Est. 1979 Harrison County Gem & Mineral Society, Inc. Gulfport Gems Volume 42 January 2021 Number 1 Member of the Southeast Federation of Mineralogical Society P.O. Box 10136 www.facebook.com/gulfportgems Gulfport, Ms. 39505 Website: www.gulfportgems.org A message from the President. Notes from the editor . Meeting: Dear Members, Well we made it through 2020. Hope- fully there are brighter days ahead for Happy New Year! It is 2021. Let’s hope that 2021. No physical meeting this month due to things are beginning to get better. Vic and I Covid-19. Skype meeting 3rd Saturday got our COVID vaccine yesterday. So, we feel of the month at 1pm. like things are starting to improve. We are going to have a Skype Meeting January 16, Herbert Wilson Rec Center: You will be notified when it is safe for 2021, at 1 p.m. We don’t have much on the everyone to meet in large crowds. With agenda but it is nice to talk to everyone. Join Covid on the rise it isn’t possible right us if you can. We are looking forward to a now. workshop in the very near future. Gems of the Month: Garnet Sincerely, Project of the Month: Mask Retainers/Mask Holder Cords by President Sue West Lisa Fitch. Page 2. Please volunteer to submit a project. William Holland: Workshop schedule for 2021 season is now Regular Meeting available. I will attach the schedule with the Via Skype newsletter. January 16, 2021 Please continue to check our website and Facebook pages for updates. Contact Leslie Jancovich at [email protected] to join the monthly meeting. www.gulfportgems.org www.facebook.com/gulfportgems Please do so in advance to be added to the list. Gulfport Gems Vol. 42 Number 1 1 January 2021 Project of the Month Mask Retainer / Mask Holder Cords First Version Second Version Supplies: Supplies: 2 jump rings (or split rings) 2 jump rings (or split rings) 2 lobster claw clasps 2 lobster claw clasps 1 Eyeglass chain or cord 2 crimp beads, Beadalon 49 Wire or Fireline or cord We’ve all used them for our glasses and sunglass- Beads of your choice. Seed beads no. 6 are es. This one is super simple! perfect for this because they are not too small to thread. You might already have one at home. Most peo- ple who wear glasses such as myself do have Add lobster claw to jump rings. On one end of one. wire add crimp bead and your jump ring with If not, go to Dollar Tree ($1.00) or any store of lobster claw, then thread wire back through your choice and buy the eyeglass chains or cords crimp bead and crimp it. and add a jump ring ( I like split rings myself ) and a lobster claw clasp on each end and using the Now add the beads to desired length, add crimp lobster claw attach to the string of your mask on bead, jump ring with lobster claw attached and each side. Your Done! bend wire back through crimp bead and crimp it while hiding tail of wire through some beads and How many times have you gotten out of your car snip the end of wire. to have to return because you forgot your mask while out doing errands. This way it can hang I usually like to add a little G-S Hypo Cement around your neck. Especially convenient went out glue inside my crimp beads before crimping. eating. Third Version Supplies: 1 lanyard (purchased or you can make your own) Just attach your lanyard to one end of your mask and hang around your neck. It’s important that we all do our part and wear our mask while out in public. You never know if you have it because we now know you can be a carrier with no symptoms including no fever and be infecting others. If we all do our part we can stop the spread of this deadly virus. Let’s keep our country safe and help prevent others from getting sick. As some of us are at a higher risk than others. Gulfport Gems Vol. 42 Number 1 2 January 2021 Off the menu . Lisa Fitch Leslie Jancovich Cherry Crunch Eddie Tate By Barbara Saavedra Ingredients: 1-1/2 cups Quick Oats (not instant) 1 cup Brown Sugar 1/2 cup Butter, softened Thought of the Day . 2 cans Cherry Pie Filling 1/2 cup chopped Pecans (or Walnuts) Instructions: 1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees 2) Place 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling on the bottom of 9 x 13 pan. 3) Blend the softened butter, quick oats, brown sugar and pecans until crumbly. Sprinkle all mixture on top of Cherry pie filling. 4) Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown. If you have a recipe you would like to submit to be printed in our newsletter, please email the edi- tor @ [email protected] Gulfport Gems Vol. 42 Number 1 3 January 2021 M E E T I N G S Membership Dues Meetings / Workshops Herbert Wilson Recreational Center Single $20.00 - 18 years old Family $30.00 - 2 adults and all minors under 3625 Hancock Avenue 18 yrs. old at the same address Gulfport, Ms. 39501 Junior $10.00 - Sponsored by an adult Application available on our website 3rd Saturday of each month Dues deadline - 3rd Saturday of January 9 am - 12 pm Workshop 12 pm - 12:30pm Program Name Tags - $7.00 12 pm - 1 pm Lunch Shirts - available and cost is based on sizes 1 pm - 2 pm Meeting Please see Treasurer, Lynn Tate Directions: Coming from Pass Road or 2021 MEETING DATES Highway 90 turn on Courthouse Road. Turn next to Hancock Bank on 33rd Jan 16th May 15th or Street until you reach Hancock Street. Feb 20th June 19th Sept 18th Look to your left and you will see the Mar 20th July 17th Oct 16th Herbert Wilson Recreational Center. We April 17th Aug 21st Nov 20th are on the left side of building thru the gates. Dec 18th Come for fun . Stay to play! Nearby Gem Societies Visit our Website and Facebook page: Ms. Gulf Coast Gem & Mineral Society www.gulfportgems.org or www.mgcgms.com https://www.facebook.com/gulfportgems Meeting: 2nd Saturday of the month Mobile Rock and Gem Society www.mobilerockandgem.com Meeting: 2nd Tuesday of the month Gem & Mineral Society of Louisiana Workshops are offered free! Meeting: 2nd Monday of the month Contact: Levette @ 504-214-3205 Next Meeting & Workshop January 16th Other Interests: International Society of Glass Blowers Via Skype at 1pm Website: www.isgb.org Visitors are always welcome Visit site if you like Lampworking Dixie Mineral Council http://www.amfed.org/sfms/index.html Gulfport Gems Vol. 42 Number 1 4 January 2021 Garnet Anniversary - 2nd FACTS • Mineral: Garnet group • Chemistry: • Almandine- Fe3Al2(SiO4)3 • Andradite- Ca3Fe2(SiO4)3 • Grossular- Ca3Al2(SiO4)3 • Pyrope- Mg3Al2(SiO4)3 • Rhodolite- (Mg, Fe)3Al2(SiO4)3 • Spessartine- Mn3Al2(SiO4)3 • Color: All colors • Refractive index: 1.714-1.888 • Birefringence: None • Specific gravity: 3.47-4.15 • Mohs harness: 6.5-7.5 Garnets being a set of closely related minerals that form a group, resulting in gemstones in just about every color. Found in metamorphic rocks (which are rocks altered by heat and pressure) on every continent. History & Lore: Red garnet necklaces, thousands of years ago adorned the necks of Egypt’s pharaohs, and Even though red garnets have a long history, modern gem buyers can pick from a rich palette of garnet colors: were entombed with their mummified corpses as prized greens, oranges, pinkish oranges, deeply saturated pur- possessions for the afterlife. Signet rings with carved plish reds, and even some blues. The most common and garnets were used to stamp the wax that secured im- widespread of gems is the red garnet. Not all of the gar- portant documents in ancient Rome. nets are as abundant as the red ones. A green garnet, tsa- Carbuncle is a term used in ancient times to refer to vorite, is rarer and needs rarer unusual rock chemistries red garnets and any red stone. Carbuncle was thought and special conditions to form. to be one of the four precious stones given to King Sol- Demantoid is a rare and famous green garnet, spessar- omon by God. tine (also called spessarite) is an orange garnet, and rhodolite is a beautiful purple-red garnet. Garnets can In Roman scholar Pliny’s time (23 to 79 AD), red gar- even exhibit the color-change phenomenon similar to the nets were among the most widely traded gems. In the rare gemstone alexandrite. Middle Ages (about 475 to 1450 AD), red garnet was favored by clergy and nobility. Varying in chemical composition, all garnets have es- sentially the same crystal structure. We have more than In central Europe around 1500 red garnet’s availability twenty garnet categories, called species, but only five increased with the discovery of the famous Bohemian are commercially important as gems. Those five are py- garnet deposits. The source became the nucleus of a rope, almandine (also called almandite), spessartine, grossular (grossularite), and andradite. A sixth, uvarov- regional jewelry industry that reached its peak in the ite, is a green garnet that usually occurs as crystals too late 1800s. small to cut. It’s sometimes set as clusters in jewelry. Many garnets are chemical mixtures of two or more gar- Sources: gia.edu, Wikipedia, Palagems.com, toptenz.com, miner- als.net, the practicalgemologist.com/gemstones, gemselect.com, net species.