Peri "dot" or Peri "doe"

You so Tomato I say To ma To!  I get really annoyed when ppl. correct me when I say peridot.  I think it's because they come off like a know it all.  I've decided that I am pronouncing peridot as
pair eh dot because this is the way Randy and Loraine say it and I think they are right.  I mean after all their physical address is in Peridot, AZ out on the Indian reservation and they would know best...some people try to tell me it's pair eh doh. Grrrrrrr
On that note....A little more info on peridot: You can find the info below on the following website or google where in the world can you find peridot:

http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gemstones/sp14-95/peridot.html

 Some info that I find fascinating...

Peridot Mesa, located on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation east of Globe in Gila County, is the most productive locality for peridot in the world. A second Arizona location from which peridot is recovered is Buell Park Apache County, Arizona, about 16 kilometers north of Fort Defiance. However, it is estimated that 80% to 95% of the world's production of peridot comes from the San Carlos Reservation.

On the Reservation, peridot can be mined only by individual Native Americans or by individual families of Native Americans from the San Carlos Reservation. In the past, the miners have not marketed the peridot directly to the gemstone industry. They marketed the material in random size lots, from as small as a coffee can full to as much as a 55-gallon barrel full, to local brokers or mineral dealers. These local brokers/dealers may or may not sort and grade the material, but they do tend to market to the industry in uniform size lots. Currently, some of the large volume miners are marketing the material directly to the industry and are also contracting for cutting services and are marketing cut stones. 

THIS IS SO COOL!!!!

Lorraine took off work to take Devin and I out to the San Carlos Indian reservation to go mining for peridot!  So we are driving down the road and Randy pulls off to a dirt path, not even a path, and then stops in the middle of nowhere and says "ok, we are here." We get out and Devin and I are wondering where is the peridot and where are the people mining? We were the only people out there.  It was just so surreal.  You look down at the ground and there is crushed peridot everywhere.  There are rock walls filled with peridot.  I hated to walk because I knew there was no way to avoid stepping on the stones.  They say it's prettier when it's rained and the peridot just shines.  People have died at this very location from mining and the rocks would just fall on them.  It was so neat to know that we were standing in the very place where 80-95% of the worlds peridot is located.  So we are out there and I didn't want to take any until Lorraine said to. She told us to take some big rocks and so we did. I just felt that this is their land and I shouldn't take it unless she wanted me to.  It was a once in a lifetime experience because no one is allowed to just go mining on the reservation.  You are not allowed on the reservation unless you are with an Appachi, not Navajo, but it has to be with an Appachi Indian orrrr unless you have a work permit.  Even a work permit does not allow you to go mining etc.  The only reason we got to go was because we had Lorraine.  So we leave because it was getting hot and because I could just stay there alllll day in Aw.  We run over to the turquoise shop with big peridot rocks rolling around in the bed of the truck.  Devin shows the lady at the store the peridot.  She says " get that out of your truck or someone will steal it!" hahaha I guess it was a wanted stone.  The crazy thing is, the Indian's own this land that has the peridot mine, it has an Amethyst mine and you can find gold as well and they don't care about it as much as we do.  It's no big deal to them.  They say the gold is haunted. The Indian's have a lot of superstitions. They even have a mountain called superstitious mountain and won't go on it because they believe it is haunted and they won't come back alive.   

Devin & Lorraine

Lava wall filled with Peridot...you can see the green patches

Peridot

The Peridot we brought home and baggies full of little pieces too

 

AZ photos

Me in front of a big Cactus on the side of the road

Devin in front of a big cactus on the side of the road

Borrowed Jeremiah's four-wheeler Thingy and took off into the mountains straight from his house

Did I do that? haha no really he was telling me not to take the picture, but now he is glad I did.  This is after he told me he was going to show me how to drive. hahahaha

The right person came along and helped us. Of course Devin did all the work, but literally there wasn't a lot of ppl. out there

One of the Loco's that Devin painted running through town.... I took this from Ryan's house. I just loved Ryan and Ra'Na's house!

Indian Stories

Will work for Fry Bread!

One day Loraine and Randy came over to make Fry Bread tacos!  She showed me how to make the fry bread, which is really fattening, but everyone loves it.  You can compare fry bread to funnel cakes pretty much. Fry bread can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. hahaha I thought it was neat that the first time I met her was cooking fry bread.  I really expect Lorraine to be quiet just like Randy.  The fry bread is popular in AZ. You can find t-shirts that say "will work for fry bread."  Randy and his wife came over another night to bring us a gift.  I was one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for us.  I know it meant a lot to Devin too.  They bought us Indian watch bands that we will cherish forever.  This is the same night that Lorraine told us about how she was raised and schooling.  She told us that their are 22 Indian tribes in AZ.  We became really close to Randy and Lorraine. 
Randy told us a story about how he was struck by lightening twice when he was little.  He could feel the burning inside.  So the medicine man told him to take an Eagles feather and put it down his throat and pull it out and it would heal him and it did.  They also drew a mural on the ground and had him sit in the middle of it while they danced around him.  He told us how they stuck snake heads on his toes too.  He won't kill snakes...instead he'll talk to them and tell them "shew snake...go away." He used to do sward/toma hawk (spellings wrong) throwing.  Randy is actually a Master Gardener.   

Randy & Devin

My watch on Left & Devin's on Right

Arizona photos

Sleeping Beauty Mountain

Earrings made from the Sleeping Beauty Turq. I bought $14 if you would like a pair email me 

lfjewelrydesigns@gmail.com

Sleeping Beauty turq. Set

Just one style of Moccasins made by the Appachi's

Photos from Arizona

Pearls from the AZ Gem show

Czech Republic beads from the AZ gem show

Turquoise necklace that Devin bought while shopping in Scottsdale-the artist has made necklaces for some famous actresses as well!

Copper Mine across the street from Devin's place

Arizona Part 2

Arizona is a jewelers dream! I should say it is an artsy persons dream too.  I learned so much while being out there and that is why I need to get it all posted on my blog so I don't forget.  My first trip out to AZ I got to see some family out in Mesa which was cool.  I never thought in a million years that I would ever get the chance to go to the biggest gem and lapidary wholesalers,Inc show.  I heard other jewelry vendors at the shows I do talk about it.  This show is hard to explain to anyone that has never been, but it is like the Atlanta America's Mart on crack!  It is huge! I am talking thousands of wholesale vendors come together under huge tents or even in the hotel to sell their beading supplies at wholesale price.  They even had diamonds there.  Notice I said wholesale price...the only way to get into this show is if you have a business license or come as a guest.  I can't remember the budget Devin gave me, but I think it was like $2,000.  He told me to not worry about the money so I could get wanted I wanted, since this was a once in a lifetime experience.  You know you have a good husband when he takes the day off work to go to a bead show with you.  Come to find out later that this show does actually take place on the East coast I believe in North Carlina.  Some of my favorite beads are from the Czech republic as well as pearls. I found some beautiful pearls with cz crystals wrapped around them...below are some photos.  If you go into the restaurants in the Miami or Globe AZ area, you will notice copper on the walls as art work.  Copper can be so pretty because when you put a torch to it, it will change colors. I actually bought some tiny copper pieces and turned it into jewelry.  The copper is cool because it came from the copper mine.  You can read more about copper in a previous post.  Ok, so I have never been a real fan of turquoise until now.  Everyone that knows me, knows that pearls are my thing.  Almost all of my jewelry has pearls in it.  I grew fond of turquoise because of AZ.  Since Globe, AZ is the turquoise capital of the world, I got the chance to buy some really unique turq.  I stumbled across a whole in the wall store and found what's called "Arizona Sleeping Beauty Turquoise."  I will post some pictures of the jewelry I made with turq. below. It's called sleeping beauty because it came from a nearby mountain called "Sleeping Beauty," which looks like a woman laying down.  You can drive anywhere in town and see this mountain.  It's just so cool that I was there to actually take pictures of the mountain that my turquoise was mined from!  AZ is so pretty because of the mountains, the cactus and the sandstone. We actually bought coasters made out of sandstone.  Randy would tell us the name of a mountain if we were driving by it.  There is one mountain in the Tonto National Forest, or it might have been after the forest full of cactus, but either way it is called "Appachi Leap." It is called this because way back when we forced the Indians on the reservation, the Appachi's were the last to go and most wild.  The Appachi's would actually rather commit suicide by jumping off this mountain than going to the reservation.  In the local stores you can get little black rocks called appachi tears that came from the mountain.  I believe Geronimo was an Appachi Indian.  Lorraine's Mom actually remembers her Mother talking about Geronimo.  We got to meet Lorraine's Mom out on the reservation.  I shook her hand and to my surprise this little old lady had the strongest hands ever.  I think this is because she makes all of her quilts by hand.  The Navajo's are known for their metal work and the Appachi's are known for making baskets and quilts etc. 

Arizona Part 1

Where do I even begin? I will need to make several posts to even cover all the cool things that happened out in Arizona over a period of 5 months.  I guess I will start with how we ended up going to AZ.  Devin, my husband, got a contract to paint 15 locomotives in a little town called Globe, AZ. Globe, by the way is the turquoise capital of the world.  I will be posting tons of photos throughout my entries.  He rented a house while out there and I came to visit the 1st weekend of every month because I work full time.  He hired several employees while out there, but Randy (his painter) still works/travels with him.  The people we met that Devin worked with were super nice and it looks like we will get to see them again real soon. Devin was always invited over for dinner or to go to the casino etc.  It made me happy to know that he wasn't always by himself and that if he wanted to hang out with someone that he had friends their.  He did have a roommate, but I won't go into detail about him.  Let's just say he was interesting and loved to go mining for copper out there.  One specific person/couple I would like to tell you more about is Randy and his wife Lorraine.  Randy is a Navajo Indian and his wife is Appachi and interesting enough, they are also Mormon. Ha!  Those two tribes usually don't like each other.  Randy used to be an alcoholic, but gave drinking up when his son died a few years ago.  He realized that life is too short and that he needed to be there for his family.  He has a daughter and some grand kids.  Randy comes from a big family of 13 sisters and 2 brothers and his wife comes from a family of 12 brothers and 1 sister.  Lorraine is so sweet and passionate about her heritage.  If enough time, she would sit down and tell us stories about her growing up.  Her Mother is a strong woman.  When Lorraine was about 9, she moved to California to be in a school placement program and would just come home for the Summer.  Her Mom decided it was better for education to be out in California than AZ because the kids in AZ were mean to the Indian kids.  When Lorraine was little the Government actually came and took one over her siblings away.  The Government was so mean to the Indians.  After California, Lorraine got her Bachelors degree in Utah and that's where her and Randy met.  Now Lorraine is Randy's 2nd wife actually.  His first wife died from being an alcoholic.    Randy and his wife live in a little trailer and don't have much, but at some point they will have a house built either by Lorraine's tribe or Randy's tribe.  Before building the house Randy's tribe would have to approve the location and it will have to be a bran new house.  If they have a house built by Lorraine's tribe, then it will have to be on the Indian reservation only.