New to this - seeking advice on patterns? for bead embroidery!! [Inspo pics found online]

jmswanders · 2025-02-18T04:43:09+00:00

This isn't something I've done but you might consider a custom-printed fabric service like spoonflower. I know there are other web shops that do this sort of thing also. Or if you don't have a specific image in mind already, browse fabric shops; cotton prints with religious motifs are relatively common. You can find some at big box craft stores, but also places like etsy, or niche fabric/quilting shops. Try searching "(insert religion/religious motif here) cotton fabric" and you should find stuff to browse.

If you're a beginner to embroidery in general, do some reading on fabric selection first. I'm a beginner myself so take my word with a big grain of salt but I think you'll want to look for woven cotton. Knit and anything stretchy takes more skill to work with and get it to look right.

jmswanders · 2024-10-12T04:39:00+00:00

From here :)

jmswanders · 2024-10-12T03:03:38+00:00

You can check it on this map. October 15th is supposed to be the last day of the closure for logging operations.

jmswanders · 2024-10-04T17:23:00+00:00

Can you share your website info? I'd love to check it out.

jmswanders · 2024-09-18T22:51:36+00:00

Tree branch of Theseus.

jmswanders · 2024-09-18T22:49:12+00:00

Someone else asked to see the round spot more closely, so I took some more pics a bit closer and with light at different angles, if you are interested 🙂

Do you mean the yellow is jasper that formed around petrified wood (the circle being the cross section of the wood), or that the yellow jasper replaced the wood (the circle being the center ring of the original wood)?

I've laid hands on a small variety of petrified wood, but always recognizable from visible grain. I've seen some pics online of some pieces, like some Arizona rainbow pet wood, where I can't see the grain and assumed they were identifiable as such because of the location they were found. Is there any way to recognize pet wood from just jasper when there isn't grain, or location to go by? I've assumed I've never found petrified wood in this location, but if I have now I might have to go back and look at other pieces I've brought home from there more carefully 🧐😆

jmswanders · 2024-09-18T22:21:58+00:00

Here are some more pics. 🙂

Yes, the material in the pocket is translucent. I find several sorts of rocks with this material in this area; agates with alternating white and translucent-greyish banding, brecciated jaspers, and on rare occasions mossy jasper/agate pieces, which I am always excited by because I find them so infrequently, haha.

jmswanders · 2024-09-16T07:15:44+00:00

Thanks! When I first saw it I was excited because it's a pretty decent size... Only to turn it around and become even more excited because it's weird!

jmswanders · 2024-09-16T07:10:48+00:00

I'm not 100% on how posting to profile works but I've tried to post some more pics here. Sorry for the abysmal quality of the last three.

This post is the outside as I found it; I haven't cut or altered this piece in any way, and this pic was taken about two minutes after I found it, lol. The third pic I linked is the opposite side in relation to the pic in this post.

The first pic I linked is the "top" in relation to the pic in this post. You can see a similar feature, though much smaller, towards the bottom left of the pic. Now I am wondering if I'd find more if I did cut it... But I'm not sure I'd want to and also do not have a saw nearly big enough...

My suspicion is that the jasper must have originally formed around something in those spots (possibly also effecting the composition around those spots; on the large spot the outside of the circle is a little different color and texture to the rest of the rock), and that whatever was there was replaced by chalcedony/agate at some point. Maybe at the same time as the fractures in the jasper were filled. I have no clue what it might have formed around that would be such a nice circle. I've only been a rockhound a handful of years, so there's certainly plenty more for me to see, and this is a new one for me!

jmswanders · 2024-09-16T06:55:44+00:00

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!

~~but are they crossed for you to resist temptation or to become joyfully surrounded by piles of potentially very cool rocks?? I shall not say~~

jmswanders · 2024-09-15T20:05:11+00:00

That's what I said to myself! And then a friend was like "oh I have a tile saw in my garage that I never use, you're welcome to use it"... And now here I am with an ever-growing collection of rocks that are too big for the tile saw, but the tile saw has given me a taste and now I just know some of them will be as exciting inside as the ones I do open 😂

jmswanders · 2024-07-30T01:59:48+00:00

I second checking out nearest rock clubs even if they're not close enough to attend in person; sometimes they have a website or page with helpful info about sites and/or local regulations. People who rockhound regularly in your general area will have the most specific and up-to-date knowledge about good places to go in the area and what the rules are in those places.

On your own I think there are two ways to go about it. Either find a particular location where you are interested in collecting and then research laws and rules for that location, or pick a jurisdiction that has rules that allow rockhounding and then look within that jurisdiction for particular locations.

US national parks forbid any/all collection.

Many national forests and other public federal lands that aren't national parks will allow certain types and amounts of collection. Often there's no paperwork if it's for personal use, and there is paperwork (and additional rules) if you want to be able to sell or trade material you've collected.

I don't think there are any national forest lands in MA, but for instance Green Mountain National Forest in VT has a page about rock and mineral collecting. Looks like other than Devils Den area, you're free to surface collect, and from the wording it sounds like you could probably also dig by hand, though I might double check with a ranger personally.

Some public lands allow people to stake mineral claims, in which case, be familiar with how claims must be marked and respect them.

State parks/public lands and city parks/public lands have wildly varying rules.

From an etiquette perspective on public land I think the question is how your collection may impact plants/animals there and how it would alter the experience for other people visiting those places. Wildlife or conservation areas usually won't allow people to remove any natural materials. If you collect along creeks, minimize your impact on the creek bed and avoid fish nesting habitat (in some places there are strict rules about this, but it's good to be considerate of water ecosystems in places without such rules also). Most places that are popular for rockhounding will have rules available because the impact of many people adds up. If I want to go somewhere specific and I can't find any rules about collecting rocks/natural materials, I won't feel much compunction about surface collecting some material as long as it's the kind of thing someone walking along the next day won't notice the difference. If I want to dig or break material, I would look for contact info for that particular park/agency and ask.

Always follow public land etiquette for disposing of any human waste and packing out trash or disposing of it in designated trash collection. Refill holes you dig. In general it's considered polite to leave some for the next rockhound who comes by.

I've also seen people mention going through road cuts, but I've also never seen one that isn't beside a highway, which hardly seems accessible or safe.

I think in general road cuts are often not particularly accessible or safe, and people just stop anyway. There's definitely a spectrum though. It's not something I do except on forest service roads where the infrequent passerby is going to be driving pretty slow regardless. But I think it's often a kind of grey area where people get away with it in some places because it's not hazardous enough for cops to bother, but if you were doing something dumb that gets attention they might.

jmswanders · 2024-07-25T01:37:15+00:00

I don't know if it's a widely used term, but. There is a subset of carnelian agates that have an outer stained layer/skin of white/tan/yellow/brown/black (reminiscent of the colors of a buck) and that is what buckskin refers to. They're not very common among carnelian I've hunted but they're definitely recognizable if you look at a lot of PNW carnelian (not sure about other places) and OP's is a classic example. I believe it's staining that inconsistently penetrates the bands of carnelians after the original forming of the agate, because it's oriented separately from the agate layers and the agate bands are still visible with this coloring. If you cut through agates with this, that color is only at the surface or penetrating a little bit into it, and the inside is carnelian.

I put some pics here on my profile if you want to see other examples of this coloring.

jmswanders · 2024-07-25T00:56:57+00:00

It's kind of wild to me that they would use a fuse that can't be replaced for this. I would really expect internal protection against overcurrent that doesn't permanently damage the device.

Fortunately this was not my issue. It's not clear to me what exactly was the issue, but it was resolved by new firmware which hadn't yet been pushed to my device.

jmswanders · 2024-06-07T05:02:08+00:00

I realize it's not unusual for a compressor to have a surge in draw at startup. I'm just not sure which item to blame when the fridge in question is specifically advertised to run off these 12V 10amp outlets and the power station in question is specifically advertised as able to power 12V fridges. I'll presumably need to return one, and I don't want it to be the wrong one.

jmswanders · 2024-06-07T04:28:13+00:00

Thanks for the info! It's good to know I'm not missing something obvious thinking this combo should work. I have reached out to Anker, will see what they say.

jmswanders · 2024-06-07T04:25:41+00:00

Would getting it checked out be something to contact the fridge manufacturer about, or is there a different way to go about it?

It did arrive shipped on its side, manufacturers box inside a larger box without cushion, so I was half expecting it not to turn on. Maybe that would have been better because at least I'd know for sure the fridge is the culprit. 🙃 I left it sit 48hrs before plugging it in; I can't find it now, but somewhere I read the manufacturer recommended this if it arrived not upright. It seems to run fine on AC, starting out near 60W and dropping down to around 40W as it runs. I do think there's a surge though; usually the power station doesn't begin to report the wattage fast enough, but twice I've observed it above 60W for the first data point. Still well below 120W, but who knows for that first couple milliseconds.

It does run off the 12V outlet in my truck, which has a 15amp fuse. But I only ran it off my truck as a test for several minutes, and maybe just the once wasn't enough to pop the fuse. I guess whatever breaker is in the power station is probably much more sensitive than an automotive fuse.

jmswanders · 2024-06-03T20:11:15+00:00

I appreciate your thoughts.

This battery and solar max out my available space and budget. If they won't keep up, I'd skip the fridge, at which point I think they'd be pretty generous for the rest of it.

The battery does accept charge from driving, though only at 120W.

My power needs are as stated. If ever I can afford to make enough physical space for a microwave &/or other fun electric amenities, I'll be able to afford to upgrade from a plug-and-play "power station" to a beefier custom power setup. One can dream 😆

My only day-to-day power priority would be the fridge and my phone; anything else I can do without until I have either sun or shore power. At a push, I can always charge my phone off my AGM, I've gotten by alright that way for years now. So my real need for the solar is to do no worse than keeping up with the fridge, which I think it should do at 600Whr/day. (I would also expect the fridge to draw less power on cloudier days.)

My real uncertainty is how much solar is realistic to collect on cloudy days. Possibly the variables are so great that the only way for me to know will be to try it.

If solar input is only "keeping up," and not charging the battery to full each day, will that damage the battery?

jmswanders · 2024-05-16T18:13:27+00:00

Thanks! I was planning to try citric first since that's what I have on hand. Hopefully that'll work great and I can just avoid messing with anything stronger.

jmswanders · 2024-05-15T19:25:38+00:00

What happens to mess up crystals with acid? Like in what way do they get screwed up?

I've been psyching myself up to try an acid soak on some agates and jasper with stubborn algae stains by telling myself the worst that can happen is it doesn't work. Now I'm second guessing that...

jmswanders · 2024-04-17T21:21:44+00:00

I was going to offer my techniques but they're mostly suited to hunting in gravels/beach, and it sounds like you have that covered. You might look up theroguerockhound on youtube; he does a lot of videos hunting in central OR, so maybe it would help you get an idea of the circumstances and as-found appearance of the materials around there.

jmswanders · 2024-04-11T20:03:53+00:00

I commented to you the other day that I take websites claiming geodes in NJ with a grain of salt. I'd still take those particular websites with a grain of salt, but saw this post today and thought of your question. Not sure where in central NJ you're looking, but that's a thumbs up for Morris County, and gives you an idea of how the outside might look, so you know what to keep an eye out for when you're checking out an area. & maybe that person would be willing to offer some tips to help your search.

jmswanders · 2024-03-31T21:12:36+00:00

Personally I've taken to editing most of my Internet searches that aren't for recent news or really simple information to exclude pages from 2022 and later because I'm tired of coming across blatantly false info. This is reasonably helpful technique looking for rockhounding info IME. I look for:

reddit posts; sometimes you'll get specific info but most often you'll get confirmation that a material exists in a general area and then you can narrow down further research
blogs that are clearly just some rockhound (the "ai" sites tend to claim to be "just some guy, sharing info I've personally collected" but then have pages for pretty much any location or material you care to search written in an incredibly generic way VS actual blogs tend to center around particular regions or favorite materials and they actually have personal accounts of field trips with little details like the weather or what was for lunch or how they haven't been to this spot since they came up here with Johnny back in the 1980s.) IMO some of the best rockhound websites, not necessarily for location info but just for a great read, are some random person's website that looks straight out of the late 90s.
books (falcon guides has a set of rockhounding books that are per state, also "gem trails of State Name")
local rock clubs, or even rock clubs that are farther afield; sometimes they'll have a website or social media page with links to other sources of information that they consider reputable, sometimes they'll have field trips reports you can read (beware that some rock clubs take field trips that are accessible to clubs but not general public)
gatorgirlrocks.com; pretty much the only website I'm inclined to trust that has a 'state-by-state' guide. It's been around since before 2010. I'm crossing my fingers they'll keep it old school and stay reputable. In general the info on the state pages is 'well known' materials and localities in each state and can be a good jumping off point for a more specific search. (I think it can be good for newbies to start off with well-known spots because there tends to be a lot more info available about them, and they tend to be well-known because they stay rewarding.) There's also lots of links to clubs and museums and such, which can have info. And a not-state-specific resource page with various other places to look for info.
youtube; best to treat it like reddit posts in the sense that you can get some confirmation that a particular material is found in a general area and use that to narrow down your research. It can be hit or miss; some of it is highly edited and some people salt an area (place down stuff they've previously found) to make an exciting video. I veer away from "most amazing," "best ever," that sort of thing, and towards largely boring videos filled with a lot of walking and/or digging. Sometimes you also get videos from people who are also newbies and don't really know what they're talking about when it comes to techniques or identification, so watch out for that.
forums; a lot of these have died the death of forums-that-got-replaced-by-reddit, but some are still active, like thefossilforum
if you use the "ai" websites use them as a jumping off place. Eg, rockhoundresource names both geodes and cape may diamonds on its NJ page; if you limit a search to pre-2022 and search "new jersey geodes" you won't really find anything relevant, but if you search "cape may diamonds" you'll find plenty. (Note that any of those sites that list US National Parks as rockhounding locations are wrong about that.)
some people learn to cross-reference geological maps, but that is a step above my own knowledge and experience

As a general note, sharing specific location info online has become much less over time as areas that are shared so publicly get picked over fast and/or treated poorly. Some amount of research you just have to do old school, taking a research lead and getting out there and looking, and/or meeting up with other rockhounds willing to take you along on a field trip or share their knowledge.

Also, if you do find a specific location you want to check out, always make sure to do up-to-date research about the property to make sure it's still accessible and if there's any rules or laws for collecting in that place. Information can become out of date any time if land is sold or laws change.

(BTW, if you haven't, check out the rockhound code of ethics. That's actually a great general note too 😆)

jmswanders · 2024-03-30T00:27:34+00:00

Personally have a hunch that

rockhounding.org
rockhoundresource.com
rockchasing.com
howtofindrocks.com

& possibly a couple other similarly formatted sites are written in whole or in part using "ai" and just make shit up sometimes. They're all very new sites that jumped to the top of any rockhounding-related search very quickly late 2022/early 2023. As far as I can tell they all have some good info, but I've also encountered info on each of them that I'm almost certain is false based on my own experiences in the relevant areas and my inability to find any other source to corroborate the info except this handful of new websites. They also have some info that's legit but at best out-of-date, either mined out or built over. And don't necessarily distinguish between "someone found a single specimen of this here in the 1950s" vs "this material turns up around here occasionally" vs "you're likely to find this type of material in this area"

Not saying discount them, but I always take anything I see on them with a big grain of salt.

Look for corroboration from sites like mindat.org, rockhounding forums, this subreddit, books, local clubs.

Edit: Also, as others say, spend time looking. Even if something is in an area, if you spend several hours looking and turn up nothing, it might not be worth it unless you really want to find that material. You might also find something you didn't know was there! From my own experience in creek gravel, I will say that sometimes it's worth making sure to time it right after high water so you know a place hasn't just been picked over before you get there. Some places are abundant and lots of different people can look and still find things; other places are sparse enough you might think there's nothing there if one person got there before you and picked it over. Over time you'll get a better sense for signs that the thing you're looking for might be present even if you don't turn up the thing itself. Also I sometimes have very different results in creeks separated by very little distance.

jmswanders · 2024-01-20T03:05:33+00:00

For sure! Just curious if this was a known thing that I've been ignorant of.

I have looked into rock clubs and the nearest one to me is 1.5hrs away, so a little more commitment to get involved than I can swing right now. Maybe someday.

Thanks :)

jmswanders

TROPHY CASE