A very fun event I had the pleasure of being a part of earlier this year was teaching some elementary aged children all about hand-polishing beach stones. They certainly had fun with it and they got closer to the stones of the Great Lakes through their work. Of course, that is something that I love [...]
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Slag Glass is Beautiful Trash
Slag glass is another very interesting industrial by-product that is making it’s way into jewelry of late. And it’s getting rarer and rarer to find. Michigan’s iron ore industry boomed from the mid to late 1800s. This was fueled by the discovery of ore and the availability of trees via the lumber boom to make charcoal [...]
Spring Break Stone Hunt
We just got back from a Spring Break Stone Hunt weekend up in the Traverse City are of Michigan. This is in Northern Michigan (kind of by the pinky finger if you use your left hand as a representation of Michigan). I always like to try to find new beaches to explore. The weather was a [...]
Michigan Collection
I have been working on designing a collection to go into some stores on consignment. This will become a way for me to market my work to the stores where I’d like to have my work placed. I still have work to do on the signage and branding, but this is the beginning. From left [...]
Resin Ornament = Lake Memories
Resin Ornament = Lake Memories - A year ago I had the idea to do some ornaments with resin to put to use some tiny beach stone nuggets and fossils that I had on hand. It took a year, but I finally got the ornaments together and they turned out to be a really cool and [...]
Jewelry & Metalwork – Level II
As back-to-school time descends upon us, I reflect on the variety of enjoyable experiences I’ve had over the summer. It started with Art on the Mall which was so much fun for me – and really helped me think about my creative life in a new way. Plus, in simple ways, my customers gave me [...]
Friday Feature – Septarian Concretions
This week’s Friday feature comes by way of a Lake Michigan beach visit I recently took. I was out at West Side County Park in Fennville, MI with my daughter to enjoy a day a nice day at the beach – and of course to also see what beach stones I could find. In the [...]
Lake Superior Enchantment
I haven’t set foot on the shores of Lake Superior in at least a decade. It sure did feel good to be back in the presence of this massive beauty of a body of freshwater for vacation last week. We had only been in Grand Marais, MI a short time and my daughter and I [...]
Fossil Flower
These are the fruits of my labor. Five grits of sandpaper and these beautiful fossils have come to life again. Petoskey stone petals and a beauty of a crinoid segment for the center. I feel their vibration and heat in my hands as they emerge from just ordinary grey stones to sparkling lovelies. They almost [...]
Beach Stone Serenity
Back at the beginning of the month, I had a chance to get away for a few days with my family to my favorite destination, Traverse City, Michigan. If you haven’t ever been there, you need to plan a trip. Traverse City is located on the Grand Traverse Bay. The Grand Traverse Bay is divided [...]
