The Del Air Rockhounds Club Welcomes You!!

www.Facebook.com/DelAirRockhounds

The Del Air Rockhounds Club was founded in 1954 with members mostly residing in the San Fernando Valley area of California. Our club is a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing knowledge of the lapidary arts and techniques, geology, mineralogy and related fields. We own our own lapidary equipment with members available to teach and demonstrate lapidary techniques to other members. Our members enjoy lapidary related programs, demonstrations, exhibitions, displays and lectures. We also take monthly field trips to our local deserts & mountains for exploration and the study and collection of lapidary and mineral specimens.

Member of the California & American Federation of Mineralogical Societies

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 7618, Van Nuys, CA 91409 - Phone # 818-439-0217

April 2024 Del Air Calendar of Events

Thursday April 4: General Meeting                                                                                                            7:30 pm in our regular meeting room at Northridge United Methodist Church

Friday April 12: Vintage Magnet STEAM Night 

Saturday April 13: Del Air Shop Day

Thursday April 18: Board Meeting                                                         

Fri, Sat, Sun, April 19, 20, 21: Conejo Gem & Mineral Show

Monday April 22: Passover Begins

Tuesday April 23: Andasol Elementary STEAM Night

Saturday April 27: DWP Earth Day

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April's General Meeting Program

'Generalized Mineral Identification'                                                                                                        Presented by Bob Dearborn & Bob Knox

Our club recently participated in a "rock swap" with a club from Riverton, Wyoming. A "rock swap" basically means we sent a box of California rocks to them and they sent a box of Wyoming rocks to us. This month, at our general meeting, the two Bobs will show us how to identify these rocks utilizing some of the basic mineral identification techniques available today. If any of the membership would like to own any of these Wyoming specimens then make sure you attend our May meeting where these specimens will be available via a special silent auction.

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Upcoming May 2024 Field Trip Teaser - Save the Date! Saturday May 18, 2024 - 10:00 am

Join us for our annual field trip to Wrightwood, CA for actinolite, garnet in schist and possibly even lepidolite. We will be doing our usual potluck lunch and Shellie Van Winkle has once again volunteered the use of her vacation home as our staging location which is just steps away from the collecting area. More detailed information in the May bulletin. So… Save That Date!

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Club Display Case @ AFMS/CFMS/VGMS Annual Show in May 

The Del Air club will be installing a display case at the annual show and convention at the Ventura Fairgrounds May 24th thru the 27th. It will be a non competitive entry showcasing our club and the lapidary items we have created at our various shop days, wire wrapping and chain mail classes, etc. We are asking all members to loan a lapidary item or two that you created, cut, polished or assembled while a member of the club to the board for possible inclusion in the case. We are looking for 12 to 14 items for inclusion in the case depending on size. It could be a polished specimen, a jewelry item or any type of rock related handicraft.  Please bring your loan items to the May 2024 meeting labeled with a brief explanation of the item and your name & phone number. All items will be returned to members at our June meeting. This is great exposure for our club to AFMS/CFMS members from around our state and the entire country.

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MEMBERS QUARTERLY CHAIN MAIL NECKLACE PROJECT REPORT

As you all know, our club is trying to schedule a quarterly project for our members to participate in. Something to learn about or make or think about. This quarter, Maxine Dearborn led a class on making CHAIN MAIL JEWELRY. She had everything set up with instructions and as the jump ring necklaces were starting to be put together we began to hear “DARN” these rings are really small or OOOPS I just put that ring in the wrong place or BOY this is a challenge! But, parts of the necklace did get done and a couple finished necklaces went home. Others took their incomplete project home to finish. Everyone agreed it was a challenge but fun. I don't think anyone would want to make a full suit of chain mail armor because it would take years! We hope to see more club members on our next quarterly project.

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***June 2024 General Meeting Teaser***

Our June meeting topic will be "What's Your Other Hobby". We ask all members to participate by bringing in and sharing with the group something that you collect or are passionate about outside the realm of rocks or lapidary. This is a great way for all of us to learn something more about each other. So think about what it is you'd like to share and bring it to our general meeting in June.

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