Rocks

Happy January Birthdays!
A chocolate cake with green icing and multicolored rocks spelling

Cake and photo by Stephanie Reed

We had several Show-Me Rockhound members with birthdays in January, and I got thinking about what kind of cake a rockhound would like. I’ve seen some amazing geology-themed cakes but I’m not skilled enough at cake decorating to come close to those. Then I saw these chocolate rocks at Price Chopper and I knew exactly what to do. This is the result. Happy birthday, David, Charley, and Sharon!

Thunder Eggs
Three round geodes in small, medium, and large. The smallest one is a flat slab with a blue inside and brown outside. The medium one is a hemisphere that's black on the inside and gray on the outside. The largest one is a hemisphere that is purple amethyst crystals on the inside and brown on the outside.

Photo by Stephanie Reed

Some thunder eggs from the personal collection of David Reed. The largest one has purple amethyst crystals on the inside. It was originally from the collection of the late David White, who lovingly polished it by hand to a reflective shine. The medium one is from Oregon. The smallest one is a slab cut from a thunder egg and was from the Show-Me Rockhounds gift exchange.

Christmas Rhodochrosite
A cluster of crystals that has square red crystals on a shiny green surface, with white and lavender puffballs scattered across the whole cluster. A nice display of Christmas colors.

Ex. J. Vorpahl Mineral Collection, http://www.themineralgallery.com/rhodoroom.htm

This gorgeous crystal specimen is perfect for Christmas! It has red rhodochrosite crystals on a green matrix (green pyrite?), with pale lavender fluorite cyrstals that look like little snowdrifts. From Steve’s Pocket, Fluorite Raise, Sweet Home Mine, Alma, Colorado.

Antlerite

What is a reindeer’s favorite copper sulfate mineral? Antlerite! Antlerite is named after the Antler Mine in Arizona, but was more often found in Chuquicamata Mine in Chile. That mine has been closed, so antlerite is pretty rare now. This is a close-up of a specimen from the Chuquicamata Mine measuring 7.4 x 3.8 x 2.2 cm.

The whole plate, with fingertips included for scale.

Thanksgiving Rock Dinner

Happy Thanksgiving! To whet your appetite for dinner, here are some pictures of rocks and minerals that look like food. This is a traveling exhibit, so maybe it will be at a rock show near you.

This looks like a fruit salad containing strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, kiwis, slivered almonds, and whipped cream. It is actually rocks.

Bill and Lois Pattillo: http://rockfoodtable.com/index.html

Start off with a tasty fruit salad.

This looks like a slice of ham (needs gravy, though), a yam with the skin on, and a side of shiny lima beans, but it is actually rocks.

Bill and Lois Pattillo: http://rockfoodtable.com/index.html

The main course: ham, a yam, and lima beans.

This looks like a slightly translucent slice of pale yellow cheesecake with small red cherries on top. It is actually a slice of rock with rocks on top.

Bill and Lois Pattillo: http://rockfoodtable.com/index.html

Cherry cheesecake for dessert.

This looks like a huge spread of all sorts of food: bread baskets, muffins, popcorn, nuts, cheese, smoked salmon, fresh fruit, and more. It is actually all rocks.

Bill and Lois Pattillo: http://rockfoodtable.com/index.html

The whole spread.

Gold Sheen Obsidian
A dull gold oval-shaped stone resting comfortably in a person's palm. It is highly polished and reflects the overhead lights, and appears to have depth.

As viewed at the November 2014 meeting.

This is a gold sheen obsidian from the personal collection of our members M. Mueller and C. Maazouz. Obsidian is an igneous rock, which means it is formed from lava as it cools and solidifies. Obsidian is usually black. However, some types of obsidian have gas bubbles that create a gold or silver sheen like this.

Fall Gem and Mineral Show in KC
Two men holding rocks and standing in front of a table covered in boxes of colorful crystals. Behind them is a sign that reads,

Photo by Stephanie Reed

We had a great time selling rocks at the 36th Annual Shows of Integrity Fall Gem & Mineral Show in Kansas City!  If you missed it, mark your calendar now for the spring show on March 13-15, 2015 (same location, the KCI Expo Center).  It will be even bigger!

A smiling young woman sitting behind a large wooden spinner with eight sections. She is wearing an ammonite necklace and a shirt proclaiming that the Kansas City Gem and Mineral Show

Photo by D. Reed

When you spin our wheel, every spin is guaranteed to win a prize. This year, the prizes included turquoise, shark teeth, and Apache tears.

A group of 5 rock collectors who just finished packing up the show materials and cleaning up after the event ended.

Photo by Stephanie Reed

Some of the rockhounds who helped set up and run the booth.

Happy Agate
An agate slab with a happy smiley face in its brown bands.

Smiley face agate photo by Cobalt123 from https://flic.kr/p/dVdpEA

An agate dressed up for Halloween, hanging out at the Tucson Rock and Gem Show 2013.  Thanks for following us all the way through Agate Month and learning all about these beautiful minerals!
If you’d like to see a list of even more types of agates, go here: http://stoneplus.cst.cmich.edu/agate.htm

Flame and Frost Agates

These aren’t technically types of agate according to Mindat, but sometimes they will be described this way in rock shops or on rockhound websites.  And these pictures are so great I couldn’t possibly pass them up.  An agate with red, orange, or yellow plumes in just the right arangement can be called a flame agate, because it looks like fire.

Red, orange, and yellow plumes shooting up from a white and transparent agate matrix, looking like flames.

Photo by Vítězslav Snášel from http://www.mindat.org/photo-114774.html

Frost agate describes the cracked finish on these beads (again, it’s not a mineralogical term).  They can also be called cracked agate.  The frost effect is heightened when they are blue. Whatever they are, I would totally wear earrings made with these beads.