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Feb. 10th, 2018 04:42 pm So I finally made the holy pilgrimmage to Tucson for the rock and gem shows. It was amazing. My host Oke and his partner Mark, and business partner Mike were gracious and patient and I learned so much, while meeting so many people too. They put me up at a low rent motel 6 but in all reality it was very fine for how much time I spent there ( to sleep and shower) and I'd stay there again for sure.
The trip down was relatively easy, I was packed light because Tucson is basically "sweltering desert" and the flights fine, no real issue. Dallas FW is a decent transiting airport to be honest.
I realized on landing that i'd left my epi pen at home so I was cautious to not antagonize any Arizonian desert bitey things. Oops.
So I learned carving and the rudimentary info for cutting and faceting, which was amazing to know and I absolutely want to learn more. Catch is a faceting machine is...fucking expensive. So it'll be on the long term goal. I've got a slew of tourmaline I could refacet and increase their value.
Went to the trade access only AGTA and JGX shows, met up with the GEM A crew that I'll be doing my certification with and I feel very assured by the program, and I can say that the GIA booth didn't seem interested in talking ( granted it was hours before show close but try and sell me?)
I wasn't on my best foot, I'd landed with a jet lag case of some kind of lower gastro thing and then the heat slammed me, and I was quite dehydrated all weekend despite consuming water. I could not stay on top of that.
Bought some small pieces, grape agate, siberian azurite, some well selected rough for cutting and carving, a piece of meteorite sliced and etched and promptly LOST it at home, got S pyrite, geodes, fossil, some jelly opals in matrix, and oke bestowed 6 boxes of estate stones which I'm madly trying to list.
The downsides: mark can be a bit fussy and high strung, but he's just that way, and I wasn't a fan of the 9 yr old that was one of the faceters sons, but no one was, and a very fucking terrifying road rage incident where the other driver did the finger guns motion at us as Mike screamed "I have 5k in sapphires and I'm in a car with gay men and I'm gonna die." ( see Oke and Mike speak fluent spanish because they live in chile, so this dude that missed the green because he was texting was NOT expecting white dude to give off a fluent earful.
We survived. Whew,.
Flew home, and was still sick dragged and realize it's just the intensity of it all. Started feeling better then my lungs kicked off.
Next year: bigger budget. Wear more comfy shoes. Hydrate, probiotics, and take far better care of myself. By next year I'll be just about doing my GEM A exams if all goes well and I'll feel more confident.
The trip down was relatively easy, I was packed light because Tucson is basically "sweltering desert" and the flights fine, no real issue. Dallas FW is a decent transiting airport to be honest.
I realized on landing that i'd left my epi pen at home so I was cautious to not antagonize any Arizonian desert bitey things. Oops.
So I learned carving and the rudimentary info for cutting and faceting, which was amazing to know and I absolutely want to learn more. Catch is a faceting machine is...fucking expensive. So it'll be on the long term goal. I've got a slew of tourmaline I could refacet and increase their value.
Went to the trade access only AGTA and JGX shows, met up with the GEM A crew that I'll be doing my certification with and I feel very assured by the program, and I can say that the GIA booth didn't seem interested in talking ( granted it was hours before show close but try and sell me?)
I wasn't on my best foot, I'd landed with a jet lag case of some kind of lower gastro thing and then the heat slammed me, and I was quite dehydrated all weekend despite consuming water. I could not stay on top of that.
Bought some small pieces, grape agate, siberian azurite, some well selected rough for cutting and carving, a piece of meteorite sliced and etched and promptly LOST it at home, got S pyrite, geodes, fossil, some jelly opals in matrix, and oke bestowed 6 boxes of estate stones which I'm madly trying to list.
The downsides: mark can be a bit fussy and high strung, but he's just that way, and I wasn't a fan of the 9 yr old that was one of the faceters sons, but no one was, and a very fucking terrifying road rage incident where the other driver did the finger guns motion at us as Mike screamed "I have 5k in sapphires and I'm in a car with gay men and I'm gonna die." ( see Oke and Mike speak fluent spanish because they live in chile, so this dude that missed the green because he was texting was NOT expecting white dude to give off a fluent earful.
We survived. Whew,.
Flew home, and was still sick dragged and realize it's just the intensity of it all. Started feeling better then my lungs kicked off.
Next year: bigger budget. Wear more comfy shoes. Hydrate, probiotics, and take far better care of myself. By next year I'll be just about doing my GEM A exams if all goes well and I'll feel more confident.
