I was pretty psyched at the invitation. We had bought a bucket from him last year and he told us at our meeting last month that he had found 4 more buckets of it. He used to go dig this and all kinds of stuff back in the day. He's losing his eyesight now and can't see well enough to work on it anymore.
It's unfortunate, as he's a very talented lapidary and smith and would occasionally write articles for
Rock and Gem and
Lapidary Journal. My favorite article was a how to do inlay article where he constructed a roadrunner. I had that article saved before I ever even moved from Chicago and met him. He still has that roadrunner that he made and it is beautiful. I keep trying to buy it from him, but he won't sell it!
He made a hat band out of Bruneau cabs that is gorgeous. Made one out of Morrisonite cabs, too, that I would kill for!
Have to cut some slabs of the Bruneau (that's Vince's job) and cut them. I'll post them when I do.