"From Rock Collector to Jewelry Designer: My Journey of Turning Nature’s Treasures into Art"

I grew up in Cleveland, OH and when Cleveland started bussing kids from the east side to the west side, my parents wanted to move. They bought a house in Garfield Heights just before I turned 16 and began 10th grade at the high school. The year was 1984.

The house was bigger than the one in Cleveland and it had a basement we could explore. One day I was exploring the basement and was checking out the big fruit cellar. I found two boxes that were left by the previous owners. One was a chemistry set. The other, a rock collection. 

I opened the box of rocks and found a variety of different rocks, including pyrite(fools gold).  It was very ✨. There wasn't any gemstones in that one. After I found the collection, I always looked for interesting rocks whenever I went to the park or swimming at the beach. One hike I went on, I found what looked like an arrow head in a creek.

I lost that box a long time ago, but I will always treasure the fun I had looking for new rocks to add to it.

I have purchased a book on gemstones and crystals. I have learned a lot about healing stones and how they help people.

I always look for the unusual and natural stones. I love going to the 🌴 beach and looking for glass that's been smoothed by the sand. Yesterday. I went hunting for glass but found some unique smooth black stones. I don't know if they are beach glass or stones.  I also found some small pieces of beach wood. I'm sure I can come up with some wire wrapped jewelry.

Since I started making jewelery, l look back to my hobby of rock collecting. I love that is has encouraged me to use natural stones and beads in my jewelry making. 

I just wish this summer was better with the weather. I would have explored more Cleveland area beaches, but with the rain, humidity, cooler temperatures and my work schedule there wasn't a lot of time to hunt.

Here's to next summer. Hopefully I get to collect more stones and beach glass to make more unique jewelry.