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William L. Stuart

author of The Gemstone Chronicles Series

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Gemstone Hunting Secrets – The Process Revealed!!

March 23, 2015 by Bill Stuart 5 Comments

Gemstone hunting! One of my absolute favorite pastimes and one that led to the writing of The Gemstone Chronicles. I have talked about it in previous posts and even posted some pictures from the trips. Today, though, I want to walk you through the steps I go through when I pursue this hobby of mine! Yes, my gemstone hunting secrets revealed!

The location:

All of the pictures were taken by me on Sunday, March 15 at my favorite spot, Gold n’ Gem Grubbin’ in Cleveland, GA. If you have read any of my previous posts on this topic, you already know some of this, but let me summarize for new readers. Gold n’ Gem Grubbin’ is part of a commercial gold mine in the North Georgia Mountains. The property was part of the Loud Mine and continues to produce gold today.

For gold prospectors and gem enthusiasts, it is a great place to go for a fun (and sometimes profitable) visit. The site offers buckets and a covered sluice for sifting through the dirt to uncover treasures. They also offer mining at the creek – which is my favorite part. Gold n’ Gem Grubbin’ puts dirt dug from the mine pit next to the creek that runs through the property. Diggers can then fill buckets with dirt from the pile, take it to the creek, and sift through it. Whatever you find, you get to take home!

The dirt pile:

When we arrived (we being my brother John, his daughter Simone, and me) on Sunday morning, we had a fresh pile of dirt to dig through. However, it was wet and heavy dirt from recent rains, and it made for some heavy buckets!

Gemstone Hunting Secrets Dirt Pile

Our process is to fill 5 gallon buckets with dirt from the pile and lug the buckets down to the creek. Trust me when I say that after 4 hours of toting buckets of dirt, you will be pretty tired! Here are my 4 buckets ready to be screened.

Work smarter, not harder:

Gemstone Hunting Secrets Buckets of Dirt

I like to stack my screening boxes on top of one of the buckets and fill from another bucket. Why? Because I can let the dirt sift through the screens and sift out larger rocks. This way, by the time I get to the last bucket, I have some sifted dirt I can put into my sluice box. More on that in a minute. First, I wanted to show how the boxes look when full of dirt and placed in the creek to begin the washing process.

Gemstone Hunting Secrets Screening boxes

I try to let the creek do most of the work in the process. I tilt the boxes up on each other to get good water flow through the dirt. Most of the dirt simply washes away and leaves a box full of rocks. In the box below, I found a pretty sizable ruby. It’s always a bonus to find something so easily!

Gemstone Hunting Secrets Screen Box with Ruby Outlined

As I mentioned above, I like to work through all the buckets and then dump the sifted dirt into my sluice box. It isn’t necessary to sift it first, but with the sluice box, it makes it easier to run dirt through. Below is a picture of the sluice box in the creek. If there is any gold in the dirt, it will either catch on the black mat or get caught in the green carpet.

Gemstone Hunting Secrets Sluice Box

Once the dirt is run through the sluice, I rinse the carpet off in a bucket and then dump the contents of the bucket into my gold pan. I didn’t find any gold on this day, but I have found a few flakes before. It’s a bonus when you find the gold!

Gemstone Hunting Secrets – The results:

So, what did I find during my first gemstone hunting trip of the year? I found a few nice rocks, but the take wasn’t as good as some trips. Nevertheless, any day of gemstone hunting is a great day! Here are the results. The first picture is some of the gemstones I found.

 March 15 gemstones

From the upper left moving clockwise, we have rubies, garnets, quartz, citrine, and aventurine. Remember the ruby in the picture above, well, here is another view. The scale is set for grams, so doing the conversion, the stone is about 35 carats. Unfortunately, I don’t think this one would be a candidate for faceting, so it isn’t worth much. I still like it, though.

Big Ruby

There you have the process we use to hunt for gemstones. I did find a smaller ruby (about 20 carats) that I plan on sending to my gem cutter to see if it is a good stone. When a stone is cut, you lose about 75% in the cutting process, but, if the stone is a good one, I could end up with a 5 carat ruby. Not bad for $15 visit!

What do you think about our gemstone hunting secrets and the process? It really isn’t secret, but it is tons of fun! Any suggestions on making it more efficient? If you hunt gemstones, what do you do and where do you go? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Connect with me:

You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.  I can also be reached by email at bill@williamlstuart.com. I look forward to meeting you!

Filed Under: Book Posts, Cool Things, Gemstone Posts, North Georgia Mountains Tagged With: Amazon, author, aventurine, books, carat, ebook, ebooks, emerald, facets, fantasy, garnet, gem mining, gems, gemstone rough, gemstones, Georgia, middle grade, middle grades, north Georgia mountains, quartz, rock hunting, rubies, self publishing, Smashwords, The Gemstone Chronicles, tumbled gemstones, william l stuart, william stuart, young adult

The Elven Bow and Elven Sword Gemstones

February 24, 2013 by Bill Stuart 12 Comments

The Elven Bow and Elven Sword gemstones! The front covers of The Gemstone Chronicles books all have the same symbol on them. It is a sword laid across a drawn bow. The sword has four gemstones in the hilt and the bow has places for four gemstones on the upper and lower limbs. The first book The Carnelian, shows only a carnelian and empty spots for the other three missing gemstones. Notice that Book Two: The Amethyst has two spots filled and two unfilled. Do you see a pattern here?

Christmas The Carnelian Cover

Anyway, I thought I would elaborate on all the gems in the Elven Bow and the Elven Sword and what they mean in the books. So, we will start with the Elven Bow and the Carnelian! The Carnelian is the stone of courage in Book One: The Carnelian. Carnelians also have other magical and mystical properties. They have been used to eliminate toxins from the body, fight depression, stop anger, and calm nervousness.

Elven Bow Gemstones:

Carnelian Sword

The Gemstone Chronicles Book Two: The Amethyst features the amethyst as the stone of happiness and joy.  Among its other properties, the amethyst is a stone of peace and has a calming effect. An amethyst beneath your pillow can ward off nightmares and insomnia. Preventing drunkenness is another alleged property. Many believed the stone could detect poisoning and illness. If the wearer was poisoned, the stone lost its brightness. If the wearer were ill, the stone would pale.

Amethyst Sword

The third book of the series is The Gemstone Chronicles Book Three: The Emerald. Currently in the editing and revision stage, I plan to launch the book in June 2013! In The Emerald, the gemstone is the stone of healing. Emeralds restore spiritual balance, bring gamblers luck, and ensure safety to travelers.

emerald sword

Book Four: The Ruby is the final installment of The Gemstone Chronicles series. In the Elven Bow, the ruby represents love. Besides love, the ruby symbolizes royalty and power, dignity, and strength of the heart. Historically, people wore it to provide protection against natural disasters and fight fear.

Ruby

Elven Bow Gemstones:

The Elven Sword gemstones stay with the sword the entire series. Already in the possession of the Dark Elves (or Drow), the Elven Sword gemstones begin to dominate the separated Elven Bow gemstones. Aquamarine is the first of the Elven Sword gemstones. In The Gemstone Chronicles, the Aquamarine is the stone of wisdom. In Book One: The Carnelian, Beebop and Maggie used the stone to help them escape a difficult situation (I can’t tell without spoiling). Sailors carried the stone to prevent seasickness and drowning. It also happens to be my (and Beebop’s) birthstone!

Aquamarine

The second gemstone in the Elven Sword is the topaz. In the books, it’s the stone of truth. Topaz comes in various colors and many people are fond of the blue topaz. I chose the yellow topaz for the book. Believers say topaz reveals lies, deceit, and gives prudence and honesty to its wearers.

Topaz

The third stone of the Elven Sword is the Garnet. The stone of justice in the books, garnet has a long history of magical powers. Once called the Warrior stone, combatants frequently carried it in battle to prevent injury and death. Believed to bring hope and luck to its wearers, the garnet could even help its wearers gain popularity.

Garnet

The Sapphire is the last of the eight stones of the Elven Bow and the Elven Sword. In The Gemstone Chronicles, the Sapphire is the stone of Power. The sapphire is one of the most useful gemstones and has many magical properties attributed to it. Chief among them is protection against envy, authority, victory (for those pure of thought), and awakening a thirst for knowledge. It was thought to attract friends and repel enemies.

Sapphire

What do you think?

So, there you have it. All the gemstones in the Elven Sword and the Elven Bow. Want to know how I used them in the books? No spoilers from me, you’ll have to read them! I welcome your comments about gemstones and which are your favorites and why!

Filed Under: Book Posts, Gemstone Posts, Self publishing, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: amethyst, aquamarine, author, books, cabochons, ebook, ebooks, Elven Bow, Elven Sword, elves, emerald, facets, fantasy, fiction, garnet, gem mining, gems, gemstone rough, gemstones, Good Reads author, justice, KDP, kelpie. giants, Kindle, magic, middle grade, middle grades, power, rock hunting, rock tumbling, ruby, sapphire, self publishing, Smashwords, The Amethyst, The Carnelian, The Emerald, The Gemstone Chronicles, topaz, truth, tumbled gemstones, william stuart, wisdom

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