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Greetings Fellow Rockhounds, In July of this year Leslie and I were able to scratch off a bucket list item.  We flew to Tahiti and boarded the Aranui 5 Hybrid cruise/cargo ship and traveled North West 800 miles to the remote island group known as the Marquesas (French Polynesia).  Although not currently active these are … Continue reading Rockhounding in French Polynesia

Greetings everyone from the SBLMS, We wanted to take a moment to draw attention to a hidden gem in the Torrance area. The Bartlett Center has been serving the community for years, and is always looking for new folks to get involved. It is one of a kind, and is also one of the last … Continue reading CITY OF TORRANCE BARTLETT SENIOR CENTER LAPIDARY WORKSHOP

Greetings! Although our show has been over for a while now, our club is still resting on our laurels for another job well done! We would like to once more thank all of our club members, guest demonstrators, and visitors who came out to support us. We would also like to send a special thanks … Continue reading 2018 People’s Choice Award Winners

Greetings from the South Bay Lapidary and Mineral Society! At our March meeting, our educational program was on the healing power of gemstones and minerals with our guest speaker David Hellig. You can watch the full video at the bottom of this page if you missed our meeting or would like to know more. Our … Continue reading What Are Rocks to You?

If you are in the Los Angeles area and have not already been to our Natural History Museum to check out the temporary exhibition Green Diamonds: Natural Radiance, then you must do so! The exhibition held within the Gem Vault of the Gem and Mineral Hall has some stunning cut green diamonds, as well as … Continue reading Diamonds Green with Envy

Please excuse any technical difficulties you may be experiencing- our 2018 South Bay Lapidary and Mineral Society annual gem show is currently loading! We are packing the trucks, cleaning our cases, amassing cold soda, and slipping into some comfortable shoes. This is our biggest weekend of the year! In some ways things are different, and … Continue reading 2018 Gem Show Loading

As always, those who are interested in fashion, design, home decor, food, beauty, and yes... even gemstones look to the color of the year selected by Pantone. Founded in 1963 by Lawrence Herbert, Pantone was created to provide the ultimate color spectrum so that artists could accurately match up colors in a standardized format. We … Continue reading 2018 Pantone Color of the Year

There is no denying that color can serve to symbolize many things. Orange specifically has a lot of associations in popular culture today. It is color that you can either 'pull off or not'. It is the color of safety officer vests and the incarcerated alike. It is the color of agent orange used in … Continue reading The Origins of ORANGE [Halloween Edition]

Happy August everyone! Now when we say issues in the title, we are not talking about 'problems' per say (although we have enough of those in today's world, don't we?), but we mean publications, editions, installments, and such. This month marks the 100th issue of our monthly newsletter The Agatizer with our wonderful editor Terry … Continue reading 100 Issues Later…

Greetings- long time no post! We are sharing with you today a wonderful CFMS award winning article written by one of our members Craig Polliard. Enjoy! The morning came quickly as the alarm sounded with louder than planned rock and roll. The 4am departure was scheduled to beat any and all of Los Angeles residents … Continue reading The Hunt for Jade Cove Nephrite