It's been a while since I was involved in any forums anywhere, as I'm not the most sociable critter ever.  In a brief overview, I'm an amateur rockhound and photographer whose life challenges all seem to get reset to 'Expert' level at random times.  Sadly, quite a few of my health FUBARs are totally incompatible with lapidary work (like arthritic hands, back trouble, and ears that won't tolerate machinery noise well) and I don't live somewhere that finding solutions would be workable.  Due to lease restrictions on my 2nd-story teeny apartment, nothing that generates large amounts of heat like tumblers and barbecues can be used within 10 feet of any wall, and since my downstairs neighbor threatened to call the police on someone for moving in upstairs too loudly I really doubt she'd keep her cool about even insulated machines.

What I do have is lots of time, occasional access to rocky riverbanks, experience with trading items by mail, a pretty good eye for pattern recognition, and an ongoing need for a stone-based art supply I am unlikely to get hold of near home.  There is of course a gem & mineral club here, but my experiences with asking them serious questions about custom lapidary work did not leave me much reason to try them again.  I've some neat stones acquired over a couple of decades of geographic instability, and now that my geography has stabilized into a happy little mini-family that does not and will not include children I think some of the pretties need new homes. 

My biggest interest relative to hanging out here is that I would LOVE to trade some of the stones I already have as well as stones I plan to hunt in the rivers, most preferably for tiny tumbled chips of just about everything I saw reading through the fresh off the saw posts.  I make tiny little twisted-wire trees with glass and stone accents as physical therapy for my hands, and am always in need of chips to go around the bases after I set the trees in plaster-filled containers.  As soon as I figure out photo posting I've got lots of things to share, and hopefully I get to make friends with a few people who understand what it's like to be entirely distracted by shiny rocks!