I make small pendant necklaces for kids and teens, and a few for adults. Making everything by hand is very fulfilling!
Not so glamorous, digging and hacking away at the earth - in the middle of nowhere, to find beautiful rocks, minerals, and fossils - but it is worth it!
Many places to dig, less and less places that don't charge a fee to dig. But once you fill a bucket full of rocks, haul it back to your vehicle, and drive it home - it's exciting to think of all the material gathered and what it will all become.
Sometimes you get lucky - like this large chunk of Seam Agate out of Wendover - which is the material that was used to make many of the pendants. There is also Fluorite and Bubble Opal out of Milford (2 photos below).
No matter how big the material gathered, it has to be broken down (pounded with a hammer) into pendant-size pieces, then tumbled for 1 - 2 months, in 6 stages.
After rocks are smooth and shiny, then comes necklace assembly with bell bales, jump rings, and chains.
The process is long, but it's exciting knowing that these pendants were created thousands of years ago - some are even translucent - completely clear and "gemmy", like the Quartz, Fluorite, Seam Agate, and Amethyst pendants I make. I also have Bubble Opal, Obsidian and Variscite. Wearing these natural minerals are a testament to the amazing world we live in.