An Old Flame…

Hard to believe it was nearly 40 years ago that I cut my first piece of rock – and  I still have it (and all my fingers)…Life took over and after all those years away from it, not long ago I was able to join the Creston Valley Rock and Lapidary Club.  Getting a glimpse into the storage area where boxes and boxes and tubs and buckets of rocks are kept nearly gave me heart palpitations! Piles of jasper, agate and petrified wood-all calling my name.

Will take awhile and lots of practice to get my pieces to where they should be, but in the meantime, I am having a blast  building the bezels for the stones to be placed in.  My “new” love is bronze–I adore the warm and soft colours that it produces, and it etches and takes patinas beautifully.    Look closely at the first setting-the etching was done with the Lord’s Prayer and the word Amen just happened to surface right below the agate…I didn’t even notice until I looked at the photo-Love the little surprises in my life!

Rockin’ with Rocks!

2016 certainly is off to a fabulous start-back doing some lapidary work and creating new designs around these absolutely yummy cabochons….Agates have always been on the top of my most favourite list and this one has gorgeous gold and silver tones running through it.  Smooth as silk, I can’t wait to see how it looks in a silver setting!  ..or maybe bronze…or?

The second one is a Jasper, and it looks just like a Fall leaf with delicious earth tones. This shape is a bit of a pain to cut but it was worth the extra effort-  I already have a design in mind for this one!

Now to get the shop cleaned and ready-it’s in dire need of a purge….