them. Bummer that. Rumor had it, maybe they will be at the next one. Fingers crossed. Prices were a lot higher this year too, I think. At least from what I remember. This year's show was rather pricey. 

Boo on pricey. 

Oh well. It is what it is. And I DID get some fabulous goodies. The stash looks mostly like this...

Top: Moss Agate, Bloodstone, Jasper (2) Cacoxenite, Mahogany Obsidian
2nd: Suglite, Jade, Charoite, Labradorite (3)
3rd: Mohogany Obsidian, Blue Lace Agate, Ribbon Obsidian, Aquamarine (2), Ruby Zoisite
4th: 2 rare cabs that I can't for the life of me remember the name of. All I can remember is... it's not mined much anymore and...starts with a B. Darn it!! I've been looking thru all my books and it cooooould be... Binghamite.

The show stoppers for me were finding 2 more Aquamarine cabs. I didn't expect that at all. And oh my are they gorgeous! The other was this Cacoxenite. A rare stone and just incredible. I've been reading up on it a bit, and I /think/ what I have is an Amethyst, with cacoxenite inclusions which is the gold striations. It also has some black in it, which could be hematite, from what I'm reading. Stone of awesome.

Cacoxenite

I also got several slabs. Something I want to try this year is larger trees; window and wall size. Trying not to get too carried away until I figure out how to do it, I got 5 slabs of stone to try with, one was a beautiful piece of green and white Ocean Jasper, with sparkles in it and a couple small druzy spots on it.

Ocean Jasper

It's somewhat transparent so it may be good for a window tree.

What I hope to work up to is putting a tree on this baby. It's a slab of Labradorite, about 7" with a whole lot of blue and green flash in it. Last year I saw these everywhere! This year... it was the only one I could find.

Labradorite

Seems Labradorite is in high demand or something. It was everywhere last time, beads, cabs, slabs, you name it. This year... hardly any. :( I think there's another show in July so maybe it'll be there.

Good times at the rock show. Now... time to get a twistin' and a wrappin'.

Later taters!