Urban Arts Festival - 2013

We are excited to participate in the Urban Arts Festival this year.  This year it will be held at the Gateway Mall and is free to the public.  Expect to find us along with 100 other artists, musicians, and fun demonstrations.  There will even be a community mural for everyone to paint on.

This festival is all about the unique culture found in Salt Lake City.  We hope to see you there this July for a fun afternoon.

Come Visit this Summer

We would like to welcome all of our friends to our new home this summer...the Wasatch Front Farmer's Market at Gardner Village.  We are looking forward to meeting everyone at this great venue in West Jordan, Utah.  Located at 1100 West and 7800 South, Gardner Village has been a favorite shopping spot for our family for many years.

Gardner Village is currently celebrating its 33rd anniversary and is hosting a number of fun events.  You should check out their fun birthday celebrations that are going on all through the month of May!

Gardner Village Farmer's Maket

The farmer's market will start on Saturday's in June and run through October when Gardner Village's famous witches appear.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Biggs Jasper - Stone of the Month

One of the first stones that really excited me was Biggs Jasper.  The story of this material being discovered by a road crew and the local rock hounds quickly grabbing up as many of these stones before they were buried under the new roadway and bridges has always captured my imagination.

For a complete telling of this unique tale, visit this post from the rockhoundblog.com:  History of Biggs Jasper

Biggs Picture Jasper - Bookend Slabs

Blue Biggs Pendant

My husband has recently cut some of our blue colored Biggs Jasper.  This got me excited all over again about the stone.

 I am always looking for a new way to frame a lovely picture like this without detracting from the image.  In this case I went with a simple 14 kt. gold filled setting let left a row of twisted wire around the bezel of the cab.  This gives the setting a vintage look, while the smooth wire over the stone has only simple curves to follow the rolling hills patterns.

I hope that this unique pendant will be the highlight of someones collection and help them fall in love with this distinctive Oregon stone.

Addition - 11/27/2014
The images in of slabs in this post are from private collections that we have encountered through the years and taken pictures of.  These stones are not for sale.  We do not have rough slabs for sale.  Custom wire-work pieces are available for sale when I can part with one of the few finished cabs that Robert has cut from the limited quality stock we obtained years ago.

Quartzite Trip

Desert Gardens Welcome Sign

The cold days of February have settled in and we are looking back fondly to the warm days we spent in Arizona gathering rock for the upcoming year.  As usual, we were greeting by the colorful sign of the Desert Gardens Gem and Mineral Jewelry Show.

Every year it takes a few days to walk through all of our favorite vendors booths to discover the new treasures of the year.

Malachite Dealer - QIA POW

We spent one day at the annual QIA POW in Quartzite.  Here we found some beautiful Malachite that we can't wait to turn into some beautiful finished jewelry and display pieces.

Filigree Agate

We also enjoyed visiting with some old friends like Cadaco Gems.  They are currently mining some of the most unique materials from Idaho.  We really love the light designs and beautiful colors found in their Filigree Agate.

Robert is currently cutting some of our latest finds for me to wire wrap this spring.  Any preferences if this material should be set in silver or gold filled wire?