Sunday, June 10, 2007

Gem Mining in Franklin, NC



We went to a gem mine this morning and used sluice boxes to pick out gemstones. It was a lot of fun and interesting to do. I don't think we had any miraculous finds, but did well overall and we like what we are bringing home. The first photo is of some of the larger gems/some just pretty rocks we got. There are amethysts, turquoise, lapis lazuli, rose quartz, green quartz and lots I will have to research on the web to identify. The second photo is of the finer gems. The first pile on the left is made up of emeralds and topaz. The second pile is sapphires and rubies (only two dinky little rubies!). The largest pile is small garnets, got lots of those. The lower right corner is amethyst and the lower left corner are moonstones. Pretty cool, huh? I don't know if anyone will ever see me wearing any of these, but I am thinking of trying some wire wrapped jewelry since that looks really cool with gemstones.

We are leaving Franklin tomorrow morning and will head toward Boone. We will chill out for a few days before the art festival starts, which after having so many traveling days will be a good thing to just relax for awhile.

4 comments:

Rebecca E. Parsons/Cre8Tiva said...

Great finds...have fun in boone...is it a festival i would wantto come see? i am only a few hours from there...blessings, rebecca

Unknown said...

No diamonds?

rakethetable said...

Any advise - we are heading up there in 2 weeks? I would like Little One to really enjoy the searching activity.

Watercolors by Susan Roper said...

"The Rake"...I tried to send you an e-mail bu tit became "truncated" and didn't go...? I wanted to let you know that we enjoyed our visit to the Rose Creek Mine more than any we have tried, it was very interactive and they help you quite a bit. We saw quite a few of the younger kids and they were all having a ball, so your "little one"
should enjoy the experience. Have fun....Susan