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 

November 2024 Del Air Calendar of Events

Sunday November 3: Daylight Savings Ends

Thursday November 7: General Meeting

Monday November 11: Veterans Day

Thursday November 21: Board Meeting

Thursday November 28: Thanksgiving Day

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November 2024 Program:

The Diversity of American Gems: The Western States

Presented by Renee Newman

Renee’s PowerPoint will include gems from sources in Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and parts of California. However, it will focus on the most notable ones such as jade, benitoite, sunstone, opal, turquoise, chrysocolla, Four Peaks amethyst and fire agate. Renée Newman developed her interest in gems in the early 1980's while conducting tours to Asia, South America and the South Pacific. Her passengers wanted to know how to judge the quality of the gems they saw. After searching in bookstores and libraries for this information, Renée discovered that little had been written on the subject of gem quality evaluation, so she decided it would be worth creating books with photos that showed how to judge gem quality. After receiving a graduate gemologist diploma from the GIA, she was hired as a gemologist at a wholesale firm in downtown Los Angeles. It provided hands-on experience grading diamonds and selecting colored gems and pearls for their jewelry. Armed with trade experience and gemological credentials, Renée decided to create books that showed readers how to visually evaluate the quality of gems. Her first book, the Diamond Ring Buying Guide, was published in 1989. Since that time, she has written thirteen more books on gems and jewelry. They are used as gemology course textbooks, sales training tools, appraisal references and consumer guides. The books will be available for sale at the meeting for a discounted price. Bring cash or check.

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Report on Beading Class with Martina Rodriguez 10-26-2024

Martina Rodriguez instructed us all on how to make A BEAD BRACELET. She had many different beads to choose from and spacer items to make the bracelet even prettier. After stringing the beads and in some cases dropping the string and losing the beads, which means starting over again, we had to tie the knot to hold it all together. This knot was not easy and Martina helped most of us. Most made 2 bracelets and a pair of earrings. With a light lunch, it was a good day. Members attending the class were: Pam Abbott, Dean Tran, Olga Wolf, Alexander Tran, Dr. Jeong Guk Oh, Louise Ratliff, Marilyn Murata and Bob Dearborn. A fun day for all and we did learn something new. These special yearly quarter workshop classes are for members only and if you miss them, you are missing out on learning something new and interesting.

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Proposed 2025 Slate of Officers 

                 

President: Jeff Dengrove                                        

Vice President: Aileen Beckers                                               

2nd Vice President: Dan Farber         

Secretary: Bob Dearborn          

Treasurer: Shellie Van Winkle   

Federation Director: Bob Knox

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December Holiday Party Teaser

Happy Holidays Del-Airs. Next month is our annual holiday party. This year we will be enjoying a member provided international themed potluck dinner, a special presentation revolving around slabs and cabochons, some games, and our annual election of officers for 2025. Holiday party chair, Bernadette Friedman will have a sign-up sheet for you to advise on what dish you will be bringing to the party. Remember to prepare enough to feed approximately 6-8 people. Our holiday party committee is currently hard at work planning out all the fine details. The party will be held on our regular December meeting date of Thursday December 5th in the Fellowship Hall building of the Northridge United Methodist Church. So, save the date as you will not want to miss this fun annual event.

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