THE ROCKS have them rolling in at

the North Shore

Museum and Archives lapidary display currently on view in
the Gordon Gibson Room until March 31.

The rock show includes
specimens of rocks and minerals
from all over the world. The
display, on Wednesdays through
Sundays | p.m. to 4 p.m., features
a display of rock tumbling and
polishing techniques, jewelry mak-
ing, soapstone carving, silver-
smithing, mining, crystal forma-
tion, fossils and petrified wood.

On Sundays, Syd and Clco
Sparkes add an extra personal
sparkle to the proceedings at 209
West 4th Street with a display of
silver knitting and crystal micro-
mounting.

Cleo first picked up the skill of
working 24 or 30-gauge silver
threads into intricately patterned
chains two years ago at a class of-
fered through Neat Things in West
Vancouver. Cleo works her magic
with a regular crochet hook, a
knitting needle and a darning nee-
dle for the very fine work
demanded when knitting a brace-
let.

“Anybody can do it. It’s not a
difficult thing to learn. } could
teach it to someone in an hour,”
Cleo says modestly. ‘‘The fun is
seeing it come up and hanging
something pretty on it."

The museum display currently
on show is the joint presentation
of materials and tools collected
over the years by the Sparkes and
Stan and Margaret Johnson.

There are’. cases dedicated to
soapstone carving and tools; rock
cutting and polishing; large crystal
specimens; dinosaur fossils ‘and
oddly-shaped sandstone concre-
tions and carbonized wood sam-

ples carbon dated at 109 million ©

years old.

“The kids can sce what they can
do. They go for the tumbled stones
and glue pieces together to make
little critters. Some of them get in-
to soapstone carvings and some of
them are very good,"’ said Cleo.

Husband Syd specializes in col-
lecting and micromounting mineral
crystal samples, The crystals are
kept in natural form and have to
be small cnough to fit into a
“micro box” three-quarters of an
inch square. The crystals are
mounted on balsa wood or nylon
bristle. Syd gets a detailed view of
a crystal's structure by carefully
exploring its surface under a mi-
croscone. ,

“It's something you can do with
very little space,’’ Syd says. His
collection of 200 to 300 crystals,
built up over a 10-year period, in-
cludes gold, quartz and copper
crystal samples.

The hobby has kept Syd active
over 17 years of retirement atten-
ding lapidary club mectings, col-
lecting and trading new specimens
with fellow collectors and dealers.
“Ivs a’ great means of getting
together with people. It’s a hobby
where you can spend as much or as
little time as you like and it’s not
expensive,’’ he said.

The Sparkes are among the ap-
proximately 1,600 members of the
Lapidary Rock and Mineral Socie-
ty of B.C.

For more information on the
lapidary show call the North Shore
Museum and Archives at 987-5618.

> \, GOURMET

—
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922-8812
984-3072
261-1531

SYD AND Cleo Sparkes display some of the jeweiry and crystal collection the couple has developed as active
members of the local lapidary community. The two are participating in a lapidary display currently on view at

33 - Wednesday, February 17, 1988 - Nosth Shore News

Cook
Mexican
meals

PAGE 35

Eris

NEWS photo Tom Suriey

the North Shore Museum and Archives at Presentation House.

JOE AMEY

DIANE LEBOUTILLIER

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