Road Trippin'

Lucy....You got sum 'splainin' to do! Anyone familiar with this movie should have an idea of what I'm about to say. No, it's not collecting rocks, per se...

We are picking up rocks...& turning them into jewelry. We were brainstorming ways to make a little extra gas money and after seeing pieces like this:










selling for $20 and more, I knew we had found something we could do. We figured we kinda had an edge on most people doing it...We travel. We can pick up rocks native to one part of the country and take them elsewhere to sell. A good example of this are stones like prairie agates & rose quartz. We spent a couple of afternoons walking around in the Buffalo Grasslands & picked up over 60 agates.



One I found was almost as big as my head (& we all know how big that is)! So we bring all these "found in the rough gems" back to our makeshift lapidary shop (formerly the motel office), and put them through the magic process that takes this;



Cut it into slabs like this;




Then, through the magic of television er, grinding and polishing, we end up with a work of art like this;



Then we can either wrap with wire or glue a metal piece to it & put it on a necklace. Add some other beads and trinkets, bake in a 425° oven and VIOLA!
We're thinking of marketing direct to the public through gem and rock shows as well as hitting the flea markets and various festivals. Doing the festivals kinda fits in with one of the road trips we were wanting to do anyway. Eating and drinking your way cross country sounds like a great way to kill a year or two to me.

Cheers!!