William L. Stuart

author of The Gemstone Chronicles Series

cabochons

A Great Day Gem Hunting!!

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As many of you know, I love to go gem hunting in the north Georgia mountains. In fact, the entire series of The Gemstones Chronicles was formulated while on a gem hunting trip to Gold ‘n Gems Grubbin’ up in Cleveland, GA.

Today, my brother John and I took advantage of the unseasonably warm temperatures and headed back up to Cleveland for a day of gem hunting. We had a great day, as the photos below will attest.

The photo below is of my entire haul for the day. Now, you have to understand, this is not sifting through a seeded bucket of dirt at the flume. Nope, at Gold ‘n Gems Grubbin’ , we dig through a pile of dirt brought up from the gold mine on the site – one 5-gallon bucket at a time. You can buy buckets, if you choose, but we would rather search the pile of dirt. It’s much more fun!

The haul!

Gem hunting total haul

The photo (please excuse the quality of the photo) shows the amethysts I found across the top nearest the ruler. Other stones include: aventurine, topaz, quartz (lemon and clear), garnet, obsidian, emeralds, sapphires, and rubies. Not bad for four hours of work.

Today’s best finds!

Dark Amethyst

This is my favorite stone of the day! I weighed this very dark purple amethyst at 83 grams (which translates to 415 carats). Given that I just released The Gemstone Chronicles Book Two: The Amethyst, it was really neat to find this stone today!!

Lemon Quartz

This is my second favorite stone of the day. I didn’t weigh this one, but it is a large piece of lemon quartz. Very clear, with few internal fractures. This might be a good candidate for having some stones cut for earrings or a bracelet.

Amethyst 2

Another very large amethyst that I found today. I didn’t weigh this one either, but you can tell by the size it is a fine specimen. It is not nearly as purple as the first stone, but still a very nice rock!

Amethyst 3

My last picture is another lighter-colored amethyst. Another very large stone, and one that I really like. I wish I could show you every one of the stones I found today, but this post would be way to long! Enjoy these few and, if you have an opportunity, go look for some of your own!! Many states have gem hunting opportunities, so take advantage of them and see what you can find!! If you do, stop by and tell me about it!

Connect with me:

Do you gem hunt? Have you read any of The Gemstone Chronicles? If so, leave me a comment and let me know. Connect with me on social media, too! I’m on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads, so stop by and say hi!

New Toys!!!!!

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New Toys!!

I know I have been away for a while. I have been working on the paperback version of The Gemstone Chronicles Book Two: The Amethyst, enjoying Christmas with the grands, traveling to see family in South Georgia, and just generally enjoying some time off. In light of all that, look what I got for Christmas!! Yes, I had asked for a metal detector and a two drum rock tumbler and look what showed up Christmas morning!! I can now work three steps of the tumbling process as the same time. How cool is that? And, I can also take my new metal detector with me when I rock hunt. You never know what you might find. Since I live near a lake, I can explore the shoreline and see what I can find. I am excited to get these new toys for me to play with! Here are a couple of pictures I took of the new equipment.

New Toys Garrett Metal Detector

My new Garret 150 Metal Detector!! Not the most powerful detector, but a good start to a new hobby!

New Toys Two Drum Rock Tumbler

And my new two drum rock tumbler!! I can hardly wait until the next opportunity to go rock hunting!! I can tumble six pounds of gemstones at one time in this tumbler, so it’s time to find more rocks! Now if I can just convince Lana to let me buy a Bobcat….

What did you get for Christmas? Anything fun that you can use for your hobbies? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Connect with me:

If you use Twitter, Facebook, or Goodreads, find me and let’s connect. You can tell me about your hobbies (maybe I’ll find a new one from your stories) and let me know what you think of my books and my blog!

Tumbled Emeralds – The Final Chapter!!

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Tumbled Emeralds – The Final Chapter!! I finally finished tumbling the emeralds that I started over a month ago. Sometimes the tumbling process takes a while and the harder the stone, the longer it can take. In retrospect, I probably should have tumbled them longer with the coarse grit before moving on, but, live and learn. I will do it next time I start a bunch from scratch! So, here is the final chapter of tumbled emeralds!

Anyway, to refresh (unless, of course, you want to go back and read all the previous tumbling posts), I placed a number of rough emeralds in my tumbler and began the process with coarse grit silicon carbide. See the Tumbled Emeralds post for details!

 

https://www.williamlstuart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/editDSCF00071.jpg

 

After a week or so, I took the stones from the tumbler, cleaned them, and this is what they looked like.

 

Tumbled Emeralds - The Final Chapter Emeralds after 1 week of tumbling with coarse grit silicon carbide
Emeralds after 1 week of tumbling with coarse grit silicon carbide

Back in the tumbler they went, but this time with a medium/fine grit silicon carbide. Another week of grinding and polishing before we see the next results!

 

Tumbled Emeralds - The Final Chapter Emeralds tumbled using the med/fine silicon carbide grit
Emeralds tumbled using the med/fine silicon carbide grit

 

Once again, the emeralds go back into the tumbler. I add the pre-polishing compound for this step. This compound is aluminum oxide. After a week of constant tumbling, this is what I have. Note how the shine is really beginning to show now.

 

Tumbled Emeralds - The Final Chapter Pre-Polished Emeralds

 

Finally, we arrive at the polishing step! It has been a long grind (yes, bad pun intended). The results are worth waiting for, though, as you can see from the pictures below. One of the cool things that tumbling does is create different shapes like those below. One of the emeralds ended up in a wedge shape and another in a sort of oval shape. I just love the way they turned out! What will I do with them? I don’t know. Maybe figure out a way to put them in a bracelet or a pendant, but I may just put them away and enjoy them just as they are!

Emeralds are one of my favorite gemstones and the Emerald is one of the gemstones stolen from the Elven Bow in The Gemstone Chronicles Book Three: The Emerald. What is your favorite gemstone? Do you prefer cabochons or faceted gems? Leave me a comment and let me know!

 

6 Tumbled Emeralds

 

All tumbled emeralds

 

 

Wedge Shaped Emerald

 

Tumbled Emeralds - The Final Chapter Oval Emerald

 

I will continue to look for stones to tumble (and I asked for another tumbler for Christmas) and I hope to buy a cabochon machine soon. Maybe if I can sell enough books, I will buy myself a faceting machine! That could lead to a whole bunch of interesting posts!!!

Don’t want to miss a post? Please subscribe to the blog! If you want to connect with me on social media, I can be found of Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, or email me at bill@williamlstuart.com. I look forward to connecting!

 

Gold ‘n Gem Grubbin in the North Georgia Mountains!!

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Gold ‘n Gem Grubbin in the North Georgia Mountains! 

For any of you who have been following my posts, you know that I love to go gem hunting in the north Georgia mountains. It was during one of my trips that my grandson suggested that I write a book incorporating the “magical” properties of gemstones with a quest and some elves and The Gemstone Chronicles were born!

My favorite place to hunt gemstones is Gold ‘n Gem Grubbin in Cleveland, GA. You can visit their website at: http://www.goldngemgrubbinstore.com.

Gold n Gem Grubbin Entrance
Gold n Gem Grubbin Entrance

Here you can pan for gold, work buckets at the sluice, or dig at the creek. I prefer the creek. There is something about sitting in a chair, sifting through pans of dirt in the creek, and looking for shiny rocks that relaxes me. We were doing this when Aidan suggested the book. Below is a picture of the sluice area where you can buy buckets of rocks and sift through them to find treasures!

Gold n Gem Grubbin Sluice Area
Gold n Gem Grubbin Sluice Area

Mining at the Creek!

As I said, I prefer mining at the creek. I didn’t take any pictures of the dirt pile that I worked. Gold ‘n Gem Grubbin is part of an operating gold mine. The owners will dump loads of dirt from the gold mine next to the creek and you can fill up buckets with dirt and screen them right there in the creek and take home what you find. While you aren’t guaranteed to find anything, I have been going almost monthly for a few years now and I have never come home empty-handed. November 16 was no exception!

Gold n Gem Grubbin Haul
This is my haul from about 4 hours of work! There are various quartz, some amethysts, garnets, rubies, sapphires, aventurine, emeralds, hematite, and a few others.

Below are some closer shots of some of the stones! I apologize for the quality of the photos in advance…

Gold n Gem Grubbin Amethysts
Various amethysts that I found Nov. 16 2012. They vary in color from a light purple to a much darker purple!

Gold n' Gems Grubbin' various stones
Rubies, Sapphires, and Hematite

Gold 'n Gem Grubbin Quartz
Quartz

What will I do with my stones?

Now, I am not a skilled maker of cabochons or faceted gemstones (though I would really like to learn). I know some people who are and I may tumble some of the stones, have them made into cabs, or have them faceted. I don’t know yet, but my collection continues to grow. Assuming the weather is nice, I may be back there in December with shovel and sifting box in hand!

If you are ever in the Cleveland, GA area and need a neat activity for you to enjoy, give Gold ‘n Gem Grubbin a try!

Have you visited Gold ‘n Gem Grubbin? If so, leave me a comment and let me know how your day went. If you prefer to connect with me on social media, I can be found on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, or email me at bill@williamlstuart.com. You can also subscribe to the blog and never miss a post!

P.S. This is not an endorsement and I did not receive any compensation for this post. I like going up there and thought I would share!!

Tumbled Emeralds – Part 3! Smoothing Out the Rough Edges…

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Tumbled Emeralds – Part 3!

I have an update on the emerald tumbling I have been doing.  I have now finished the second step of the tumbling process and proceeded to Part 3. Below are pictures of the emeralds after the med/fine grit did its job for a week during the second step. You can see how the little chips are knocked off the larger pieces and the rough edges are smoothing out. The silicon carbide grit is doing its job!

Tumbled Emeralds - Part 3
Emeralds tumbled using the med/fine silicon carbide grit

Tumbled Emeralds - Part 3
Large emerald after step two of the tumbling process.

Note that the stone is smoother and more rounded than in the previous step. However, there isn’t much shine yet. That will begin to show up after step 3, the pre-polishing step. As the grit gets finer, the polish takes shape.

Tumbled Emeralds - Part 3
Emeralds loaded into the tumbling drum with aluminum oxide pre-polishing compound.

The next post will be in a few days once the pre-polishing step is complete. In the meantime, I think some more gemstone hunting and writing The Gemstone Chronicles is in order!

What are your hobbies? Are you a creative with lots of crafty ideas, a golfer, a rock hound, or maybe a gold prospector? Leave me a comment and let me know!!

Connect with me:

Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads! I look forward to connecting with you! Let’s start a discussion about books, gemstones, or other cool topics!

Tumbled Emeralds Part 2 – Smoothing the Rough Edges!!

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Tumbled Emeralds Part 2 – Smoothing the Rough Edges!!

Well, it has been about a week since I put the emeralds into the tumbler. I stopped tumbling them today in the first step of the tumbling process (using the silicon carbide coarse grit), rinsed them off, let them dry, and readied them for step 2.

Tumbled Emeralds Part 2
Emeralds after 1 week of tumbling with coarse grit silicon carbide

 

You won’t notice a huge difference in the stones yet, except for the fact that some of the hard edges and ridges have been smoothed away and some smaller pieces have broken off.

 

Tumbled Emeralds Part 2
Emerald with smooth edges from tumbling

 

Now it is time for step 2 of the tumbling process. I reloaded the tumbling drum with the emeralds, added the med/fine silicon carbide grit, and filled the drum with water. I put it back on the tumbler for another week! The plan is to smooth the rough edges.

 

Tumbled Emeralds Part 2
Tumbling drum loaded with emeralds and the med/fine silicon carbide grit

 

I did get some work done on The Gemstone Chronicles fantasy adventure series, so I didn’t waste the entire week! Stay tuned for more updates on the books and the emeralds!

Do you tumble any rocks, metal, or glass? Leave me a comment and let me know!! You can also connect with me on social media on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, or email me at bill@williamlstuart.com. If you don’t want to miss a post, subscribe to the blog!As always, it’s fun to meet and connect with new friends!