DESERT - VENTURES Part 2

DESERT VENTURES - Part 2

Continuing on from the Arizona trip thread. We have returned back from the International Gem & Mineral Exhibit. This event, by the way, is the largest of it’s kind in the world. When I am there, I can hardly believe some of the specimens that I am seeing. The words - awe inspiring, take your breath away and phenomenal - easily wash through my psyche about a thousand times each day we are out scouting for treasures.

Natureʼs magnificient theatre of spectacular colours and textures are present everywhere you turn. While we are cruising around, I have to remind myself - oh yes we do have a mission here. To not get lost in this theatre of wonder is a challenge for our small studio team. The combination of the heat and the luminescence of the colours makes up for a cocktail of chilling out more than staying on course to find the list of minerals we are shopping for.

Every trip we have ever taken we are always in hot pursuit of at least one rare gemstone that is hard to source. Last year we were looking for rubies. Not just any rubies either, we wanted the purest raspberry colour we could find.

Buying rubies in the rough form contain a green outer matrix - outer layer around the stone. What we wanted was a ruby that had less of the green matrix. Finally on the last day we did find a smaller scaled stone with the potential of a colourful ruby. Of course being rough, there is always an element of risk involved. sometimes cracks or imperfections are not obvious until the cutting happens. With this ruby we got lucky.

We often get asked - well how do you find the specimens you are after?

What many people dont realize is that to the novice buyer, this event holds a mecca of ideal gem investments, yet in reality, considering the calibre Lyle is wanting to work with, there are only a handful of miners who have a quality of gem that Lyle would consider acquiring for his rough stone inventory. I was thinking while wandering about, going from simple kiosk to massive tents set up as museum like interiors, itʼs too bad that we couldn’t just cut a lot of search time and use a phone App to find our ideal gems.

There are 2 or 3 catalogues one can search through. Sometimes we use them to get a general idea of where some of the Miners are located. Yet, here is the crux of the matter: Even when we come across our familiar Miners we have done business with in the past, there is still no guarantee they will have available the most perfect gem we are searching for.

This year our major investment and most time consuming pursuit was to find a gorgeous, richly coloured blue Aqua Marine gemstone. This gemstone is often used to create cabs in rings. In other words it can be sourced, but in small pieces. What Lyle was after at this marketplace, was a fist sized Aqua Marine. Interesting to note if a Miner did have a piece that was this kind of scale. Due to security reasons they would not display it or show it in a case with a for sale sign.

No, this size of a specimen would only be hidden in the back of a room somewhere. Or not available at all, we would have to go home empty handed, which has occured before. This was not the first year we were seeking this particular gem. One year we had come across a pretty big slab, with a massive price tag, too big of an investment for us to even imagine taking on. Since that year we had not come across anything of the caliber in a small size, more suitable for the projects we had planned. I should add this exhibit that sweeps through the whole of the city of Tucson, includes motel and exhibit ground, plus convention centre spaces. Where to begin is always our question at the start of our expeditions.

Long story short about day 3 after scouting through many small rough quarry like set ups. It was in the afternoon, as the sun started getting hotter and beating down our backs. We were rummaging around some goreous sugilite - deep violets, at one of the Miner families from Brazil whom we have bought from before. Venturing further into their small room laden with high value specimens than most vendors had. We casually started a conversation about finding some Aqua Marine - the right colour and scale was mentioned. Then very casually our Miner friend said - yes he did have such a piece. He then went to the back of the room and pulled out a chunk of rough rock that was wrapped in bubble wrap. Once he had unwrapped the stone, we could see the piece in his hand. He handed Lyle the stone, and Lyle took it outside and held it up to the sun. The colour of blue beyond the matrix was mesmerizing, the scale was right and the gem itself was made up of the kind of rich deep sea on a bright sunny day hue. There was no hesitating we knew this was a highly sought after kind of specimen, so we made it ours very quickly.

Now back in the studio. This gorgeous Aqua Marine is to be incorporated into Lyleʼs next project - a winged angel created from a pristine Quartz Crystal comprised of a number of phantoms in the quartz. This caliber of Crystal is nearly impossible to find as well. Yet these 2 very rare, exceptionally refinded by nature specimens are now gracing the studio workbench. We will keep you updated on this extraordinary project.

All My Best,

Colette.

Colette Gauthier,

Wife, Business Partner, Creative Director, Co Author,

Til Morrow.