I've always loved gems and minerals, and that love led me to a degree in Geology that career wise I've never put to use. But it also lead me to a life long love of playing in the dirt looking for gems, learning to facet and traveling the country and internationally sourcing gems. I've been faceting for more than 15 years and am currently the Vice President of the United States Faceting Guild where we promote the art of faceting to new and experienced cutters. I served as well as the newsletter editor for a couple of years. I facet as a side business and average 1-4 stones a week if I'm not on schedule for a client. I sell from my website and also work with jewelers on special request and repairs.
When my daughter (now 31) was 10 we stated doing. a mining trip together each year. Just taking a few days and digging for sparkly things. This started with quartz crystals in Arkansas, but soon after lead us to our first of many visits to the Dust Devil Mine where we became friends with Don Buford. We spent four summers in a row visiting the mine and digging for sunstone. When I started faceting, around this same time, Sunstone quickly became one of my favorite gems to cut. I love the surprise of the final color and how Schiller comes into play uniquely. While I now cut a wide variety of gems including many from travels in East Africa, I always tend to come back to sunstone and look forward to future trips to the Oregon fields.
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