Wikipedia.  Always a good place to start but anyone can add information and what you see cannot always be believed. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral

The Rock Collector.  A very professional looking site with a database of rocks and minerals.  Also includes a monthly editorial with interesting articles.  

http://www.rockcollector.co.uk

Teeda.  A commercial website in the USA but, for a good, simple introduction to rocks and minerals do take a look.  If you plan to get into the hobby of lapidary it also gives you a few clues as to what you'll be getting into.  

http://www.teeda.com/rocks-and-minerals.html

Mindat.org claims to be the largest mineral database and mineralogical reference website on the internet.  Includes reports from the major mineral shows.

 http://www.mindat.org/

Agates from Sudetes.  If, like me, you particularly like agates take a look at what can be found in Poland.  There are further links from this site.

http://www.agates.eu/

Agates with Inclusions.  More agates, but this time a personal web site from the USA.

http://www.agateswithinclusions.com/

Internet Craft Fair.  Amongst other things this is an index of suppliers for many hobbies.  They were kind enough to include a link to my web page, so they must be nice people.  

http://www.craft-fair.co.uk

Rockhounding Arkansas.  Everything you ever wanted to know about quartz.

http://rockhoundingar.com/quartz.html

Agates from Hungary.  Another site containing photographs and information about agates and, as this is my favourite type of rock, I make no apologies.  Also includes photographs of the author's mineral collection and links to more sites.

http://www.mineraltivadar.hu

RocksForKids.  Although much of the content of this site is centred around Ontario, Canada, it does contain a lot of information that would be of interest to children who want to learn about rocks and minerals.  When you click on the link you'll probably get a window asking for your Username and Password.  Click on Cancel and it will probably let you in anyway.

 http://www.rocksforkids.com/

UKGE Ltd.  A UK supplier with a reasonable range of tumblers and accessories, rock hammers, jewellery findings, books, DVDs and more.  There's also a children's section.  Fortunately for me they don't supply rough rock other than for tumbling.

http://www.ukge.co.uk

How to make a cabochon.  

Two sites to look at, both will be helpful. 

The first is from the web site of Old Pueblo Lapidary Club.  http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/oplc_cab.shtm.  If the link doesn't work go to http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/table.shtml but you'll need to scroll down a long way to find the link to "Cabochon Making 101"

The second is based around a manufacturer of lapidary equipment.  It's written around one of their machines but the information contained is still valid.  http://www.inlandlapidary.com/user_area/howtocab.asp

Last Update 3 Jul 10