Sunset Crater was too hot! There were no trees (or bushes, or grass), too much dust and I had a rock in my shoe. I was walking around the base of a giant pile of bits of red cinder of the sort I had previously encountered in xeriscape gardens looking for olivine. Even the breeze was hot. And worst of all, I didn’t even know what I was looking for. Olivine? We had been informed the bright orange and red cinder cone had bright green gemstones and then our class had been tu

Ever since I decided to attach a blog to my website, I’ve had this desire to write about birthstones. It seems perfect. Pretty-shiny gemstones, human interest, geology, geochemistry, all the drama of international finance and trade wars! There is always one problem: what to write about. Last month, I thought I would write about diamonds. That went well…. “Mom, I’m going to write about diamonds this time!” “Great, what are you going to say about them?” “Well, I was thinki

Hi, I’m Sumire. Welcome to the blog of Sumire Designs! Writing the very first blog post in my very first blog is tough. I’ve been waffling about what to say for weeks…. Finally, one of my family members said, “Just post something! Anything!” So this is my introduction to my website, shop and blog! I’ll write about a little of everything here - my interests are many. First let me tell you a little about me…. I am a geologist: my thesis is about trace element geochemistr