I am a lifelong rock and mineral nerd and I live in the Pacific Northwest. I spend a great deal of time traveling throughout the western states in search of cool rocks to chop up. I particularly love colorful rocks and will also dig some out of buckets in rock shops, too.I am a proud member of the Mt. Hood Rock Club where I first learned to cut stone. The objects I make are crafted in my small shop at home. I take large chunks of rough material to cut into slabs on a really big rock saw, then the shapes are trimmed out of the slabs on a smaller rock saw. I use successive grits to polish each stone by hand on a rudimentary faceting machine. The process is arduous but rewarding.The greatest joy of working with rocks and minerals is collecting the material - my "job" is to drive out as far as I can on dirt tracks to canyons and abandoned mines to look for treasure.