Retail:

Ed's house of Gems
www.edshouseofgems.com
7712 N.E. Sandy Blvd.

AAA Metals
9908 SE Ash St.

West Coast Findings
534 SW 3rd #612

Simon Golib & Sons
2820 SE 8th

Inexpensive jewelry making classes:
Shop People (SE Grand Ave & Oak St)
- Silversmithing: Gene Deitzen

Best place i've found for silver is Thunderbird Supply ( www.thunderbirdsupply.com/ ) and Monsterslayer ( MonsterSlayer.com ) . RioGrande has an incredible selection of beads. I usually hit gem/mineral shows for stones since you can get some super cheap deals especially if you goto local shows put on by lapidary clubs. I like to talk to talk a lot to my local rockhounds too :D

I've shopped out of the Rio Grande catalog for a long time.

When it comes to buying rough opals, I would rather inspect it beforfe buying, so I buy the high-end rocks at shows. That lets me read the stone (and gives the stone a chance to call to me: "You-hoo... wanna play?")

One of the local supply houses (which shall remain nameless) couldn't even tell me what the temper was for a coil of sterling wire. After that, I went back to waiting for the shipments to come in, because it meant I could get what I wanted.

I've also ordered out of the Fire Mountain catalog. When they included some wrong-sized settings, their CS Department had me send them back at their expense. Their CS Department took their job seriously, and I was pleased with their efforts and their attention to detail.