Another Sunstone Trip Color this time!

[Cynangyl]

David and I decided to celebrate our anniversary out at the sunstone mine! We had a great weekend and even found some nice color this trip. Watermelons and reds and a lot of shiller. You should have seen me running around showing off that first colored stone! lol We had a blast!

 

[CarolinaDigs]

These are just to beautiful !! great post

 

[Boobydoo]

Sounds like a great day out there. Happy anniversary!
You have real fire going there in that one stone. Congrats!

Smiles!
BDoo

 

[River Rat]

You have real fire going there in that one stone.

I was thinking fire too and when I saw BDoo's post mentioning the same thing. Those sunstones are beauties...my favorite is the "fire" one. Happy Anniversary...glad you and David had a little getaway.

RR

 

[Smokey]

I've seen on the Travel Channel episodes of going to mines over on the Northeast as well as the Northwest hunting those mines for rubies, diamonds, and all kinds of beautiful stones especially when they are taken to be cut. Also those gold mines and old creeks panning for gold. All that sounds fun, hopefully one day me and my wife will head out to those places casue there ain't nothing like that down here in South Texas......

Happy Anniversary

55TXBANDIT

 

[Tsalagi]

wow thats a load of stones
sweet
i love those sun stones

 

[GrantWA]

I am so jealous.. oooh.. I hate you..NOT.. :P Think I will throw a screaming fit ...lol :P

 

[Prober]

Very nice color in some of those stones. If you get them cut be sure to show us the resulting stones. That is a lot of booty! Happy anniversary.

 

[nealb]

Cynangyl - Congrats to you and your hubby on your anniversary. Those are some nice stones and the one with color is simply awesome. If you have it cut, please post so we can see. Those sunstones look awesome when they are finished.

HH
Neal

 

[Jeffro]

Very nice stones! I bet you were thrilled at the site of the first one. Did you folks make up your own screen, or are you using their equipment?

 

[LuisTH]

Wow very cool stones. I also collect stones.

 

[Dunky]

Holy Sun Stones, Batman! They're gorgeous (especially the red), and it looks like you found a pailfull! Are you having any of them cut?

 

[Cynangyl]

We are definitely planning on getting some cut, especially the largest red and the nicer watermelon stone. We just have to figure out who to have do it to start with. lol and of course we will have pics! Hey Jeffro....where did you have that one cut for your mom? Anyway, yes we did have a great time out there. We used the screens they have there and luckily we were there early because since that travel channel program re-aired there were more people than screens but luckily it was a reasonable amount of people there at Dust Devil. We talked to a couple of people that had tried out Spectrum mines and were not near as happy with Spectrum.....they likened it to being at the first night of a grateful dead concert. lol Boy am I glad we always go to Dust Devil! We love the people there and have them all hooked on the jerky we sell so we take enough for them and us and stand around and eat jerky and bs for a bit then get to diggin! I would highly recommend a sunstone trip to anyone that has not tried it before. It is ton of fun!
Thanks for all of the replies, hopefully I answered any questions you have, if not......ask again and I will gladly answer! Did I tell you guys I missed you during our 3 days away?? Well I did!

 

[Jeffro]

My friend's Dad cut it for me- he's retired and been doing it for 40 years or more. I imagine your local rock shop could probably give you the names of a bunch of stone cutters.
I think there's even a few shops there in Plush that will do it, too.

Heck, I haven't been over to my folk's place for awhile, I'll head over there this morning and get a shot or two of that stone I had done.

 

[BamaBill]

IN about a month we're going to be doing the same thing for Aquamarines. I plan on taking the choice stuff and making up a complete set for my wife, mounted in white gold. When you get some of those cut, post some pics, should make some really nice faceted stones.

 

[Cynangyl]

My friend's Dad cut it for me- he's retired and been doing it for 40 years or more. I imagine your local rock shop could probably give you the names of a bunch of stone cutters.
I think there's even a few shops there in Plush that will do it, too.

Heck, I haven't been over to my folk's place for awhile, I'll head over there this morning and get a shot or two of that stone I had done.

I am looking forward to seeing the pictures of the one you had cut for her! Our local rock shop says they can't share the name of the person that does their cutting.....trade secret or something! eeergh Plush does not have any shops....there is just one small grocery store/tavern/gas pump....they do display some sunstone jewelry done by a friend of the owner. I will see if I can get the name of the jeweler from Dave next time David and I go down.

hurry up and go see your mama! Take pictures!

IN about a month we're going to be doing the same thing for Aquamarines. I plan on taking the choice stuff and making up a complete set for my wife, mounted in white gold. When you get some of those cut, post some pics, should make some really nice faceted stones.

Wow! That would be a fun trip too! We will definitely post pictures as soon as we manage to get any cut. I am very excited to see how they turn out!

 

[Jeffro]

If you really can't find a cutter, I'll be happy to look around Eugene here for you. there are several who do quite nice work. Be back in a few hours with pics

 

[Cynangyl]

If you really can't find a cutter, I'll be happy to look around Eugene here for you. there are several who do quite nice work. Be back in a few hours with pics

That would be awesome! You are the best Jeffro!

 

[eathan]

Wow! What a haul! Love that red!

I still hope my wife and I can make it down there this summer.

What sort of screens do they use? Is it a large framed thing, or would a #4 classifier work okay?

 

[Cynangyl]

Wow! What a haul! Love that red!

I still hope my wife and I can make it down there this summer.

What sort of screens do they use? Is it a large framed thing, or would a #4 classifier work okay?

It would be great if we were all down there at the same time. Some people use their classifiers but you can't work near as much material at a time. The screens we used were about 2 ft by 3 ft (keep in mind if I don't measure something I rarely guess exactly lol) We used a set up with two screens...the top screen was a half inch screen and the bottom was a quarter inch screen. Of course the ones that get stuck in the top screen are great! They also have frames set up to put your screens on that are solid and have pvc rollers to roll the screen back and forth to shake the dirt through....VERY cool....not having to hold the screens up and shake them....when you are putting in 8-10 hrs in a day playin in the dirt every little bit helps. There are also areas in the bank that you can pick around with your rock hammers, screwdrivers, picks etc. There was even one family that had battery operated mini jackhammers there and they made quite a hole during the time we were there! Was quite fun visiting with them and seeing how big their trench ended up! I did not realize til this trip down that some think it is a spectator sport. Every other time we were there it was just us or maybe a couple other people....this time there were actually people that brought their lawn chairs out and were sitting and watching! Was okay til they started trying to point out from their chairs where a stone was.....I wanted to say well get up and go down there and show them! lol Was definitely a lot of fun and good to get back and visit with the different partners that are around the mine too.