MGMS Newsletter

September 2014 Part 1 P.O. Box 5043 Midland, Texas 79704 - Shop: (432) 687-6467

Midland Gem & Mineral Socie ty

“Explore , Discover and Craf t the Wonders o f Nature”

The Petroleum Museum

will open its doors free

of charge to anyone pre-

senting a Museum Day

Ticket on Saturday,

September 27 as part of

Smithsonian magazine’s

10th annual Museum

Day Live! Event. To get

your FREE ticket for 2,

go to this website: www.

smithsonianmag.com/

museumday/tickets/

Website: MidlandGemAndMineral .org E-mai l: mgmstx@gmail .com

READY TO GO ROCK HUNTING? Teri Smith of the Antelope Lodge in Alpine, Texas is

offering rock hunts to 3 locations in the Alpine area.

Location #1: Bouquet, black plume, fortification, moss

& waterline banded agates. Also quartz crystals, calcite

and other minerals. Location #2: Pom pom, moss, for-

tification, banded & plume agates. Also jasper, aga-

tized wood, quartz crystals, calcite, aragonite, selenite,

and even shark’s teeth & ammonites! Location #3:

This is the ranch that our organization has hunted on in

the past and found nice agates, quartz crystals and Lab-

radorite. Here’s the schedule: October 9 -12: Location

#1, October 14: Location #2, October 15: Location #1,

October 16 - 20: Location #3, October 21: Location #1,

October 23 - 27: Location #3, October 28 & 29: Loca-

tion #1, and October 30: Location #2. Note: Some lo-

cations require a high-clearance vehicle, some may re-

quire 4-wheel drive. “Carpooling” may be arranged,

but check ahead to see if available. COST: Location

#1: $50 per day per person, no advance deposit, CASH

ONLY. Includes first 5 gallon bucket of agate (each

additional bucket: $40). Location #2: $40 per person

per day, no advance deposit. Location #3: $75 per per-

son per day, $150 for 3 days, $35 for 4th & 5th days;

Half of fee MUST be paid in advance, with deposits

due by September 30. NOTE: Rollin’ Rock Club mem-

bership required for insurance coverage. You can join

or renew membership at the start of the rock hunts.

Dues are $10 for single and $16 for dual membership

per year. All info at: www.terismithrockhunts.com/

Contact Teri Smith at: agatehunter@sbcglobal.net

Upcoming Events

GENERAL MEETING:

Thursday, September 25 at

7:00 pm-Sibley Learning Cen-

ter at 1307 East Wadley Ave-

nue

BOARD MEETING: Tues-

day, October 7 at 7:00 pm-the

New MGMS Shop at 602

South Main Street

MONDAY NIGHT OPEN

SHOP: Mondays at 6:30 pm

to 9:00 pm - New MGMS

Shop at 602 South Main

Street. ALL MEMBERS AND

VISITORS ARE WELCOME

Affiliations: South Central & American

Federation of Mineralogical Societies

Keep Midland

Beautiful presented by

Amanda Byrom

September program

IMPORTANT

CLASS NEWS

We need members who can

volunteer to teach classes, es-

pecially Basic Lapidary (most

of our current instructors are

all tied up working on the

Clarence Scharbauer House

Project). One big benefit of

becoming a teacher is free use

of all Lapidary Shop equip-

ment! Can you help us? Call

Jacqueline Darby at 432-

218-6300.

Announcement of the

date for the next

Live, Hands-On

Doublets & Triplets

1-day Workshop

will be made at the

Thursday, September 25

general meeting.

For more information,

call Craig Tellinghuisen

at 432-697-7668.

Show & Tell: If you

have something that you

have made, collected or

need identified, please

bring those items to the

general meeting.

MGMS CROSS PENDANT RAFFLE: The cross pendant, pictured at

left, and donated after being purchased by MGMS member Lyn Yater,

was NOT purchased over the internet as previously reported, but at an es-

tate sale through A & S Auctions in Waco, Texas. The editor apologizes

for the error. Tickets for the “14 kt. gold cross pendant, 2¾” x 1¾”, with

inlaid polished stones, topaz & amethyst set stones, and a raised gold heart

on the obverse” are still available at $5.00 a ticket at the general meetings.

You can also contact Bill Halepeska (432-694-5945) for raffle tickets.

Copies of the photo of the pendant are available.

Bring a friend who would

like to see this program

to the September 25

general meeting.

Photo: James Darby

Sunshine Corner By Herman Jones 694-2142 or 520-7313

PAGE 2 MGMS NEWSLETTER

Permian Basin Fair report: Thanks goes to Thomas & Jennifer

Bauer, Mackenzie Bauer, Sydney

Bauer, Emil Beck, Raymond &

Amy Boswell, James & Jacqueline

Darby, Mike Burns, Francis

Foreman, Daniel Jones, Herman

Jones, and Love SwimmingBear for

their work in setting up & taking

down our booth, working the live

demonstrations and/or handing out

show flyers.

Thanks also goes to Thomas &

Jennifer Bauer, Emil Beck,

Raymond Boswell, James &

Jacqueline Darby, Herman Jones

and Craig & Mary Tellinghuisen for

their displays.

We handed out lots of show flyers

and membership applications. Bill

Halepeska and David Richardson

also donated lots of tumbled stones

for the kids.

Anna Richardson went to M.D.

Anderson in Houston on Thursday,

September 11 for a check-up and

passed with flying colors.

Andy McCasland, show dealer, will have heart surgery at Baylor

Hospital in Plano, Texas on Fri-

day, September 26, with three

heart valves to be replaced. Please

continue to remember Andy and

Barbara during this time.

Craig Tellinghuisen went home

on Thursday, August 28 after hav-

ing surgery on his left hip. Therapy

has gone well, and he went from a

walker to a cane on Sunday, Sep-

tember 14.

Marcia Chabak’s husband,

David, went home Friday, August

29 after having spinal surgery. The

surgery went well, but he is still

experiencing some pain. He went

back to work Monday, September

15.

This contest is open to all currently paid members. There are 4 catego-

ries: Lapidary, Silversmithing, Wire Wrap and Chain Maille Jewelry.

There are no specific project requirements of making a certain item.

NOTE: Silversmithing, Wire Wrap & Chain Maille entries are not re-

quired to have a stone or stones as part of the piece, however, if a stone

or stones ARE a part of the piece entered in the contest, they must have

also been worked by the person making the piece. You can enter all four

categories, but only one entry in each category per month. EACH

MONTH there will be a winner for each category chosen for which there

has been an entry. MGMS members will vote on the pieces entered dur-

ing the refreshment break of each monthly general meeting. All monthly

winners will have their names entered into a drawing for the Grand Prize,

which is a TBA. Contest runs May - October 2014. QUESTIONS? Call

Bill Halepeska at 432-694-5945.

Do we have your e-mail

address? Is it your new or

old e-mail address???

We want all members of Midland

Gem & Mineral Society to be kept

up-to-date! If we don’t have your

e-mail address, or your new e-mail

address, you are missing out!

There is information that we send

out that is time-sensitive and can-

not wait to be put in the newsletter.

• WHAT YOU’VE MISSED: A

rock hunt special offer, Sibley

event and rock sale information.

Make certain that we have your

current e-mail address by sending

an e-mail to: mgmstx@gmail.com

with the Subject titled, “MGMS

Mail Update,” along with your

name, and we’ll make certain that

you are in the MGMS e-mail ad-

dress book and kept up-to-date!

PERMIAN BASIN FAIR

Thomas Bauer shows a slab, and

then a polished cab of caliche.

With the help of Stephen DiTullio

(left), David Richardson went to the

Permian Basin Fair with Anna

Richardson on Saturday, Sept. 13.

Photos: Herman Jones

August Contest Winners

Jacqueline Darby

Lapidary

Jennifer Bauer - Wire Wrap

(tie) & Chain Maille Jewelry

Mackenzie Bauer

Wire Wrap (tie)

Lapidary, Silversmithing, Wire Wrap & Chain Maille Contest

MGMS NEWSLETTER PAGE 3

Welcome New Members!

A belated “Welcome” to

new member Debra Bean.

...Welcome!

ATTENTION: FACETERS

Midland Faceters Guild will be

meeting at Craig Tellinghuisen’s

home at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday,

October 2. Questions? Contact

Craig at (432) 697-7668.

The MGMS Clarence Scharbauer House Project

Construction Consultant, Tony Valles

(above right), and Andy Gutierrez (left)

working on the walls and staircase in the

Clarence Scharbauer House. Photos: Herman Jones

MGMS Rock Food Table Our November Gem and Mineral

Show will feature our organiza-

tion’s very own Rock Food Table.

Members are encouraged to join in

and contribute rocks and/or fossils

that look like food. Questions?

Call Bill Halepeska 432-694-5945

or Mary Tellinghuisen 432-697-

7668.

Visitors are welcome at Midland

Gem and Mineral Society’s

monthly meetings, held at Sibley

Learning Center (1307 E. Wadley

Ave.) from 7:00-9:00pm on the

4th Thursday of each month ex-

cept July, November & December.

Midland Gem & Mineral Society is a non-profit organization recognized under Section 501 C (3)

of the Internal Revenue Code as an educational

entity. No other organization controls or directs its activities. Although membership dues are not tax

deductible, donations in any form are tax deducti-

ble as outlined by the IRS.

All members are welcome to stop by our new shop at 602 South

Main Street on Monday nights to socialize, or to volunteer to

work on items for the show, or to work on your own items. Any

member who has satisfactorily passed any of the classes is quali-

fied to use any of the equipment and tools he or she has used in

the classes. In addition, a qualified member wishing to use shop

equipment must pay an annual fee of $15.00 plus an hourly fee

for each piece of equipment used.

“BARGAIN NIGHT” is on Monday nights, with use of ALL equip-

ment (except 24” saw) only $2.00, from 6:30-9 pm. The Monday

night shop supervisor opens the shop by 6:30 pm; with equip-

ment shut-off at 8:50 pm, and clean-up to follow, so as to vacate

the shop by 9 pm.

Monday Nights are Open Shop Nights!

A great big “THANK YOU” to

Sam Foreman, who obtained the

materials and machined pulleys no

longer available for the lap/sander.

Midland Gem & Mineral Society’s

52nd Annual Gem and Mineral

Show will be held Saturday and

Sunday, November 1 & 2, 2014 in

Midland Center at 105 N. Main St.

Volunteers needed to cut small

pieces off material that will be pro-

vided to make samples to go into

our new educational “Texas Na-

tive” rock, mineral and fossil kits.

Call Bill Halepeska 432-694-5945.

Midland Gem & Mineral Society member,

Susan May, was the featured artist at Sibley Na-

ture Center’s Odonata (Dragonfly) Celebration.

Some of her dragonfly-inspired jewelry is shown

in photos at right. Her artwork will hang in the

Sibley Nature Center auditorium until the end of

September. Photos: Herman Jones

MGMS NEWSLETTER PAGE 4

MIDLAND GEM AND

MINERAL SHOW

NOVEMBER 1 & 2 Saturday 9 – 6, Sunday 10 – 5

at the

MIDLAND CENTER

105 N. Main Street

(corner of Wall and Main) .

Show Co-Chair Report

Bill Halepeska: 694-5945

or

Tom Wurster

682-6258 or 432-230-2566

CASE DISPLAYS It’s time for every member to get those creative

juices flowing and going at full speed and getting

ideas from books, magazines, newspapers, etc. to

come up with your case displays for this year’s

show. We invite ALL MEMBERS to put in a dis-

play of what they have made or collected, related

to the fields of rocks, minerals, fossils, lapidary,

jewelry and etcetera. Remember that you can al-

ways share a case with another member if you do

not have enough to fill a case by yourself.

We welcome all members who assisted us last year

in various positions and all new members who

wish to become involved with putting on our

November Gem and Mineral Show. It’s not too

early to begin thinking where you would like to

help out this year.

SET-UP CREW

Cover tables with paper where needed. Bring items

for the show from shop to Midland Center. Unload &

set up display cases. Help some dealers to unload.

After the show is over, disassemble cases & load into

trailer. Take our “leftovers” back to shop. People

needed Friday and Sunday.

WORKING DEMONSTRATIONS

We need members to demonstrate lapidary, faceting,

silversmithing, wirewrapping, Venetian glass bead

making and Chain Maille & other jewelry making.

TICKET SALES

Two people needed at all times in this booth, one

person takes money and makes change, the other

person handles the tickets.

KIDS CORNER

Take money & make change, hand out prize, restock

empty prize squares.

SILENT AUCTION

Get items ready to be put out for auction, process

sales of items and then get the items ready for the

next auction.

GEODES

Saw geodes open. Process geode sales and keep

record of the ones that are sold.

TICKET TAKERS

Have people fill out ticket stub for door prize &

grand prize drawings. Get ticket stubs placed in boxes

for drawings.

FLOATERS

Floaters who can work at the show in different areas

are needed. Floaters are our show’s back-up crew and

are needed Saturday and Sunday.

If you have any questions about anything connected

with the show, call Bill Halepeska: 432-694-5945 or

Tom Wurster: 432-682-6258 or 432-230-2566.