The 62nd Annual iteration of the event put on by the Culver City Rock and Mineral Club featured vendors, workshops, and abundant gemstone displays.
The 62nd Annual Culver City Fiesta of Gems held this past Saturday and Sunday, June 28 and 29, featured brilliant gemstone and mineral-centered creations, including these displays. The vendor told Culver Crescent that the base molds are crafted by hand to mold around each crystal, with bends and folds that wrap around the rock clearly present. || Photos by Christian May-SuzukiThe featured mineral chosen by the event's host — the Culver City Rock and Mineral Club — was fluorite, the mineral form of calcium fluoride. It is considered to have one of the widest range of colors of any mineral in the world, and these different hues can be the result of impurities, radiation, or other environmental factors. || Photo by Christian May-Suzuki Tools to cut and shape minerals and rock were among the practical products sold by vendors at the Culver City Fiesta of Gems, which was held Saturday and Sunday at the Veterans Memorial Center. Demonstrations and workshops which showed attendees how to work with these tools were among the attractions at the Fiesta. || Photo by Christian May-Suzuki While fluorite can be known to have color gradients, this bismuth is a different entity entirely. It is actually considered a chemical element, not a rock or mineral, and can be found of the Periodic Table of Elements as atomic symbol 83. || Photo by Christian May-Suzuki Some vendors turned their minerals into unique products, like these unique functional clocks made from the cross section of minerals. While the most common goods at the Fiesta were jewelry made from various minerals and gemstones, other practical products like these clocks were also available for purchase. || Photo by Christian May-Suzuki An employee of vendor Jade and Jewelry shows off the differences in her Jade bracelets at the Fiesta of Gems. Jade comes in a variety of shades based on where it originates, and can come from two different rocks: nephrite and jadeite. Jadeite is harder and denser than nephrite and is mainly found in Burma, while nephrite is much more abundant. || Photo by Christian May-Suzuki One of the most unique pieces at the Fiesta was these wire trees, produced by Ferdie Sanchez of Gem Tree Creations. A four-hour workshop that taught the basics of making these "Rock Trees of Life" was also held at the Fiesta, but it was not taught by Sanchez. || Photo by Christian May-Suzuki A vendor shows off his collection of agate stones for a customer interested in purchasing a piece for his younger relative. Agate is a classification of quartz-based stones that are made of tiny crystals that are too small to be seen with the naked eye. || Photo by Christian May-Suzuki Agate is characterized by the bands of colors that are created through the alternating layers of silica that characterize this mineral. According to environmental firm Geo Forward, agate is "generally understood not to be a mineral, but rather a mineraloid due to its amorphous physical properties and geochemical composition." || Photo by Christian May-Suzuki Among the most commonly known gemstones, amethyst is a violet quartz variety which attributes its trademark purple color to trace amounts of Iron (Fe³⁺) incorporated into the crystal structure during formation. || Photo by Christian May-Suzuki
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