good for you! and many happy years for rock cutting and polishing. I had to retire from making jewerly as a hobby 20 years or more ago. I developed neck and shoulder problems and had to quit. I still love rocks but they are now a purely scientific interest. I am studying igneous petrology and geochemistry. More interested in the petrogenesis of gems and the rocks that they come from than collecting more rocks… my problem is having too many of them. I need to sell them all, except for a few trophy speciments. I joined this website to try and get some valuations on the stones I have to get rid of, so I know how much I should ask for. Best wishes on your endeavors, hope it will also be profitable.
I am retired and have fought to keep my pursuit of perfection from becoming a business. Lol. Yes I sell gems when people see them and want them. I’ve done a few commission jobs over the years but you can count them on your fingers. I was handicapped by my grandfather with the perfection disease. Finally at about 50 years of age I finally understood that achievement of perfection is impossible. Yes you can come very close but true perfection is basically impossible to truly achieve. Thank goodness I finally understood that because before then I was a very driven and unhappy person. Lol lol. If you have any transparent stones that might be considered gem rough I can help you with a range of price. Just returned from the Franklin get together of the Usfg. So I have a great Idea of current prices on gem rough. Other stones I’m very ignorant about. I understand about collecting to many rocks. Lol. I have bought gem rough for over 15 years and in the first 5 years at a great pace. Lol. Now I’m trying not to buy anything. Lol. Your studies are very interesting. I might have to preview some of that information myself. I’m pretty familiar with again gem rough and crystal formation ect but one of the most ignorant about anything else. Lol. Feel free to message me if you like. I am enjoying our conversation. Lol. Best of luck
your last message end up in my spam folder again. Don’t understand why. Jewelry making was a creative hobby for me… hot metal is alive!..I took art classes during summers at the former Honolulu Academy of Arts, also a jewerly making class in highschool. I was initially attracted to pottery… As a kid I took classes on throwning pots of a wheel… I learned the basics in my highschool jewelry class- cutting, filing, soldering, polishing… learned everything else from reading and trial and error. That dovetailed with my interest in rocks. I was a rockhound when I was a kid, still collect rarely- don’t need anymore rocks… Plain drab gray rocks are more interesting to me now than gems per se…too hard to find pretty rocks, easier to learn about how they formed in the earth…to study gems and crystals scientifically outside of a formal geology class at college is difficult… prerequisites include advanced math with linear algebra, physics, chemistry. Crystallography requires knowledge of symmetry operations, which I don’t completely understand… not enough advanced math in college. Geochemistry requires knowledge of chemistry, crystallography, mineralogy, physics, particularly high temperature high pressre thermodynamics… and on an on…