Photo: A selection of gem pebbles made by tumbling rough stones with abrasive in a rotating drum; taken by Adrian Pingstone, photographer's correction "lace agate" should read "blue lace agate," from Wikimedia Commons
Beginner lapidary classes are designed to teach skills the way the teachers want them repeated. Intermediate and advanced classes teach the instructors how the artist sees their world. The advanced classes take away a lot of the restraint of the beginning classes and give freedom, allowing artists to dream up new projects. Most of our students are artists in other mediums. In our last intermediate class, we had a cosplay designer, a jeweler specializing in bone and metal, a bead worker, a sound and frequency technician, a painter, and more—all in one class.
To the cosplay design artist, each piece is part of a larger world, and as such, all her work was incredibly precise and simple. Everything could then fit seamlessly in the environment she created for it. I’ve never seen such perfect geometric designs. She built characters; their jewelry was more than just pretty rocks but a representation of them as a whole. She laid her stones and metals out like an interior designer making notes and drawings to keep herself on track.
The bead worker took the longest to get things finished, but every single detail was studied and considered before she decided on anything. She could cut the most intricate patterns into tiny pieces of metal with just a blunt saw and a lot of time and patience. She was a theme enthusiast, so everything from the hand-beaded cord to the painstakingly selected clasps paid homage to her chosen themes.
The metal artist had the most unique eye for texture. Everything from setting to hook was a part of the texture story of each piece. It was not uncommon for her to spend hours with a hammer, making perfect indentations. The metal was always the star of each piece. Her gorgeous stones and bits of bone were colorful accents to her true love.
The sound and frequency tech was so different from the rest. She made many beautiful polished stones but only managed to set a couple. Every finished price began with a feeling. If she wasn’t feeling the vibe, it went back into the toolbox. She spent days plotting and cutting a 3” x 3” piece of purple Yttrium, (a soft soothing stripped purple fluorite) just for two 6 MM round button stud earrings. They had to be perfectly synced before she felt good about proceeding. They were stunning.
The painter was probably the most bizarre to me because she spent week after week doing almost nothing. She’d choose a piece of grit to polish and then toss it back into her toolbox. Then she’d pick up a work in progress piece and futz over it a little more. It went on like this most of the class until, one day, inspiration struck. A beautiful carved, polished, and set pendant appeared from the void in no time at all. I marveled at the speed in which it came to be. Her only focus was its imperfections. Absolutely the most unique and creative artist I’ve ever seen.
I love watching art birthed. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to give it space to breathe and become. We’ve had photographers, ceramic artists, leather artists, metalsmiths, glass blowers, chefs, surgeons, and more come through our doors and lend their artistry to this lapidary work. I love watching their unique points of view inspire new and beautiful creations. I love seeing their other art forms become more nuanced and special because of the work they do with lapidary. With art, there are only winners. Not only do we gain from growing our skills, but the class learns from the unique perspective of each participant. As this year winds down, I would like to say how grateful I am to each student I had the pleasure of working with and guiding. Thank you for teaching me too.
