My New Pet Rocks

Well, I found my Okenite! I attending the Dallas Fine Mineral show held at The Embassy Suites Hotel last year and one dealer from India had a few pieces in a trunk he hadn’t unpacked. I purchased two puff balls for $15 total. Pretty inexpensive way to satisfy an obsession, I thought. The show was outstanding with many cases of museum quality specimens provided by international sellers. My favorite was a natural-state silver piece (of course!).

The dealer got the rock out of his box and unwrapped the cotton packing material. He then plopped the little fur ball onto my out-stretched palm. As I was examining the fine crystal “fur” a group of kids came into the room. They immediately gravitated to where I was sitting and wanted to pet the rock. “Oooooh sorry! You may look all you like, but this rock is not for touching” The look they gave made me feel like I was the rock police, whose only goal was to suck the joy out of children’s lives.


In fact, I didn’t even feel comfortable picking it up off my hand and setting it back into its cotton nest. The little hairs are more durable than I assumed, but not by much. Below is the other rock I purchased which is still attached to its matrix rock.

I got a little silly during the photo shoot and placed a little model train man on the Okenite in order to distort the scale. In reality, the rock is only an inch in diameter.

It's All About the Rocks

My obsession with Okenite continues…



The gentleman in the above video mentions that the puffs can tolerate a little bit of petting. Good news, as I assumed it was so fragile that breathing on it was risky.

This Saturday at the Dallas Market Hall, the International Gem & Jewelry Show will be occurring. From their list of dealers, it appears that a heavy amount of bead vendors will be present.The majority of my current designs do not feature beads; therefore, I should be able to navigate through the show fairly quickly.

As I literally have buckets of uncut rocks to be slabbed or formed, I am having difficulty justifying the need for more stones. The issue lies in expertise; I know how to cut cabochons but faceted gems are not in my skill set.

The Pleasant Oaks Gem and Mineral Society was nice enough to send me a free admission ticket, so I really don’t have an excuse not to go. I’m certain my wallet won’t thank me though.

Trip to Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Earlier this month, my husband an I went to Washington, DC. I had timed the trip during the cherry blossom festival and the trees did not disappoint. We visited several museums, but my personal favorites were the Renwick and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. I spent an almost absurd amount of time in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals. It’s a shame that the website doesn’t have more images of the permanent collection- I believe it is still under construction.

I found several gems in the collection to be more interesting than the infamous Hope Diamond. The Napoleon Diamond Necklace has several old mine-cut diamonds in an elegant design. I was especially interested in the construction of the piece which did not look to be as well-built as more modern works. I was expecting cleaner looking settings, but thinking back, it was likely due to the rough and irregular shapes of the diamonds. More information on the piece can be found here.

The Napoléon Diamond Necklace. Photograph by Chip Clark, Smithsonian

The number of cases containing minerals and cut gems from every corner of the planet is a bit overwhelming. I was amazed and shocked at not only the multitude of specimens in cut and natural forms, but also the number of minerals I had never heard nor seen before (though I am admittedly no expert). Stibnite and okenite had to be included in my notebook for future research. Both are either soft or fragile, which explains why neither are mentioned in my jewelry references. Somehow, Smithsonite, had also escaped my notice.

My current obsession is Okenite, though. More information on its properties can be found on webmineral.com

Photo Copyright © John Betts - Fine Minerals

I am aware that one false move, and the delightful fuzzy crystals will break off and shed worse than my cat. I suspect my attraction to the mineral is due to my love of hamsters and tribbles.

I haven’t reached a solution to the display/wearablity problem but I’m letting the issue stew a bit before experimentation.