Greetings from windy Whidbey Island, WA!
Grandma and Granddad use to polish rocks to make necklaces, bracelets and always a bowl full on the table for the grandkids to look through! I grew up loving to look at their creations, but never really thought about what went into it.
After my Granddad passed away, I wished I had asked him questions about lapidary, rocks and the like. Grandma has been distributing the remainder of their rock collection and I've been fortunate enough to have shown interest and been passed many treasures.
Oak Harbor has an annual rock show and last year I took two of my seven children (5 are adults now) to go explore some of what I enjoyed. My 13 year old has been flint knapping obsidian for a few years now and may have been part of the driving force to get there.
I was excited to find out we have a club that does lapidary and wire wrap! The following week I put on a brave face and stepped through the rabbit hole of rock hounding. Yep, I'm still doing it, have my own machine and am trying to learn more and more along the way.
I found a rock I love and couldn't find the name of it so I ended up on ebay. Let me tell you, that's a sure fire way to go broke! It turns out I was looking for DENDRITIC OPAL (it looks like little dark flowers on a white stone!) Wow!
I'd really like to learn to find the rocks/stones/gems I'm interested in, in nature. It's hard because a walk on the beach may have whales... A hike up a mountain has views... And I usually have friends and family by my side for good conversation.
Here's to new friends, good conversation and all that we can learn from one another! Thanks for allowing me to join!
Also, I'm a US Navy veteran, Mom, Grandma, Scouter, Volunteer, Coach, and probably other stuff too. I love to take cell phone photos of what I'm doing too! Busy!
