Between a rock and a gem place

Published 7:38 am Friday, February 29, 2008

At first glance, it’s a pack of rock hounds.

But look closer, and the people who join the Maplewood Rock and Gem Club are there for more than rocks and gems.

In a recent survey of members, interest in rocks came in seventh among reasons why they join, said club president Jaye Lill of Mountlake Terrace.

“Friendship and fun times,” “creating something beautiful,” and “to go somewhere and have a fun time doing it” were among the top reasons listed, Lill said.

The club’s 50-plus members come from all around South Snohomish County and the north Puget Sound region. The club’s headquarters is located in Edmonds at 8802 196th Street SW.

“It’s a fun club, it’s a fun outdoors thing to do, it’s also creative,” said longtime member Lynne Henry of Mountlake Terrace.

You don’t have to be an expert in rocks and gems to join the club, members say.

“We have both older members that are really well versed and newer members with families that are learning,” Lill said.

Henry had been a jeweler and wanted to branch out into using different types of stones. Her mentor in jewelry, she said, was a member of the club and invited her.

“I offer what I know and they can offer what they know,” she said.

In addition to regular meetings at 7 p.m. the third Monday of each month, the club goes on monthly field trips (“They’re easy, they’re not arduous kind of stuff,” Lill said) and has workshops where members come in and work on their own creations.

“Everybody brings in what they’re working on and sit around and chit chat,” Lill said.

They share with each other their techniques of carving and creating jewelry and have guest speakers come in to do the same. A recent speaker was Carol Cimolino, who demonstrated a craft technique of inlaying stone called intarsia. Other techniques include silversmithing, fountain making, and gem and stone setting.

Former 32nd District state Representative Donn Charnley, a geology professor at the University of Washington and Edmonds Community College, will speak in May about tectonics (Earth-plate movement) in Washington state.

Members discuss how to identify the different types of rocks and share looks at their private collections. And they just plain like to have fun, with skit nights, summer picnics, and parties celebrating autumn, Christmas and Cinco de Mayo.

The club has some new members “who’ve discovered there’s something out there besides television,” Henry said.

The club also has a spring sale, with this year’s coming up this weekend, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 23 and 24, at the clubhouse.

The club owns the clubhouse on 196th, and it makes a little on the side by renting it out to other groups for events. Membership fees are $35 per year per family and $15 per adult.

For more information about the Maplewood Rock and Gem Club call Lill at 425-640-3774.