Mount Baldy Lapis Lazuli Featured for March 21st Program Meeting, 7:00 p.m.

Pasadena Lapidary Society member Paolo Sanchez will discuss the elusive Lapis Lazuli from Mount Baldy (aka ‘Old Baldy’ or Mount San Antonio) for our March program meeting. Paolo will cover the science behind lapis, its significance to lapidary, and his adventures in search of one of the only lapis mines in North America. He has been an active member of the Pasadena Lapidary Society since 2011, yet his passions for geology and rockhounding stem from kindergarten. He has written numerous award-winning articles on minerals and has been a guest speaker for various California Federation of Mineralogical Societies (CFMS) programs across California. He has received his bachelors in Geology and Geophysics from UC Berkeley and is now pursuing a PhD in geochemistry studying mineralogy and petrology at Caltech.

The March Rock of the Month presentation will be on Septarian Nodules and provided by PLS member Sue Dekany.

This program meeting takes place on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of The Santa Anita Church, 226 W. Colorado Blvd., Arcadia, CA 91007.

Come join us! Doors open at 6:30, admission is free; open to the public. Enjoy refreshments while checking out the display table; bring a rock specimen you’d like identified. We hope to see you there!

Who’s Going to Quartzsite This Month?

Members of Pasadena Lapidary Society, along with most serious rockhounds, wait anxiously all year to make the 3-1/2 hour trek to Quartzsite, AZ in January. Some stay there into February, camping nearby in order to go rockhounding at their leisure, and others check in to the few motels in town or travel the 22 miles back/forth to Blythe, CA for lodging.

Some sizable chunks of beautiful Lapis Lazuli, at vendor booth of a past year’s QIA PowWow in Quartzsite.

One of the biggest draws in Quartzsite is the QIA POWWOW, always held the third week in January. This year the POWWOW runs from January 18-22. If you’ve never been, the POWWOW is like a huge swap meet focused on gems, minerals, rocks and everything related. Admission is free and so is parking.

Other rocks shows taking place in Quartzsite during this time are Desert Gardens and Tyson Wells. Check out the calendar of events from the City of Quartzsite website: http://www.quartzsitecalendar.com/

Self-professed as “The Rock Capital of the World”, Quartzsite is a town in La Paz County of +/- 2,000 inhabitants that swells to a couple of million in January and February each year. Situated 125 miles west of Phoenix at the junction of Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 95, it enjoys a close association with the Colorado River, just 18 miles to the west.

January 17th Program Meeting Explores Fluorite – The World’s Most Colorful Mineral

The January 17th, 2023 Pasadena Lapidary Society Program Meeting will feature Dick Weber, who will introduce us to the colorful world of Fluorite.    Due to a spectacular range of colors and well-developed crystals, this mineral is highly sought after by collectors.  Clear and colorless when pure, fluorite can exhibit every color of the spectrum from the deepest purple to bright oranges and reds.   In addition to its aesthetic and scientific value, fluorite is a critical industrial mineral used in the production of thousands of commercial products.

Dick Weber was first introduced to the fluorite deposits of the Mississippi Valley while working on his geology degree.   Actively collecting specimens for the last 15 years, he will bring a display showcasing pieces from famous locales.

PLS member Curtis Schurer will present the second part of his Rock of the Month Talk on Jasper.

This program meeting takes place at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of The Santa Anita Church, 226 W. Colorado Blvd., Arcadia, CA 91007. 

Join us for an illuminating evening as we begin our 2023 Program Meetings! Admission is free; open to the public. Enjoy refreshments while checking out the display table; bring a rock specimen you’d like identified. See you there!

PLS Booth at Barnhart School Carnival in Arcadia – Saturday, October 22, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Bring the kids to the Barnhart School Carnival this Saturday, have some fun with the carnival games, enjoy food and drinks, check out the vendors, and stop by the Pasadena Lapidary Society booth while you’re at it.

We’ll be featuring do-it-yourself ‘My Rock Collection’ kits. Youngsters (and adults as well) can choose from an assortment of mineral specimens that we’ll have on hand and compile their own kits. This makes a fun first step toward a future interest in rock collecting as a hobby and/or Earth Sciences as a vocation. These rock collection kits were a huge hit at our August gem and mineral show this year.

The Carnival will take place on the Barnhart School property at 240 West Colorado Boulevard in Arcadia. CA 91007. barnhartschool.org

Pasadena Lapidary Society’s 62nd Annual Tournament of Gems

Dealers Featured at Our Show:

Abalone King

Larimar, Turquoise, Abalone, Malachite, Agate; Silver; jewelry,

Art by Linda Queally

Linda’s Pearl Jewelry Designs feature both the classic and the unusual, reflecting her relentless pursuit of the magical and timeless beauty of Pearls.

Beads Zone US (Sue Wu)

Semi-precious and gemstone beads; tools for the beader.

Buddha Gems & Minerals

Mine direct minerals and specimens from the Himalayas and Nepal. Rocks and minerals from Nepal including Chlorite Quartz, Aquamarine, Sapphire, and Ruby.

Crystal Rapture (Sabrina Keep)

Quartz variety, Fluorite, Tourmaline and other specimens, fossils. crystal rings and various jewelry.

Ethiopian Opals

LASCO

Rotary tools, carving diamond burs, diamond drills, diamond core drills, polishing grits and other rotary tools for lapidary and jewelry.

Mary M. Rafferty, Gemologist

Custom cut gemstones.

Nevada Mineral & Book Company

Meteorites, mineral books, specimens and educational kits.

Sonia DeLong

Beads, rings, earrings, opals, jewelry, crystals.

Stella Stones and Jewelry

Amber, Opals, Turquoise, specimens and pendants.

Toni Floyd

Finished cabochons, seed beads, bezels, carved products, Chrysoprase, Jasper, Montana Agate.

PLS August 16th Meeting takes a look at ‘Geology from 30,000 feet above’

The August general meeting will feature a talk by member Paolo Sanchez who will focus on large-scale landscape geology. The presentation should be helpful for understanding Earth science, and to an extent, minerals, from the viewpoint of the window seat of a plane. While flying across the state and the country, Paolo took many pictures of geologic landscapes. He plans to talk about prominent geologic features such as the San Andreas Fault, Cascade Volcanoes, and the Colorado Plateau. We hope to see you there!

This program meeting is at 7:00 p.m. at Fellowship Hall of The Santa Anita Church, 226 W. Colorado Blvd., Arcadia, CA 91007. Come to learn and make new friends; open to the public, free admission. 

In-Person Program Meeting April 19, 2022, 6:30 PM

We are having our first in-person program meeting in over a year! PLS member Janie Duncan will provide a presentation on the History of Beads Tuesday night, April 19, and members are looking forward to seeing each other in the flesh for a change, instead of virtually. Check out our Meetings page to get directions and further info about the location. We are VERY excited!

DIY ‘Field Trip’ to… Quartzsite, AZ!

QIA PowWow photo credit by Sue Peng

For the month of January, many members of Pasadena Lapidary Society join the ranks of rockhounds and lapidarists across the nation – and beyond – in an annual sojourn to our ‘mecca’ of rocks – Quartzsite, Arizona. While this isn’t a fieldtrip that requires a rock hammer, shovel or other tools, it’s a great opportunity to see what wonderful gems and minerals exist in our world – all in one place. There are several gem and mineral shows which are held between December and late February in this town, which swells to over a million visitors in the month of January from a paltry 3,714 +/- residents the rest of the year. One of our favorite shows to check out is the QIA Pow Wow, which takes place this year from January 19 – 23, 2022, with free admission and free parking and way more than a day’s worth of treasures to see. It’s like a giant open air swap meet held under the beautiful blue sky with giant puffy white clouds floating overhead – which sometimes open up with a quick light rain or a heavy shower – then dissipates as quickly as it starts. Quartzsite is just 18 miles east of the California border, along Interstate 10. One can make it a full day trip, or if you’re able to secure lodging in Quartzsite or Blythe, CA, turn your visit into more than one day so you can visit the other shows taking place as well, such as Tyson Wells or Desert Gardens. If you prefer to take an RV and camp, there’s plenty of open space just on the outskirts of town. How to get there? Take I-10 East until you get to Quartzsite, about a four hour drive from Pasadena when traffic isn’t bad. We often make a quick stop at Chiriaco Summit either on the way to or from AZ, where one can fuel up and stop for a bite or snacks.

Tuesday, Nov. 16 Virtual Program Meeting Explores the Chixculub Impact Event with Paolo Sanchez; 7:00 p.m.

Pasadena Lapidary Society’s very own future geologist/geophysicist, Paolo Sanchez, will present “Traces of Extinction: The Search for Rocks and Minerals at Chixculub” for our November program meeting. For those wondering what the heck ‘Chixculub Impact Event’ is, think meteor meets dinosaurs. Paolo will present his current ongoing research examining tektites derived from Chixculub and what their respective chemistries tell us about the minerals and lithologies associated with the impact event, with the potential of understanding the lithology of the meteor itself.

Earlier this year, Paolo was awarded the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies’ (CFMS) Robert O. Deidrich Memorial Fund Scholarship for school year 2020-21. He’s been studying geosciences at UC Berkeley, working his way up to a PhD and possibly obtaining a career as a professional researcher.

There will be no Rock of the Month discussion for this meeting.

The Tuesday, Nov. 16 program meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. To join us, send an email to (new email address!)… marcia.pls.emails[at]gmail.com in advance, using ‘PROGRAM MEETING’ in subject line, and request the Zoom meeting link. We’re looking forward to seeing Paolo – and hope to see you virtually as well!

Tuesday, Oct. 19 Virtual Program Meeting Focuses on Urban Rockhounding in Tucson; 7:00 p.m.

Among some of our favorite rockhound travel guides are Dick and Mary Pat Weber. For the Tuesday, October 19 presentation, Mary Pat will take us on a Practical Guide to Urban Rockhounding in Tucson.

In a few months dealers, buyers, and collectors will gather together for the largest rockhound  event in the world.  You will find great bargains relating to all aspects of our hobby offered by vendors from all corners of the globe.  If you can’t find it in Tucson, it probably doesn’t exist anywhere.  According to Mary Pat, you will run out of money long before you cross off all the items on your wish list.

With over forty shows from which to choose, it can be a bit confusing for the first-timer.  Mary Pat will offer practical advice for navigating though the “Tucson experience” to make it both efficient and fun.  This program is jammed packed with photo highlights of the biggest club show in the world, including specimens from world class museums such as the Smithsonian and other private collections. If you’ve been thinking about visiting Tucson for the rockhound shows but have yet to, here’s a chance to see what they’re all about.

PLS member Mona Ross will provide October’s Rock of the Month talk on one of the world’s rarest gemstones, Grandidierite.

The Tuesday, Oct. 19 program meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. To join us, send an email to joenmar1[at]verizon.net in advance, using ‘PROGRAM MEETING’ in subject line, and request the Zoom meeting link. Hope to “see” you there!