The Jade Man

Capay Valley is about an hour from where I am. It's an absolutely beautiful Valley, with organic farms, wine, Cache Creek Casino, a great diner called 'The Roadtrip' and now an annual trip for me to buy jade from The Jade Man, Mike!

I was guided to the house first, where they had a beautiful display of jewelry and jade specimens.

But I was interested in rough and slabs. So I headed down the hill, past a couple of vintage white buses, to where the rough was. First thing that catches my attention are a couple of huge boulders of jade!

I was quickly supplied with my own spray bottle, and a bin. Then the real fun began! There were 6 six foot tables piled high with rough, and a few bins of slabs. There were a couple of crates, and even more jade off to the side. 

Hours passed all too quickly! I had to get back, so I brought my modest bin over to Mike, who went over the contents, and he told me where each piece came from (and labeled them as well) and complimented me on one particular chunk of Feather River Jade and he smiled and said he usually puts aside a piece like that for himself! It came to 10 pounds. Here is my very own little pile of jade!

And some close-ups.

Feather River Jade that Mike admired

Darker Feather River Jade

British Colombian Jade

I absolutely love jade, California jade in particular. Hopefully I'll find the time to get out to my workshop before the end of the school year and get the saws running again, now that the weather is warming up. 

Enough Rough to be set for LIFE... many lives.

Rainforest Jasper

My name is Studiodct, and I'm addicted to rocks. I confess that after a good decade of purchasing rock from around the world, I can go out to my modest rockpile (I'm looking at you, Jason!) and find the best stuff!  This is a chunk of Rainforest Jasper from Australia, that is a couple of inches thick, when I brought my 60# boulder of it into Sacramento Mineral Society's Workshop to cut on one of their monster saws, so I can cut it on my 12" saw. I love this stuff! The agate pockets are delicious.

Another huge favorite of mine is Mexican Crazy Lace. 

Mexican Crazy Lace

So why am I not playing with my saw and cabbing machine? Because I'm like a year behind on wrapping!

What's a gal to do?

Shhhhh. I'm going to a Jade Sale next weekend. I'll take pics, I promise.

Copper with copper! Back to the wire.

Every Thursday afternoon, I meet a few girlfriends at the local coffee shop. We can bring anything we want to work on, or nothing at all, and just chat. I love my Thursday get-togethers. Because sometimes, I just don't feel like doing anything but play solitare. For hours. I'm stressed, I'm tired, I'm grumpy. Usual stuff. The muse took a vacation and left the building.

Sometimes, just starting (the hardest part) can get the creative juices moving again. Or if I really don't feel like wrapping, and just playing with beads, I can 'plan' my Thursdays, and bring only wire.

Such was the case today, and here's the result. I had a small Copper Fire Brick cabochon I purchased probably over a year ago. I had prepped a number of wraps:

...and honestly, this seemed the least interesting of the bunch. But girlfriends and coffee did their weekly magic, and the piece flowed! I'm very happy with it.

Ah, and here is another dragon, I altered the pattern, and used much better beads. I think more need to be 'hatched!'

This was it's 'aren't I cute?' and 'how can you resist?' pose!