Charlotte Crawford has been shopping!

The Last Rose of  Summer

Being retired in Arizona is really nice in February -  it was 81 today and sunny!  Since my jewelry design business depends on finding new and interesting gem stones, metals, etc. the annual International Gem & Mineral Show(s) in nearby Tucson always fills my supply needs.  The shows ended yesterday which is good as my money supply had also ended!  I had 3 Extension friend visitors (Carol Schlitt, Janet Burnett and Kathy Dothage) to share the fun and also jewelry friends from Colorado and Washington came as well.  There are about 40 shows all over Tucson and I made a few of them.  Each year is different as to what "finds" one makes.

 I found Tiffany jasper which ranges in color from a neutral color to purple with black lines running through it (like Tiffany glass).  I discovered argonite Drusy-natural faceted stone with a rainbow of flashing colors.  Really cool stuff for pendants.  Found a large Australian opal with fire in one corner.  And for me, this is the year of rich blue lapis from Afghanistan.  The darker blue purple the color, the higher the quality and I found some grade AA natural pieces that are beautiful in their natural unpolished state which is not the usual case.  One Afghan lapis seller sharing a booth with another vendor asked me to take his picture in his booth and send it to him in CA so he could send it on to his wife back in Afghanistan.  He obviously was not high tech and I am glad to be of help so his wife can see he really was working in Tucson!  Our Gem Shows are a real international experience!

 Another yummy rock is turquoise and I found some lovely natural Kingman Mine (AZ) blue turquoise with the help of Janet and Kathy.  A rare turquoise is from a mine in central AZ called the Sleeping Beauty mine.  It is mostly a rich blue, almost baby blue color with some matrix.  I was shopping for sugalite and lapis when I heard the guy in the next booth say "Sleeping Beauty".  My ears perked up and I am now the proud owner of a few beautiful strands of Sleeping Beauty turquoise.  Now the fun of designing jewelry using this beautiful blue turquoise.  Then there are the pearls-not regular round pearls, but stick pearls, cornflake pearls, irregular pearls, natural pastel pearls, oval shape, etc.  I made a ring from a stick pearl today and the long flat pearls make a nice ring.  Found lots of interesting copper beads and chain too for necklaces and bracelets.  What I did not buy was the multi-thousand dollar strands of pearls, the rough natural strands of diamonds or tanzanite (one very small strand last year will do me for a while).   I am thinking of making a turquoise pendant to donate for the NEAFCS auction in Albuquerque this fall.  Turquoise just seems appropriate.

Well, I could go on and on about cool "rocks"/gem stones, but I'll resist.  Hope whatever your retirement interests are, you are having as much fun as I am.  Truly God's rocks, my humble inspiration and hopefully my customer's joy makes for a meaningful creative outlet in retirement.  That and our travels which is a topic for another blog entry.   Looking forward to hearing from all my IL friends.  Thanks to Joy and the committee for making the blog happen.   Charlotte Crawford