We're Open (Almost)!

 With the weather getting steadily better we are planning on opening on Monday, April 22.

This is shaping up to be a very special year. First off, we have a ton of new items, many featuring jewelry made from local stones shaped in my lapidary shop- The Lap of Lapidary.

Here's a pendant made from an amazing piece of local jasper, with a unique copper setting and a premium leather cord.

Another great pendant made from local agate with a sparkly quartz core.

We also have a whole new line of earrings featuring my own copper filigree design with premium beads and crystals. Here's how they look in real life.

We also ship so if you see anything you like or have a particular gift in mind, just let us know.

Soon the machines in the lapidary shop will be humming so if you have ever wondered how rock is cut and shaped and find yourself on Digby Neck, come on by.

And now for the really exciting part. Because we are getting up in years (way up!) we realize the shop can't keep going for ever. So if you visit, you will note that most items are discounted!

We look forward to seeing you if your travels take you to the unique part of Nova Scotia known simply as "The Neck"

Have a great summer!

We're Creating!

 Life has been very busy of late but we were finally able to carve out some time to spend in the studio and I had the privilege of working along side the "Real Artist".

I decided to start the creative period with a real show stopper. The stone is local but quite rare- a mixture of amethyst and white chalcedony. Our local amethyst tends to be pretty light but this piece has beautiful purple colour. A few  small indentations on the side were just in the right place to enable us to create a very unique setting.

I used non tarnish German silver and hung it on a complementary white buna cord that really highlights the white chalcedony and the topper are a couple of cool druzy pockets to add some sparkle.

The "Real Artist" has also been busy. This piece s called "Nor'Easter on Brier Island" and while not large, it has tremendous energy.

Both of these pieces are available in the shop and we also ship. The pendant is $40 and the painting is $80 with shipping extra.

Stay tuned to see more great pieces.

PS: This year I will also be selling cabochons, some drilled and grooved so if you want to create your own pieces, get in touch.

What's New At The Artist's Mark?

 Well folks, a very busy summer is finally winding down. First I want to thank all the nice people who stopped by and supported us (you know who you are!). We had time to do a bit of experimenting and here are two guitar picks Vickie made from polymer clay.

Thank you so much Jonathan for your detailed professional evaluation!

Vickie was also busy knitting socks from our gorgeous Seawall Fibres hand dyed yarn. Some were bought in-store but most (including these pairs) found their way to customers all over the place!

We also had some strange and exotic visitors. This white pelican, blown north by Hurricane Dorion, decided to spend a few hours in the marsh next to the shop.

But the next shots are even more rare. Our current exotic visitor is Ted, my geology friend from McGill, who made it all the way from Australia. But what makes these pictures rare is that he is actually working in the Lap of Lapidary alongside "The Lady With the Agate Eye". I know, good help is hard to find so you take what you can get. After a bit of rockhounding, we returned with treasure.

I was very proud of the two of them since they both used my Hi-Tech 10 inch saw to cut their finds and then finished them on the Hi-Tech 8 inch slant lap.

I know- they should have been wearing Hi-Tech aprons but they wanted to wear Cab King- especially since Vickie has customized hers to read "Cab Queen"!

We have pretty much finished up the lapidary work so as soon as the weather turns, we will begin fabricating new pieces to replace all those that went out the door!

As always, if your travels take you to Digby Neck, stop by and say hi and pick up your free piece of The Neck.

Beautiful Guitar Picks From The Lap of Lapidary

Recently, I've sold a lot of guitar picks so it was time to make some more.

Fortunately, I had been working on a massive cabochon project and had some very beautiful and interesting pieces of Mexican Crazy Lace Jasper left over that were large enough that I could define a pick shape in them.

Here are the three I made yesterday.

As you can see, this is gorgeous material. I've photographed it a little wet because they have only gone halfway through the smoothing/ polishing process. One of the best aspects of this rock is that it has amazing integrity- no cracks or softer spots. This is important because in order to make a playable pick they need to be thin- very, very, thin!

I use a micrometer to ensure that, when finished, they will be no more than 2 mm. thick. And since I never use a dop stick, this can be a little hard on the fingers- so much so that Vickie has mandated that if more than one finger is bleeding, I must stop! (It's called suffering for your art!)

For all you guitar players out there, I have been told that they play a bit like titanium picks and are a little harder on the strings but have a beautiful resonance. That suits me fine since I also make jewelry from used guitar strings! So buy a pick and send me your strings!

I sell them in the shop, complete with their own hand made/sewn leather pouch for the ridiculous low price of $35 Cdn. and I also ship.

One Door Closes and Another Opens

 The days are much shorter now and the water is too cold on these old arthritic hands. So the rock lab- The Lap of Lapidary- is shut down until spring. This week was spent finishing off a few stones and cleaning the machines. The Cab King got a total overhaul after a very busy summer and a heavy job was made much lighter by my OCD artist partner in crime. 

As some readers will remember, Vickie makes some very beautiful paint from the rock dust pigment that collects in the machines and being who and what she is, the machines get a meticulous cleaning to ensure it all ends up in her bucket! Here's her Cab King haul.

I find it interesting how the colour varies from different areas. The darker stuff on the left came from the dried sediments in the bottom of the wastewater collection bucket while the lighter material was collected from the pans underneath the wheels.

I also made a big decision to install a new set of wheels. The 8 inch Cab King comes with an extra set of the soft wheels and I had bought new hard ones. The old ones have plenty of life and I'll probably sell them but I figure at the age of 75, it's doubtful I'll outlive this new set. Anyway, it's a new life goal!! And now the Cab King looks better than it has since the day after I started using it.

 So as that door closes for the winter, the door to the jewelry bench opens.

I have several new techniques I want to try and tons of beautiful stones to finish- all under the critical eye of The Real Artist who occupies her Real Art Domain beside me. Our hatches are all battened down here and I hope that wherever you are, you're set to enjoy the winter!

Stay tuned to see what mischief we can get into!

Cheers.