Wonderful Wonderstone!!

I spent two days at a dig site for Utah Wonderstone, and collected lots of beautiful rocks to add to my already large inventory.  The specimens from this site are gorgeous- lots of colors and beautiful patterns.   I can't wait to start cutting and polishing and seeing what beautiful things will come from some of these pieces.

Being both a rockhound and a lapidarist, when I am collecting rocks I have more of a deliberate way of choosing which ones I pick.  Sometimes, as I am collecting rocks at a site, I envision the setting or what type of piece I would create out of certain rocks I choose.   Some will work better in the tumbler, some on the saw and polishing wheel, some with a wire-work setting, some as a cab.

I like to take my time, enjoy the place that the rocks come from, and spend time in that environment.   Being completely solar and wind powered, I have the freedom to camp out in these remote places. I like to feel connected to that special place, and let it become a part of me:  the sounds, the smells, the look, the essence of it.  When I am working with a rock, cutting it and polishing it, I like to remember those things.  I like to try to express those things in the piece I create.

And, so as I load up my buckets of Wonderstone into my trailer, and head southward to Quartzsite, I am thankful for the times I have had this summer and fall collecting all of my special rocks.   Thankful for the beautiful places I have gotten to see and experience, and thankful for the blessings and bounty of the land.  In a few days, I will open my booth for the season.  The sound of the wind across the South Dakota prairie will be replaced by the drone of the rock saw and the shrill whine of the polishing wheel.  The tranquility of the Utah desert will become a distant memory amidst the sea of customers shopping at the vendor booths.  But as I place a stone on the wheel and begin to polish it, I can lose myself in the essence of that stone and find myself, again, listening to the wind on the prairie or relishing the tranquility of the desert.