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So, one thing that I frequently find upsetting and otherwise bothersome is the acquisition of gems for use in magic.
I'm a cheapass bastard, but moreover it's hard to find gemstones that haven't touched some awfulness in their provenance.
Now, I'm always open to the presentation of new sources, but my favorite two are and
Gem Mountain is a sapphire mine out in Montana. It is the only sapphire mine I know of which does not "salt" the ore they ship you. They just scoop shovelfuls of gravel from their site into a box until it's full of dirt.
Washing it all takes a couple hours and a few buckets, and some classification screens. The stones this yields are anywhere from ruby red to blue, to teal, and are about as clear as the clearest you can find on the open market.
The second place I get gems is actually a smoke shop. Enterprising stoner's figured out some cool physics involving thermophobia, and started using temperature-tolerant materials as nucleation points and such.
So there ends up being a good source for rubies anywhere up to 11mm, ruby bars, sapphire bars and spheres of various sizes, and in all sorts of colors, star sapphires, opals, and handmade glass beads.
They're all in the 3-20 dollar range for various stone types, granted you're gonna have to cut and lap them yourself to cab them.
I'm a cheapass bastard, but moreover it's hard to find gemstones that haven't touched some awfulness in their provenance.
Now, I'm always open to the presentation of new sources, but my favorite two are and
Gem Mountain is a sapphire mine out in Montana. It is the only sapphire mine I know of which does not "salt" the ore they ship you. They just scoop shovelfuls of gravel from their site into a box until it's full of dirt.
Washing it all takes a couple hours and a few buckets, and some classification screens. The stones this yields are anywhere from ruby red to blue, to teal, and are about as clear as the clearest you can find on the open market.
The second place I get gems is actually a smoke shop. Enterprising stoner's figured out some cool physics involving thermophobia, and started using temperature-tolerant materials as nucleation points and such.
So there ends up being a good source for rubies anywhere up to 11mm, ruby bars, sapphire bars and spheres of various sizes, and in all sorts of colors, star sapphires, opals, and handmade glass beads.
They're all in the 3-20 dollar range for various stone types, granted you're gonna have to cut and lap them yourself to cab them.
