FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Matt_Zukowski]

Holy smokes Gail - I LOVE looking at your pictures!

[Tobi]

Me too! Great minerals and a beautiful arrangement. I love it when mineral specimens on display are combined with some pictures, mineral books or magazine covers. Gail, you have a great gift of preparing display cases!

[Gail]

Matt, Tobias, thank you! What a great way to start my Monday!

What a weekend, the end of the Tour de France...wow. I also snuck off and taught bicycle traffic skills classes on Friday evening and most of the day Saturday, leaving Jim to do a good portion of the prep work. Sunday was a very productive day as we both jumped in and started pulling minerals from cabinets enough to do 5 cases worth of work, including packaging.

Jim was getting antsy, we didn't have enough flats and were going to have to pick some up this week, but I had been preparing for something like this and went up to the attic and pulled down a great deal of flats/boxes/packaging materials I have stashed in garbage bags to keep for such an occasion.
I was throwing bag after bag down and called Jim over to see what we had, he had no idea I had all those items put away. Definate relief!

A good portion of time is spent packing minerals and being sure to label each box.

I had the idea to put in a case of Hematites as I am particularly fond of them. So we have a case of hematite roses, kidney ores, etc.

Jim and I talked about a metals case, and I went and picked some golds, coppers, silvers to start with. At first I had a few on the table ready to go in the case for design, but Jim started to pull more, and more, and more and you can see the photos of how it just kept growing and filling my poor old kitchen table up!
I think we have enough for more than one or two cases now! ha ha!

My job, today, is to design those cases, photo them, draw out the layout, number them and pack all the minerals for each case in boxes that state what number they are.

My kitchen looks like a bomb has gone off with flats and packing materials mixed with minerals everywhere. And to add to the fun, Smokey Quartz, our OTHER cat has decided that Jim's feet are fun to play with.
All infun.
Cheers!

[Gail]

About that other cat...

[Gail]

...

[Gail]

Hematite, what can I say? I love them!

Jim amazes me, he is so driven to make this a good exhibit and I just love his determination to share minerals with everyone. I am right alongside him on that idea.

[Gail]

...I want to thank the ladies on Mindat's Women's forum for their support and encouragement. Hi Ladies!!! I know they have been checking on this thread and I appreciate all of them.

[Gail]

I want to mention that a lot of what might look like complaining, such as about the mess of putting the packaging materials and flats everywhere is really not a true bother, it is only mildly so...we knew what we were getting involved with. We made sure not to host any dinners, or have overnight guests during this time too.
It is a haven of fun for our cats, they love laying in the empty flats, and Jim and I have enjoyed sharing our time with each other and are getting pretty excited about doing this.

I remember when Herb and Moni Obodda told us they were invited to put in 53 cases at a show and I thought to myself " They must be crazy, but then again...wow, what an honour! " And here WE are, doing the same thing!
So, if ever you are asked to do this, don't panic! It really gives you a chance to see your minerals all over again, view them and decide what compliments what.

If asked to do this again, I would say Yes. Ask me after the show....will see what I think then!

[Tobi]

Your pictures are really a good inspiration for display arrangement. The mineral museum in Marburg has a display case where local collectors can show their best specimens, and from september to january my minerals will be on display in the museum. So i can use your ideas for my own arrangement, though this will be only ONE showcase ;-)

[Jordi Fabre]

It is sure that inspires other people, the high number of readings as proof...

Fantastic job Gail, thanks again!

Jordi

[ian jones]

hi Gail

found my way here thanks.

Great pics - what a tremendous effort you guys are putting in, looks like it will be a really great display, even more sorry now that I'm going to miss it. Look forward to seeing the case photos.

Like you, have been glued to the tour. Armstrong surprised me, didn't think he would be nearly that strong - but Contador looked unbeatable and proved it when he had to. Anyway, motivated to get a bike and start riding again, looking to build up to riding a couple of the mountain stages with friends at some point. They were at Aubenas for stage 19 and at the finish on Sunday. Sorry I didn't go with them, particularly as Cav won both stages!

cheers

ian

[Gail]

Ian, I would love it if you could come bike with us sometime. We took our tandem to the Alpe d'Huez and had a blast trying to get enough air in our lungs on that climb!
Jim and I were really pleased with Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, nice to see them do so well and bring some new blood to the race.
And with Lance starting a new team, we are pretty much set on going to the Tour next year, which will be our fourth large stage race to ride along.
Lance's Mother was the spokesperson for an organization I chaired, so got to know her well and have met Lance myself, as well as George Hincapie, Roberto Heras, Magnus Backstead, etc.

Now, for something to do with the cases we are still working on. My house is a complete mess of flats, bubble wrap, tape, dry cleaning plastic, minerals, hot glue guns, paperwork, paints, and stacked boxes EVERYWHERE!

But, we are making great headway in the final preps for each case.

I spent most of yesterday assigning case numbers to each specimen and gettinng ready to download all info for each case and specimen. My eyes were crossed by 5:30 and I went out and mowed the lawn to get away from it all.
Jim came to bed at 3:30 a.m. after doing two more cases after I went to bed, much earlier, last night. He is really amazing and is enjoying the minerals so much.

Funny thing is that our cabinets are looking sparse, it is an odd thing to look around and see some with one or two empty shelves!
I will try to add some photos tonight. Cheers!

[Gail]

One of our cases is of different size than the others, this one is larger and in a place of prominence. We plan to put a few of our larger pieces in there representing some of the continents of the world.
Jim came home from work last night and cleared off the kitchen counter, pulled out duct tape, and measured out the space of the cabinet. He then made notes after pulling the minerals and arranging them on the kitchen counter. ( All this while I was trying to make dinner mind you...)
He then drew elaborate diagrams on how to set up the case, he even put boxes behind to get a feel for the space issues.

So, part of the difference between my husband and myself ....well, see our paperwork below. It is for the same case. We think very differently and I like to keep things simple. Jim, well....that analytical and mathematical genius brain of his is obviously from a planet different than mine!
My goodness!
Opposites attract, definately!

[Gail]

I have been going into our excel file and assigning case numbers to each mineral we are bringing. It is time consuming but somewhat rewarding. Sometimes I find a number that doesn't match the mineral, so photos have been really handy for figuring out what it is I am looking for.
Jim has, faithfully, numbered every piece in our collection, and is up there close to 4,000. We don't mix minerals in our cabinets till they are properly documented and numbered, so we have flats piled that have yet to go in the system.
All his hard work has paid off in this file, which we back up constantly and keep safe.

So I am bound to the computer as I do this chore, print out photos and add details.

I did manage to design the silver and gold case, the copper case too. All the years of my owning or working for other art galleries makes layout easy for me. Display is a specialty of mine.

Jim is doing his own thing on some of the cases and I find we both differ only slightly. I like a few less pieces in my design, but we are pretty anxious to share a good portion of our collection with everyone, so sparse cases are rare in our displays for this event.

We did manage to put quite a few pieces from the MinRec supplement "Texas collectors" magazine in a case, that was rather fun.

Anyhow, a few more photos of cases.

[Jordi Fabre]

The comparison between yours and Jim's layout is simply hilarious ;-)

One more time, thanks Gail. Your capacity to comunicate is a gift for us.

Jordi

[Les Presmyk]

And over the years I have been accused of being too much of an engineer but Jim is way beyond me. We selected the minerals for each of the cases, took a photo of the arrangement and packed the print with the specimens in the respective flats. The labels were packed with the minerals as well so when we got to Springfield, we stacked the numbered flats in front of each case, or beside it, and proceeded to set everything up.

[Jim]

Les,

Thanks for sharing your super simple but super effective method (i.e., KISS) of organization for a large scale exhibit -- or any exhibit for that matter.

Just great!

Cheers,

[Les Presmyk]

To me, the most important thing about making the exhibits a success was making sure the minerals got there and back with no damage. When we were invited, I spent most of my time asking Dave Bunk how he had organized the packing and organization of the flats and cases. Knowing how to move larger quantities of minerals, having been a dealer at Tucson and Denver for a number of years made the task a lot less daunting that it is to collectors like the Spanns or Dawn Minette or Dan and Diane Kyle.

Each year, more and more thought and preparation has gone into the exhibits at Springfiled. We did maps of Arizona so visitors could see where specimens came from and we placed titles in the cases. Since then the cases have included photos and books and bases and just ever improving display techiniIques. If we ever get the opportunity to do this again, not only will there be many new specimens, and a few surprises, but the displays will now have include many of the techniques Gail is so graciously sharing with all of us. After all, one doesn't want to be standing in front of a case and have someone walk by and say, "this is nice but you should have seen how the Spanns' did theirs - now there was some display technique".

It is a tremendous untertaking and all who have done it (or are in the process) deserve a debt of gratitude from the collector community, and certainly Marty Zinn's commitment to presenting these magnificent collections. 95% to 98% of the people who view the Spanns' exhibits next month will never get a chance like this in their lifetimes. I am used to moving 150 to 200 flats of minerals to a show without giving it a second thought. However, having to pack up the best 70% to 80% of our collection, send it across the country (Bob Jones drove it back there for us) and have it out of our control for 3 weeks was a bit nerve wracking and a lot different than moving inventory.

Keep the pictures coming, Gail and my compliments to both you and Jim for doing this.

[Gail]

Yeah Les, I am trying to do it the way you say, but Jim keeps moving minerals from one case to another and I am trying my best to keep up!
( I do hope you know that we are in good humour about all this, but it is really interesting for a strong willed woman, and a strong willed man to put this together, well...together. )

When I do my desired design, it takes me all of an hour to complete. Jim takes much longer, he gets on the computer and finds out what else comes from the locality then he goes looking for them.
He will mix gemstones with the minerals and make notations of all details.
Me? Well, I pretty much know where all the copper, or smithsonite, or cerussite is located, I live with these minerals all day while Jim is at work don't forget.
I can go from one cabinet to another "harvesting" a crop of linarite with the best of them.

I printed over 100 photos today, so am just back from picking up even more glossy photo paper. Okay, the truth? I managed to stop by the gym to work out just to ease the slight stress I am feeling over this project. I really am going great guns and need an occasional break!
My brain is full of envisioned cases and what to pack for the show, two cases of Brazil, or one?

Les, did Paula even want to speak to you after you did this ??? Ha ha!

Still smiling, still liking my husband...let's see what tomorrow brings?

[Les Presmyk]

Yes, Paula spoke to me throughout the process. She just kept shaking her head as to why we were doing this. But, once we got there and got it all set up, we really enjoyed being able to see everything out on display. As you know, we do not have the room you do to display a lot of our collection. That was probably one of best things about the whole experience.