It is nice to see you have respect for your local rocks. Tell me about the amber, is it rare up there?
Yeah, I like to use my local rocks... they aren't always the best compared to other places but look nice none the less. I have mostly used non alaskan material as I bought a lot that was in slabs and I can make into stuff and sell to help pay for my rock equipment and hounding materials. Its also great to see the person's expression when I make custom things for them and make their day. I'm currently working on 3 heart shaped pendant pieces as well for people. I have some local material slabbed but I still have over 500 lbs of material to slab. I love finding the rock more than I like cabbing.
In the location I go to amber is not rare per say, however finding pieces large enough to do any lapidary work on is rare.
Considering there are limited placer to find actual amber around the world it is cool to find.
This piece of amber below is the largest piece and I haven't finished my lapidary work on it yet.
Below that photo is my total findings on my last trip (which few can be done in a year).
