More Tucson fun - days 4 & 5

We headed back to Grant Inn (not it's name anymore - but that's what it will always be to me - LOL!) to get some Nacozari turquoise from Stephen Mauldin.  He had some gorgeous stuff and some finely made.  Aren't these faceted beads gorgeous and the heishi is so regularly cut!

I also met my lampworking friend Lea Avroch - but totally forgot to take a picture.  Was so glad we could meet up before she and her hubby left!

Next it was back to Holidome so I could go pearl shopping at Lucky Gems.  I did get slightly delayed by one booth that had some gorgeous, hand painted onyx and paper mache dangles.  Here are the dangles I got and they are signed by the artist on the back.  Beautiful work but these guys are going out of business - so sad they don't have someone who wants to take over :(

Once we made it to Lucky Gems my mom and I sorted through many pearls to find nice strands of large rounds ones for my pearl snowmen and some "blobs" for a friend in Australia.  Not sure what they're really called but I call them blobs - LOL!

 

Then it was lunch time!  We went to the Ajo Cafe were the have pretty good pies and make a decent BLT.  Not quite as interesting as the Sunny Daze Cafe - but still good food and close to the Holidome/Gem Mall venues.

 

After lunch we went back to Holidome and I found another of the Best in Gems booth and HAD to look through their earring drops too :)  They have some gorgeous stones!  And this time I met the REAL Ajay - LOL!  And he's pictured with Jaya.

    

 

 

Mom looking through the gorgeous earring pairs!

We wandered up/down all the aisles at Holidome then popped over to Gem Mall to check out a few of my favorite vendors.  I did get more sterling beads and looked for some unusual cuts at some of my other favorite vendors but didn't find anything that wanted to jump into my bag.  We'll "do" Gem Mall in more detail later this week since I often find new favorite vendors as I wander the aisles.

And now - day 5!  We went to opening day for GJX and AGTA.  I dreaded it since the last time I did that it was wall to wall people and you could barely walk!  Well that was not the case today - far from it.  Not good for the sellers and it doesn't say much for the current world economy.  We wandered up/down the aisles of both AGTA and GJX and I only got a few things - one from a new vendor and one from an old favorite.  I wish I took more pictures so you could see the plates of diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, ... AND the diamond jewelry in booth after booth after booth.  These are high end shows and you just can't imagine the stunning gems and jewels that surround you at these shows.  In fact we passed some booths that were empty, but when we came back down the next aisle we saw Loomis Armored car guards wheeling down box after box of pretties.  You know it's worth a bit if Loomis is the delivery company!

Here are my pretties and Dinesh from A-One Stones ...

   

After we went up/down the aisles of GJX we walked across the street to AGTA.  I visited Taj again and found a nice strand of the black labradorite - yum! .  I also got more of those cute little multi-gem 4mm rounds and some nice tourmaline carved leaves.  Oh - and my mom got some of this brass chain with blue imitation lapis on it. 

 

And that's it for Tuesday!  We had dinner with a friend and now it's time to say good night.  Happy, sparkly, gemmy dreams to all of you!