CATEGORIES

PEARLS: Tears of a Mermaid

In the world of gems, pearls are unique. Unlike other gemstones, pearls form inside a living creature and are a true miracle of nature

7 Essential Stone Setting Tools

A Shopping List to Get Started

EXPLORING A Lapidary Renaissance

Digital Shift Evolves Lapidary Arts

Becoming GIA Certified

The Journey and the Rewards

Las Choyas: GEODES 101

Geodes are popular no matter what the type. It's hard to resist the mystery and challenge of what's inside these rather plain-looking round rocks.

Tucson's Year-Round Mineral Offerings

The Tucson Gem & Mineral Show is the hub of mineral-related activities at the beginning of each year.

PALETTE FOR THE PAINTED DESERT

A geologist once described the Painted Desert as a \"sedimentary circus.\"

STONES for Love

What to Give to those Special in Your Life

WRAPPED WITH wire

Expert Advice for Getting Started

THE PERFECT 640

As a renaissance in jewelry and lapidary work has been taking place, it's a perfect time to focus on faceting.

BRACHIOPODS: SEASHELLS OF THE ANCIENT SEA FLOOR

Brachiopods are one of the most common and recognizable fossils found around the world.

HEMIMORPHITE

Hemimorphite can be found all around the world predominantly surrounding zinc mines.

DIG IT!

Collecting Beyond the Rock Shop

Family Travel

Unearth the Unexpected at Penn Dixie Fossil Park & Nature Preserve

MINING New Jersey

The History of the Franklin & Sterling Hill Mines

FOR THE Love OF Sand! Become a Psammophile!

While rock and mineral collectors often seek the biggest crystal ever, true wonders exist at the microscopic level.

Pink Opal

For many years, the only deposit of pink opal was found in Peru. Then in 2011, Glenn Archer of Australian Outback Mining discovered a new find in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, just east of the coastal town of Carnarvon.

The Rumbling, Bone-Tumbling

"Coo" of T. Rex

Top 10 Magenta Rocks

Lapidary Materials to Celebrate the Pantone Color of the Year

SERENDIPITY EQUALS A MONTANA AGATE

Serendipity is having an apparent aptitude for making discoveries accidentally.

The LA BREA TAR PITS: A Journey to the Ice Age

Los Angeles is the land of palm trees, movie stars, Malibu and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"Lucky 13"-A New Find of Purple Apatite at Maine's Pulsifer Quarry

A patite is a favorite collector's mineral with a dizzying array of beautiful colors and interesting crystal habits.

Gold & the Hard Rock Summit Show

The Hard Rock Summit Show has become the top fall mineral show in Denver around which other shows have clustered.

ICELAND SPAR: THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS

In Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, author Lewis Carroll used the title phrase as a metaphor for peering into a world where nothing was quite what it seemed. When it came to understanding the mysterious nature of light, the \"looking glass\" for early scientists was optical calcite or Iceland spar.

Raised in a ROCK SHOP

The Influence of Rock Collecting & Lapidary While Growing Up

EXPLORING Fantastic Cavems, Drive-Through Cave

Plus a Bucket List of Caves for the Physically Challenged

Bye-Bye, Glaciers?

Concerns about the loss of glacial ice vary. Downstream from the Himalayas, one billion people depend on run-off from existing glaciers to fill their rivers and meet their water supplies.

To Find the Beginnings of Complex Life on Earth

Search Life Living Today!

Dinosaur Mummies

Perhaps More Common Than Imagined?

A New Tale for the Ankylosaur Tail Club

They weren't just for clobbering T. rex, after all!