Alex Miller, left, learns the art of creating a cabachon, a highly-polished gem, from rock by the experienced Lyle Vogelpohl. Both are members of the West Seattle Rock Club. The club held its annual gem show May 30 and 31. CLICK ON PHOTO FOR SLIDE SHOW.
The West Seattle Rock Club threw its annual rock and gem show May 30 and 31 in the Alki Masonic Lodge basement. It was open to the public. Visitors found a "multifaceted" array of displays, vendors and demonstrations.
"This is our 43rd year," said Ron Nims, chairman of the West Seattle Rock and Gem Show. "We have a good crowd. We have around 50 members. We're about 50/50 men and women members.
Nims' step-son Merlin Tosh,14, has his own business "Pearl Works." He has a display at the show of beaded earrings. He sells his work to Menashe & Sons Jewelry in the Junction and Travelers Tea Company on Capitol Hill.
The club's oldest member is Ella Cox, 94, a Highland Park resident who lives in her own three-story house and has a train collection in her basement. Nims said Cox's display of a small model train passing through amethyst tunnels she created usually wins best of show every year.
“I never had a train given to me when I was a girl, just dolls," said Cox, with subdued disappointment. She also paints Northwest nature scenes on her beaded egg shells, displayed next to her train. "My son took me to an art fair about 20 years ago and I saw this gingerbread house with a train running through it. I told him I always wanted a train. He got me one."
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