Flatirons Mineral Club Resources

Wednesday Workshops

Every Wednesday night at 7:30, except on the week of the club meeting, Charlotte Morrison graciously opens her home to club members for the evening. Use of the club’s lapidary equipment, including saws and lapidary machines, is open to all club members. Members interested in beading meet to trade beads, ideas, and advice, as well as work on wirewrap, lapidary and flintknapping projects. Bring your latest hobby project, come to learn something new, or just come and socialize with other club members. Please contact Charlotte to let her know you are coming.

Grab bag filling will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays at Charlotte’s home. Club members are asked to donate time putting specimens and labels in plastic bags, which will then be packed in grab bags to raise money for the Scholarship Fund. You can also arrange with Charlotte to take bags and specimens home to assemble and return.

Click here for instructions on how to make a grab bag.

Club Equipment

Club-owned lapidary equipment in Charlotte’s basement and garage is available for use by club members on Wednesday evenings or at other times by appointment. Please call Charlotte to let her know you are coming. Members who have never before used the equipment must be checked out by an experienced member before using it without supervision. This is especially true of the 10-inch saw. There is usually someone to oversee/instruct on Wednesdays.

Members who use the equipment on a regular basis are asked to pay an annual $20 shop fee, which goes toward the cost of repairs and replacement.

Gerry Naugle has a gold extractor, which can separate gold which is too fine for regular panning or a sluice. He will make it available to club members. If you have some sand you’d like to process, please contact him.

The Club also owns two All-In-One Lapidary machines which members may check out for 60 days at a time. Carl Bird maintains a sign-up list, and gives initial instruction on the use of these units. Use of the machines is free of charge, but you must purchase your own diamond disks for them.

In November 2004, the Club acquired a Cloud Dome, a light diffuser specifically designed for photographing small objects with a digital camera. It is especially good for mineral specimens, cabochons, faceted stones, and jewelry. The Cloud Dome is available for checkout to members, or it may be used at Charlotte Morrison's house, where there are also lamps available to provide lighting. Please call Charlotte to let her know you are coming.

Club Library

The library contains more than 200 books, serials, CDs, videos, and maps relating to mining, rockhounding, lapidary, jewelry, and other topics of interest to our members. Club Librarian Carrie Simon brings a selection of materials to each meeting for browsing and checkout. To obtain a specific item, call or email to request it before the meeting.

Library list as of 6/2/04

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Updated 7/9/08