William L. Stuart

author of The Gemstone Chronicles Series

peridot

Faceted Gemstones – Newest Additions!!

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Regular readers of my blog (or my books) know that I’m a big fan of gemstones. I love faceted gemstones, cabochons, and tumbled stones. My books, The Gemstone Chronicles series, use the magical and mystical properties of gemstones as the basis of the magic the characters discover. I frequently go gemstone hunting at my favorite spot in the North Georgia Mountains, Gold n’ Gem Grubbin’, in Cleveland, GA. My two rock tumblers run almost all of the time, smoothing out the rough edges and polishing the stones I’ve found to a brilliant luster. Occasionally, though, I find a special stone that can be cut and faceted. Shown below is the first stone I ever had cut (an emerald)!

Emerald:

Faceted Gemstones Lana's emerald
Lana’s emerald

A 2.25 carat stone, it appraised nicely, and is still loose. Lana hasn’t decided on a setting yet. The stone is gorgeous, and since it was my first find, it is extra special!

Peridot:

My brother John found the peridot shown in the photo below. I had it cut for Lana. It weighed in at about 2.5 carats and I had it set in a sterling silver ring for her birthday. Beautiful!!

Faceted Gemstones
Lana’s peridot ring

Ruby:

Now, I have two new additions to the faceted gemstones family! I was hunting and found this rough ruby and sent it over to my faceting friend and he worked his magic. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the rough.

After cutting and polishing, here is the final faceted stone. Not huge by any means, but still weighing in at 1.3 carats, it is a great little stone!

Faceted Gemstones Ruby
Faceted Ruby

Note the description in the picture says sapphire, which is true. Recall that red sapphires are rubies! Gene cut the stone in a Cushion Cut, and it turned out beautifully!

Quartz:

I also sent over a piece of clear quartz that was stunning as a rough piece. Gene cut me two round brilliant cut stones about 1.25 carats each. I wanted to see how the quartz would turn out in a traditional diamond cut. I think they turned out great! What do you think?

Faceted Gemstones Round Brilliant Cut Quartz
Round Brilliant Cut Quartz

What do you think about my faceted gemstones! I have some garnets that might facet well, but I have to get them cleaned up and see what they look like. A nice sapphire (blue not red) or a piece of aquamarine to have cut might be nice, but no such luck yet. I guess I just have to keep on looking!

Which of my faceted gemstones is your favorite? What setting would you use for the emerald or the ruby? Do you think the quartz brilliant cuts look like diamonds? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Connect with me:

If you want to connect with me, find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. You can always email me at bill@williamlstuart.com. I look forward to meeting new friends! And, don’t miss a post. Subscribe to the blog!

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!!

Fascinating Facets….

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Fascinating facets!

Faceted jewels are fascinating enhancements made to gemstones. You know the ones: brilliant cut diamonds, emerald cut emeralds, square cut rubies – the list goes on and on.

Which stones to facet?

Hard and translucent stones are faceting favorites. Stones such as rubies, sapphires, diamonds, quartz, and emeralds are examples of faceting favorites. Below are a couple of photos of faceted gems we found rockhunting at our favorite spot just outside of Cleveland, GA. The loose stone is a 2.25 carat emerald (emerald cut) and the other is a 2.5 carat peridot set in a silver ring. Once Lana, my lovely and adorable wife, decides what setting is appropriate for the emerald, I’ll have it set. I gave her the ring for her birthday.

Uncle John (my rockhunting brother) found some nice emeralds on his last hunting trip and he dropped them off with our gemcutter. Hopefully, I can showcase John’s gemstones on a future post! In addition, John and I are headed to North Carolina to hunt emeralds in early October. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of Lana’s jewels and the fascinating facets!!

Fascinating facets Peridot Ring
Lana’s peridot ring
Fascinating Facets Lana's Emerald
Lana’s emerald

Which of the stones above is your favorite? Since the emerald was one of my first gem finds, I’m biased. The peridot is gorgeous, though! And just to be clear, they don’t come out of the ground looking like this! I’m curious which you readers prefer.

You can leave me a comment, connect with me on Twitter or Facebook, or send me an email at bill@williamlstuart.com. I look forward to hearing from you! I’m interested in seeing some of your gemstone finds, so feel free to share a photo and let us know where you found them (unless it is your super secret location)!