What I did on my summer vacation ~

I just returned from my summer vacation and wanted to share an incredible adventure with you that I was lucky to experience. I toured the USS Nebraska in Bangor, Washington! She is a ballistic missile submarine carrying 24 Trident missiles that can be targeted independently.

It was a strange and wondrous moment, standing on the deck before we went down the ladder, to realize that the arched area I was standing on could someday open up and a nuclear missile could be launched through it. Trident missiles are fired by the pressure of expanding gas in the launch tube. When the missile is far enough away from the submarine, several stages of motors and boosters ignite. Within about two minutes the missile is traveling about 20,000 feet per second.

Once on board, I was impressed with the organization and engineering involved in creating this beautiful work of art. Courteous sailors, busy with their duties, took time to answer my questions and graciously danced when we had to pass in a narrow passageway. The missiles are quite large - about 44 feet high and almost 7 feet around - so 24 of them fill a large portion of the vessel, but overall it seemed surprisingly spacious. I learned about how the air is cleaned and recirculated, visited the ship's medical office, imagined sleeping in the crew's quarters (you do need to be organized!), checked out the galley, and explored all the nooks and crannies.

The USS Nebraska is 42 feet wide and 560 feet long - for comparison the Seattle Space Needle is 605 feet high. Submerged, it displaces approximately 18,750 tons and it carries a crew of 155. It is propelled by a nuclear reactor and it is the 14th ship in the OHIO class.

I feel much safer knowing that this submarine is patrolling our waters. I got an opportunity to think about being at sea for three months at a time and the kinds of consequences this brings about for a sailor. Not only having to get along with the rest of the crew in tight quarters, but the effect it has on their familial relationships. Young men, most of them in their early twenties, with new babies and young wives - not only missing them, but being unable to even speak with them during their deployment as they have to maintain silence. Their wives learn to handle everything at home themselves, yet when the sailor returns he has to reintegrate into his family and couples have to get to know each other again. Daily duties have to be redistributed, children need to "ask Dad" again....and then he faces deployment again, and it all starts over. Very difficult, and I congratulate these families on their ability to do this so that the rest of us can enjoy the protection provided by these submariners. Thank you!

I was unable to take any photographs to share with you due to high level security clearance required to take this tour, but I have it in my memory forever! If you ever get a chance, there is a public Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, Washington that has some wonderful exhibits related to submarines http://www.history.navy.mil/museums/keyport/index1.htm that is well worth the visit.

I Passed!

I am very happy to report that I got an "A" on my final exam! A certificate for Diamonds & Diamond Grading, as well as the Graduate Diamonds Diploma from the Gemological Institute of America is on its way! Their distance education program is excellent and allows me to study at home at my own pace. I am planning to take a break for a few weeks and then I will begin my next course of study, Colored Stones.

Electronic Copyright

Branching Out and trying something new ~

Yesterday afternoon I finished work on my next series of photographs that I plan to incorporate into my new book and was ready to copyright them. So, I decided to give the new United States Copyright Office electronic copyright system a try.

The Copyright Process - standard method:

Previously I printed out a hard application form from their website http://www.copyright.gov/ and completed it, made prints of my photographs and accompanying information, - made a copy of everything for myself, then mailed them registered return receipt to the Library of Congress (LOC). Waited for three or four days to track online and get notification that they were received by the LOC. At this point I could start to publish the photographs because they are protected as soon as they are received, but I still had to wait for over 6 months to get a certificate that a publishing house might need to verify that they are my copyright. Wait for about 5 months for them to cash your check, wondering all the while if there is anything wrong? Then continue to wait for your certificate. I am still waiting today for a certificate from a submission I made on October 22, 2007 - when I spoke to the Copyright Office a few days ago they said it is still being processed and may take a few more months as they are so backlogged things are taking about 8 months now due to the changeover to their electronic process (which he said is taking about 4 months)!

cost - $23.02 prints and copies

fee- $45.00

mailing - $5.25

Total = $73.27 for 81 photographs + about 6 hours of my time running around initially and then calling and checking on it!

The new and improved Copyright Process - Electronic Copyright:

So, yesterday afternoon at about 5:15pm I was ready to give it a try. Wow...what a pleasure! It took me 40 minutes from start to finish. I created an account http://www.copyright.gov/eco/index.html, then filled out the application form. The next step was to pay on a separate secure site which was easy and fast. I was returned to my application without any difficulty and the final step was to upload my submission. There is a 30 minute time limit and it was suggested that if my file was too large I might need to creat a .zip file, however I only had 75 photographs for this submission so I just uploaded them individually. When I hit the "submit" button they were all uploaded within 7 minutes, and I was given a confirmation page with the document files and titles to print out for my records. Then I was returned to the home page where I can now track my submission electronically with a unique file number. The biggest advantage is that my photographs are acknowledged as submitted immediately and I don't have to wait an additional 3-5 days for mailing delivery confirmation!

cost: - $0 printing and copies

fees: - $35

mailing - $0

Total = $35 + 40 minutes of my time (this will increase slightly over the next four months as I track my open case online to ensure that it is completed, but should be minimal as it will not entail redialing and waiting on hold for the copyright office).

I highly recommend the new Electronic Copyright process for artists and photographers - it is cheaper, faster, and less stressful!

Rare Artisans Exhibition News

I am very honored to belong to a group of craftsmen that began to collaborate about a year ago ~ "Rare Artisans". We put together a simple website to showcase the artist's works last November, and we began to build our http://www.rareartisans.etsy.com/ shop in January of this year.

I'm extremely pleased to announce that Rare Artisans recently received an unsolicited communication from the Pasadena Bead and Design Show inviting us to exhibit our handcrafted jewelry, original artwork, and photography. Apparently they found our website http://www.rareartisans.com/ and liked our work!

The show will be held at the Pasadena Hilton on August 14 through 17, 2008. Thursday-Sunday; 10AM to 6PM daily. This is a well publicized, juried artisan trade show showcasing two hundred and fifty exhibitors who are committed to design and handwork: wearable art, handmade beads, art jewelry, designer components, art couture, lapidary, textiles, enameling, ceramics, embellishments, metalwork, collectibles, glass, interior décor, and decorative arts, along with artisan suppliers to the trade. It is well publicized in all major bead, jewelry, gem & textile magazines, including; Ornament, Belle Armoire, Belle Jewelry, American Style, Niche, Art Jewelry, Bead & Button, BeadStyle, Beadwork, Stringing, Beads 2008, Colored Stone, Fiber Arts, and Jewelry Artist, along with local and LA area advertising in newspapers and weekly magazines and radio advertisements.

We are all elated and on cloud nine!

Sunday Morning

I rarely have time these days, but I long for the Sunday paper this morning. I am remembering how much I used to look forward to a cup of coffee on the back porch with the crossword puzzle. Impossible to spend any time "on the back porch" here in the desert at this time of year, lol, but I think I'll take a trip to the store this morning and pick up the New York or LA Times and have a go! On a lazy Sunday morning, a special treat is just what I need☺

Front Page of Etsy

My photograph, "Red, White, and Blue" made the front page of Etsy in a Treasury curated by soleilgirl last night! Here's the link to the Treasury entitled Bleu, Blanc, Rouge http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=14865

THE STEWART LITHIA MINE

Recently, I was fortunate to visit the Stewart Lithia Mine in Pala, California with an academic group from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). As a current student at the GIA, this was a very exciting opportunity to visit a working mine not open to the public and to listen to Blue Sheppard (the mine owner) recount his discoveries!

Located in north San Diego County, the area is rich in pegmatite. A pegmatite is a coarse grained igneous rock (formed deep within the earth) having a grain size of 3cm or more and composed of granite and its constituents like quartz, feldspar and mica. The Stewart Lithia Mine was originally mined to extract lepidolite, as the lithium it contained (about 5%) was refined and used for ceramic glazes, to color flares, and for grease. Lepidolite ore is a beautiful conglomerate of lilac, lavender and pink and seemed pretty soft to me. Additionally, it contains bits of pink tourmaline crystals!

Tourmaline (Mohs 7.253) is harder than quartz and produces gorgeous gemstones when cut. It comes in a variety of colors including pink, green, blue, black, etc. Most of the pink tourmaline that was mined at the Stewart Mine went to the empress of the Ch'ing Dynasty Imperial Court and her entourage, who purchased everything they could get in order to have it exported to China. Gem quality natural pink tourmaline is five times as rare as gem diamond and more than ten times as valuable as gold in its pure form.

In the tunnels, Blue explained to the group how he learned to “read” the rocks and understand where to look for tourmalines. In addition to touring the underground tunnels of the mine and seeing the sites where some of the largest and most beautiful tourmalines were discovered we were allowed a few hours to search the ground and tailings around the mine. It was a beautiful day, having cleared up from the previous two days of hard rain. That rain definitely gave us an advantage by washing away some of the loose dirt and exposing the heavier minerals. I was able to pick up several fairly good size pieces of pink tourmaline that were laying right on top of the soil, and on careful examination of the walls of tailing piles I could see the crystalline shape that I was looking for and simply pull the tourmalines out. That's me in the center in a pale pink top.

I found several small pink, green, a pale blue, and even a bi-color. But, try to imagine my excitement when I saw the flat end of largest one (center in my photo) and kept pulling as this beautiful 26.7 carat dark pink tourmaline measuring 1" long x 1/2" wide x 3/8" thick emerged from the sandy soil!



I showed it to Blue and he held it up for the rest of the group to admire…and within minutes my little area was full of eager “miners” hoping to find something similar. A few visitors found beautiful tourmalines that day, and one person found a pretty kunzite.

I hope to find a cutter who will be able to carefully fashion the large one into a gemstone, but in the meantime I enjoy looking at this pretty collection every day.

It was a fabulous trip and I learned so much!