Introducing The Castaway Collection of Jewelry

 Beautiful jewelry is easy to find. But interesting jewelry isn't. That's why I make it.

We live right across from a beautiful beach and got to wondering how we could make pieces using the materials we find there. Thus The Castaway Collection was born.

The idea is simple- take found items- driftwood, shells, sea glass and rocks and make interesting pieces. They aren't to everyone's taste but those who like them LOVE THEM!

here are some we've made from shells so far:

The last one is extremely interesting and features a shell core and we've made several others.

We also use driftwood:

And of course we incorporate beautiful local beach glass.

As you can see, some are simple and some are more complex but all are very modestly priced because, quite frankly, our reward is overcoming the design and engineering challenges. These pieces are so different, they had to have their own display.

So if your travels take you to the wilds of Digby Neck, stop by and see for yourself. And check out our rock shop, hand dyed yarn and other jewelry!

Lots of Tourists

 As the weather finally improves and the smoke clears, more tourists are starting to appear and we've also seen people who come annually as they have summer homes here. I'm being kept busy making new pieces to replace sold items. Here's a real beauty combining a beautiful stone, unique hand fashioned copper setting and a show stopping Viking Knit Chain.

I have to say this is one of the most beautiful stones we have found on the neck. It positively glows!

Once again I have embarked on an ambitious project- finish 100 cabochons through the summer. Honestly, if I didn't have my Cab King with the trim saw attachment, I couldn't do it.

Believe it or not, one of the big problems I have is to be selective. Vickie has found me so much beautiful local rock! Here's a sampling.

This gorgeous piece has spectacular colour and patterning and will make a stunning pendant.

Another amazing piece with several different types of structure. It is photographed wet- hence the highlights.

This stunner has areas of moss agate on the bottom and a great pocket of fortification agate along with rich colour shifts. 

And last but by no means least, we have this show stopping combination of plume agate in an amethyst matrix. And these are just a few of this summer's haul. So if your travels take you to Nova Scotia. Make sure to come to the most interesting part- Digby Neck- and stop by to say hello and see the shop.

Cheers.

Beautiful Hand Dyed Yarn

 Because I'm a rock guy, I sometimes forget that we are famous for our gorgeous hand dyed yarn.

Actually there's a tie in between the yarn and the rocks. When our daughter Lisa, a talented indy dyer visited for the first time she was struck by the beautiful colours of the local rocks and decided to try and capture them in her Seawall Fibres hand dyed yarn. That's why all our skeins are named after rocks and minerals. But while the local rock is very hard, our yarn is very, very soft! It is merino wool and comes from a mill in England and we sell it in many weights and blends. Our resident artist and colour expert curates it into complimentary colours to make selection easier but one can buy any skein that strikes their fancy.

In addition to the yarn, we sell accessories and patterns as well as amazing hand knit items- mostly from patterns designed by "The Real Artist" who is usually around to answer questions from her knitting "tribe". And if you visit at the end of July this year, you can meet the dyer herself!

As a non-knitter, I must say a few words about this "unique" group of people. They are all crazy. But crazy in a good way and I love meeting them. I used to be in the golf business and thought golfers were the biggest fanatics in the world. Then I moved to Florida and invested in a sunglass company and started rubbing shoulders with surfers and bass fishermen. I quickly pegged them as being the true fanatics- the hard core of the fanatic universe. But then I met knitters and quickly realized I had found the top of the fanatic mountain- the "ne plus ultra" of the genre. One brief encounter sums it up. A few years back a lady came in from South Carolina and picked out a few skeins. She said that even though she had SABLE, this yarn was too beautiful not to buy. I was unfamiliar with the term SABLE and asked her. She said SABLE was a knitting term and stood for Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy. "I'm 75 and have several hundred skeins of yarn. Do the math!" We should all have such a passion in our lives.

So if you are a user of yarn and want to see some absolutely beautiful material in an absolutely beautiful setting, pencil in a visit to Digby Neck. You will NOT be disappointed!

Milestone Reached!

 About 7 years ago, I started the blog to show people this beautiful part of Nova Scotia called Digby Neck and the art we produced here. As an old geezer, I didn't expect many would take the time to read it.

Boy, was I wrong!

This week, it blew through 90,000 (non bot) page views - a number I never thought possible. It has been read all over the world and I get such satisfaction when visitors come into the shop and say we decided to vacation here after reading your blog. Can I get to 100K? Only time will tell but it better happen soon because I ain't getting any younger!

So what have we been up to recently? Well, yesterday I made Vickie a new case for her phone. She couldn't work the power button with her old case so I tried to use the same design I use for my guitar pic pouches and it worked!

Happy wife, happy life!

We also had a visit from our friends who have a place down the Neck but now live in Maine. They share our passion for rocks and lapidary and brought a few things they had collected while here and I cut a couple for them on my Hi-Tech rock saw. There were some very pleasant surprises. This is why I love cutting rock!

This one has beautiful colour and patterning due to areas of plume and fortification agate. The closer you get, the better it looks!

Then there was this spectacular piece (found by the wife- see, I told you I'd give you credit!).

It was so good I cut it in two directions. The patterning is simply amazing and the limonite gives it such beautiful colour. 

So if you love rocks, come to Digby Neck! And stop by my rock shop- The Lap of Lapidary- and show me your treasures!

The Lap of Lapidary is Open

 The weather on Digby Neck has turned warm enough to turn on the outside water and that has allowed for the renewal of activities in my rock shop. The first order of business was to cut some of the finds made by "She With The Agate Eye". All these rocks were cut on my 10 inch Hi-Tech saw using their red sintered blade.

I want to say a word about the saw. I am loving it more with each cut! And having now used it for four years I can make some conclusions.

1. This saw is durable. I read comments on lapidary sights about the "cheap, flimsy build". I can assure you it is neither cheap or flimsy. Rather, it is tough and durable, easy to clean (more on that later), doesn't rust and the motor is great. For years I kept my 10 inch oil cooled saw with a new 1 H.P. motor for larger rocks but no longer. I'm selling my old friend, the Mercury 10 inch with it's nice motorized feed.

2. The red sintered blade is as good if not better than my previous go to MK-303, especially if you add a little water soluble lubricant. And I only cut material with hardness 6.5 or higher.

3. I love using water instead of oil. I cut by hand feed mostly and the water is cleaner, safer and the rocks are clean coming off the saw. As a bonus, my wife is an artist and she will actually clean my saw for me to get the sludge, with which she makes paint!(see earlier posts). She would never cut rocks on the oil saw but she enjoys cutting on the Hi-Tech.

4. Capacity. Any rock I could cut on the 10 inch oil saw I can cut on the Hi-Tech.

Now on to some examples. Here on Digby Neck, the agate, carnelian, amethyst, quartz and jasper are usually found as veins in the basalt. Here's a great example.

The vein contains agate, fortification agate and amethyst and since this particular vein actually looks like The Neck, I'll make pendants with a lot of the basalt intact. We have some spectacular plume agate and here's a good example.

I just love the pockets of fortification agate and it makes amazing jewelry. Here's another interesting example.

And last but by no means least, here's a specimen of my wife's favourite- sagenite.

Here on The Neck, we get some amazing colours in this rock- green, purple, yellow- along with amazing patterning and when it is solid, it makes awesome polished stones.

All the above stones are local and a small fraction of what can be found. So if you like rocks, stop by The Lap of Lapidary!

We're Open For 2023!

 Hi folks.

We'll, if the weather cooperates, we will be open this holiday weekend- April 7-9.

While it is still to cool to fire up the machines in the Lap of Lapidary, we have plenty of new pieces in the shop and while they last, we have a sale section.

So if your travels take you to beautiful Digby Neck, stop by and say hi. You just might leave with a treasure. And don't forget, everyone who stops by can take home a free piece of The Neck- a polished local stone.

Anyone For Beach Glass?

 Since we live across the street from an ocean beach, we find a lot of beach glass. And we have found some amazing pieces- old glass stoppers, white glass that has aged violet and some with amazing shapes and patterning.

A word of warning. Since some colours are getting very scarce people are "creating" beach glass by simply breaking glass and tumbling it with either silicon grit or plain sand. It is easy to do but also easy to spot. If the pitting on your glass is very consistent, it is likely man made.

After working with stone most of the winter, I decided to make some glass pieces. While glass can be easily drilled, I prefer to make it more interesting by adding an element of copper.

Some pieces just naturally lend themselves to wire wrapping and while I usually use leather neck cords with stone, I often use buna cord with the glass to mimic the effect. And sometimes, a few colourful crystals can make a piece really special.

The copper I use is reclaimed and when possible I like to leave some of the old patina to give it character. I also like to incorporate copper chain to add mobility.

There is only one problem with glass- it is very hard to photograph to look like the actual piece. Trust me, all these pieces are much more striking and beautiful in real life. You can see for yourself later this month when we open the shop! Hope to see you then!