My Love for stones #2

One of my favorite stones
One of my favorite stones

As my addiction to stones began as a child it has never ended. In addition to my father’s influence with introducing me to the caves upstate and wearing cuff links with wonderful stones in them, my mother also played a part in my love for stones. She started me off with beads as a child. She used to make multi strand necklaces for herself and when she stopped, she passed the beads on to me. I loved playing with them and would do some simple little things.
As I think about the rest of my family, I realize that my two aunts also introduced me to some kind of jewelry making. My father’s sister who was like a second mom to me, taught me how to do Indian bead weaving on a weekend trip to her house. I wound up making quite a few patterned designs using small seed beads. I even made one for my then boyfriend who was part Native American Indian. I was so proud of the white eagle on black background that I designed. My other aunt who is my mother’s sister and more like a sister to me, bought me a small kiln and introduced me to the art of enamelling. I sold my first pieces of jewelry in a church bazaar as a teenager. It seems that all of my immediate family had some influence on my early introduction to stones and jewelry making.
As the years went on I got side tracked doing a lot of different jobs but ultimately wound up back in jewelry making. I now go to all kinds of bead shows and collect all kinds of stones that appeal to me. I buy stones wherever I see one that says something to me. Now I really enjoy the stones that have that something extra. I love picture stones that you can imagine different scenes inside of them like Agates and Jasper. My current favorite stones are the labradorite and Boulder Opal. They have the chatoyancy like the tiger’s eye that has constant movement. You look at these stones and they look alive. Movement is life and that is why I continue to use movement in my work to represent the essence of life! It just fascinates me that mother nature has created such beautiful rocks! They continue to inspire me to want to make something with them to be able to be worn and enjoyed by everyone! Hence my continued addiction to rocks, stones and jewelry making. It’s a wonderful place to be able to create and make people happy at the same time. It seems to be the full circle of life!