Almost here........

The African rocks finally are here in Tampa. They're not in my driveway yet--that would be too easy--but they're at the EcuAmerica warehouse awaiting Customs inspection tomorrow.

The plan is to pick them up on Friday morning. Whether that's really going to happen remains to be seen. I've had so many delays with this whole thing since the beginning that another one wouldn't surprise me. But it sure would be nice if it would happen Friday as planned!

This past weekend, the 50th Annual Tampa Gem & Mineral Show went off without any serious problems. I don't know what the attendance was, but I was pleased with the number of people who stopped by my table.

I was frankly astonished by the number of people who asked me about the African rocks. I knew that members of the Tampa Bay Mineral and Science Club are eagerly awaiting the new material, but I had no idea they were spreading the word to other clubs in the area. Members of three other clubs all stopped to ask me when I will have African stuff to sell.

All I can say is "Soon......"

I did find out why malachite is so unavailable. According to the owner of the mining company, the mines are holding onto it and crushing it for use in copper smelting.

Malachite can be so beautiful, and grinding it up for use in an industrial process is a total waste.

Stand by for more information on the African material......it's almost here...........

Moving in the right direction

After much pushing and shoving (on e-mail, that is), my African rocks are finally moving in the right direction, which is toward Tampa.

Customs released them yesterday, with no explanation other than that they wanted to go over all the paperwork for every shipment in the container.

However, because Customs had them in storage from October 3 through the 19, Vanguard had to pay a storage fee, which of course they pro-rated among all their customers who had shipments in that container.

I can't quite figure out the logic here. Customs detained the shipment so the receiving shipper has to pay a storage fee? I don't like having them pass it on to me, but I understand why they did it.

The bottom line, though, is that there's been way too much government interference in this process on both sides of the pond!

I sent the check for the destination fees Express Mail today, which means they should release the shipment on Wednesday. It should depart the New Jersey warehouse where it's sitting now either Thursday or Friday. Note that I said "should," not "will." I don't trust anything at this point.

Meanwhile, I continue to be glad I found some western material and all that Wyoming jade--I would be in a world of hurt for the Tampa Gem & Mineral Show this weekend if I didn't have it.

But I do wish the last two boxes from Wyoming would get here.....there's some Shirley Basin blue agate in one of them that I really want for this weekend!

African time, imported

Now this is getting ridiculous. My African shipment arrived in New York on October 3.......and there it sits.

Vanguard tells me that since it's an LCL--Less than Container Load--and that there is something else in the container that Customs isn't happy with, there's no telling when it will be released. Of course, Customs can't release the stuff they aren't examining, so they let us all sit and wonder what's going on. Meanwhile, my first gem and mineral show is this weekend.

On top of that, Vanguard now is saying I have a bunch of fees due that they didn't quote me on the original invoice. Anyone who knows me personally already knows that that kind of thing irritates the you-know-what out of me.

I spent all day Friday questioning customer service at Vanguard and getting nowhere. The women there finally blamed it on my shipper, which is ridiculous. The shipper has been very clear that they told me about every single bit of information that Vangard provided them, and that the shipping straight into Tampa is already paid.

I'm on hard deadline with a story right now, but when I finish it I'm going back and get my teeth into someone farther up the food chain at Vanguard (or Brennan, the parent company).

At least I know about it now, and can deal with it before it causes any further delays in the shipment. Stand by for more details.......

More delays

And the delays in the African shipment aren't over yet. It's still sitting on the dock in New York instead of being almost here.

It seems that since my shipment is an LCL (less than container load) it was packed into a container with a bunch of other stuff. There was something in that container that US Customs wanted to inspect. So the whole thing sat there until they inspected whatever it was.

The shipper says their paperwork shows that the container has been released. That means they'll get my rocks sometime in the next few days.

However, they will not be here in time for the Tampa Gem & Mineral Show. I won't have them until the next month's show in Orlando.

It sure is a good thing I picked up some backup material.

William Holland School of Lapidary Arts

It’s taken me three weeks to digest my experience at William Holland School of Lapidary Arts well enough to sit down and write about it. It was a singular experience, and one that I truly hope to repeat next year!

Kym had already been there a week to take a wire sculpting class when I arrived. We originally had planned to both take cabochons, but then she changed to chain making.

As a result, there were only two of us in the cabochons class, myself and a lady from south Georgia who was less serious about learning to cut cabochons than she was staying away from home for a while. She was only there about half the time, so I ended up having the instructor to myself a lot of the time.

My instructor was Gene Baxter, who’s been teaching cabochons at William Holland since the mid 1970s. One thing I really appreciated about him was that he didn’t have an agenda for the class; he let me identify my weaknesses and pick projects that would address those weaknesses. As I result I learned much more than I would have learned from a more structured course.

During the week, I cut a total of 20 cabs. A couple of them were experiments just to see if I could cut the particular material; I was able to cut them, but I won’t bother to try them again. Some of the others I cut in a freeform shape specifically because of the pattern in the material, because I’m trying to develop an “eye” for what makes a good freeform cab and what doesn’t.

One big thing I learned was not to fear experimenting. I’ve been so afraid of messing up nice pieces of material that I’ve avoided cutting them. However, I had one piece of “I dunno” rock break on me twice, and I just cut it smaller both times until I had a very nice—albeit small—cab out of it.

I was surprised at how much I already knew, but overwhelmed by how much there still is yet for me to learn. I’ve already made a “lapidary challenge list” of things I want to learn to do and I’m starting down that list one thing at a time.

I’m also enjoying teaching on Wednesday evenings. It’s fun to watch the beginners start to grasp what to do with a stone besides just look at it.

Just as an aside, the ocean vessel SAF Marine Oranje docked in New York on October 3. If all goes according to plan, my African material will arrive in Tampa on October 17, one week before our club show. I won’t have time to get many slabs cut, but if I can get the barrels unpacked I’ll at least have some rough there. I’ve also committed to the November Orlando show, the December Withlacoochee show, and the Tomoka show in January. Plus there are club tailgate days……

We have liftoff........

This excursion into African lapidary materials has been an exercise in utter frustration. The containers were scheduled to ship late August, and they were actually on board the ship, the Maersk Jambi.

Then South African Customs got a bee in their bonnet about something--no one knows what--and out of all the orders on the Jambi pulled my little shipment of rocks off. They took two samples, kept the shipment a week, and then released it with an apology but no explanation.

Of course, by then the Jambi had sailed. So the exporter went in search of another vessel. They booked the shipment on the SAF Marine Oranje, due to leave Cape Town September 11.

Only......it didn't. Bad weather kept it in port until September 17, when it finally left Cape Town, headed for New York.

Geemineez. New York. That means it still has to come overland from New York to Tampa.

Finally yesterday I got a copy of the waybill, with the container number and the actual shipment number and now I can track the shipment.

Only.......it's not that easy. It may be on an SAF Marine vessel, but it's a Mediterranean Shipping Company shipment. And since it's a LCL--Less than Container Load--I can't track it on their website. No, I have to call the company's Atlanta office and find out where the ship actually is.

As of today, my little load of rocks is scheduled to arrive in New York on October 3. Vanguard will pick it up on Monday the 5th and load it on an 18-wheeler that should leave New York on the 8th.

That will put it in Tampa between the 15th and the 17th. Barely time to get it sorted and into crates before I have to set up for the Tampa Gem & Mineral Show on the 23rd. Certainly not enough time to get many slabs cut.

Fortunately I found some great western material for terrific price that I'm cutting right now. Lizardstone, amethyst lace agate, wonderstone, Bagdad agate, and Disaster Peak picture jasper. That, along with what I already had, will make nice tables.

Now if we just don't have any more delays.........