NEW! Green Fuse gemstone policy

Vintage German Beads

Because there are no certified fair trade gemstone bead suppliers, I used to purchase mined gemstones from the only two suppliers I could find who maintained a stated policy of factory inspection and concern for worker protection. However, lately the news has made it clear that factory inspections are not enough. Inspections are too easy to circumvent and workers remain unprotected. So, starting in 2008, I will no longer be purchasing new commercially mined and cut gemstones. All my gemstones will now be either lab grown, reclaimed, vintage/recycled, or collected and cut by hand by artisan rock collectors in the US.

Cruel Jewel Alert: Urge Your Senator to Support Real Mining Reform

The 1872 Mining Law gives hardrock mining special priority over communities, the environment, hunting, fishing, camping and everything else. Adding insult to injury, it also gives away publicly owned hardrock minerals for free - even to foreign corporations. Please tell your Senator that REAL mining reform must:

bulletEnd hardrock mining's special priority over other uses of public lands, like conservation and recreation.
bulletProtect clean water by creating mining-specific operation and reclamation standards.
bulletAllow local and tribal governments to try to set important lands off limits to mining.
bulletProtect taxpayers by charging royalties to mining companies who mine public lands - now and in the future.
bulletConserve valuable fish & wildlife habitat by placing national forest roadless areas and other special places "off limits" to new mining claims.

Take Action!
Tell your Senator to support real mining law reform.

Green Fuse home page

I don't put newsletters out more than four times a year --- enough to keep you up-to-date, but not enough to make you crazy. If you'd rather not receive these missives, please reply to this email asking me to unsubscribe you.

 Green Fuse News Spring 2008
Welcome to Green Fuse News Volume 3.

Recycled, fair trade, cruelty-free jewelry and metalwork

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Jewelry at the Walker --- Saturday, May 3

Join Green Fuse at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis for the first ever invitational local jewelry artist show and sale. A dozen jewelry artists from the Minneapolis area will be present for this one-day-only event, which is being held on the Walker's Free First Saturday.

 

 

Admission to the exhibits, including the sculpture garden, is free. The event will take place from 10 am to 3 pm. Click here for directions.

Mitch's Rocks

Esse quam videri

I am delighted to have found Mr. Mitchell Dale, an inhabitant of Arizona and a personal miner and collector of rocks. Mitch lives near an abandoned mine, and is known to wander about the countryside collecting rocks and stones, taking them home, and making them into pretty shiny cabochons that I can, in turn, incorporate into jewelry. (that's one of his -- a brecciated jasper -- in the necklace above, too!)

 

 

Wild Horse Magnesite Cabochon from Arizona

 

Mitch cuts and polishes his stones himself. That means each stone has a story, and each stone has been individually crafted by an artisan right here in the USA. This is doubly good for everybody: low- or no-impact collecting is good for the earth, and artisan crafting means no exploited stone cutters in developing countries. I'm thrilled to be incorporating Mitch's one-of-a-kind stones in my jewelry.

 

 

Attention North Carolinians! Check out your newest eco-friendly store in Southern Pines. Say hi to Denise when you stop by and tell her I sent you!

 

 

Green Goods
128 W. Pennsylvania Ave. 

Southern Pines, North Carolina
(910) 692-2511