Rock Swap

Very nice jewelry RRM & Pixy! I've dabbled a bit in wire wrapping and jewelry beading, but I haven't put in enough time to get any good results like those. I've got all the tools, though. Keep posting-maybe you'll inspire me to try again. :)

This is the artist who made my earrings. She does necklaces and pendants too. http://www.rbashara.com/index.htm

wha, that arch is really neat-is it just held together with friction/compression and gravity or has it been reinforced somehow?

Susybell. that's way fancier than what I make, but very beautiful.
Pixydish, Keep wrapping ,girl. Those are pretty good.
wha, loved the leaning rocks, now I got to try that.
Why can't we send to indiviuals sooner or later?
We all want to trade.
RRM

jada this is new england i've got plenty of rocks here.

the arch is pretty easy to build - first you need a bunch of flat stone and a few that are wider on the outside - grab a sturdy planter and stack the stone around the planter - slowly pull the planter out and the rocks own weight will hold them up - i have a couple of them

LOl. oh, rock envy..... I need to move :-)

Suzybell you are indeed right about the rocks in the middle!

Here's rocks from off my hill behind the house.

Doug

postmandug: That is a lovely setting!

I wish I had a big truck and could go someplace and bring a bunch of big rocks home to Florida! I'd love a huge boulder or two as well! I could buy such things locally but I bet it would be rather expensive. How wonderful it would be to live somewhere where you could dig your own rocks!

After returning from the P.O. this morning I figure a medium size flat rate priority mail box: https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10052&productId=10000275&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10000002&top_category=10000002&categoryId=10000036&top=¤tPage=0&sort=&viewAll=N&rn=CategoriesDisplay&WT.ac=10000275 for $10.35 will hold quite a few small to medium size rocks! I shipped a medium flat rate package to my cousin in Maryland this morning. It weighed 7lbs 5 oz and I felt the $10.35 was a pretty good deal.

If someone has larger rocks the large flat box would work really well: https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10052&productId=10001232&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10000002&top_category=10000002&categoryId=10000036&top=¤tPage=0&sort=&viewAll=N&rn=CategoriesDisplay&WT.ac=10001232 and would only cost $13.95 for whatever you can fit in it!

^_^ I wonder if some folks would think we are a bit crazy for spending money to ship rocks?

Probably, We can tell them "they're fruitcakes"How about that??
It's our money, not there business what we ship as long as it is not illegal.
Ain't that right, folks?
I'm with lin, that is a nice pic. you let us see.
RRM
Charleen

This is such an entertaining place to be. I'm sitting here laughing while I'm reading and enjoying all the wonderful creative ideas and pictures. Wow, what a bunch of creative people, and they all love rocks AND have such a wonderful sense of humour. Who could ask for anything more.

I heard someone not too long ago telling their child they must have rocks for brains and it brought a smile to my face because I remember years ago my own mom saying that to one of my brothers when he did something stupid. ^_^

Rocks in my head? Why no, they're in this box....

Doug, nice beds/walls/terraces. You've got great rocks to work with, looks like.

Sue, I LOVE her stuff! How beautiful! I would love to have a job where i just sat around and made beautiful things all day.The ones I've done so far took about 15 minutes to do and I'm not sure they will hold up to real world wearing. I would like to learn how to do nicer work, but alas, only 24 hours in a day. I'd have to give something else up!

Postmandug, that is lovely!

I do love seeing what people have done with rocks in their yards. I started my collection with a piece of tar, gravel, and shell from a road in East Texas. I was 2 and my dad didn't make me put it down. As I grew up, we moved all the time because dad was military. Each time I had to leave behind many rocks and it was very painful, I guess. I used to tell my parents I would live in a rock house, have rock furniture, and eat rocks for dinner each night. My favorite show was the Flintstones.

Rock people are nice like gardening people and when you combine them, it's really hard to beat.
I could never understand why my family didn't love my rocks the way I did. But then, they don't love plants the way I do, either. Sigh.

Pixy
Yes. The gardening/rock combo is hard to beat!

I was in the military and moved a lot too. A friend gave me a book about collecting stones from wherever you are to remind you of the place. I tried to do that but wouldn't always remember. I will find the book and post the title here.

I do have some lava stone from Iceland. It is very interesting in that it has what looks like breathing holes all over it. I will try to get pics up but am in finals week at school and I graduate in December so I'm swamped right now. But in a week or so I can post away:-)

When I was in New Zealand, I wanted to bring home gifts for all my friends, but couldn't afford to buy stuff... so I brought everybody rocks. hehe. Just small ones, but there were quite a few of them. My suitcase was quite heavy. ;)

My family's mostly the same about the rocks and gardening, except that when I was very small and my parents and me (Me? I? whichever...) would go to the beach we would all look for white rocks. About 10 years ago I gave my mom a small pure white rock in a black velvet jewelry box as one of her xmas gifts and she still has it sitting front and center on a shelf in her living room.

Pix, yes, I'd love to have more of her jewelry. :) The earrings are somewhat heavy, though, but still pretty comfy. She's said she will also make custom pieces for people with rocks they provide. Not in my budget right now, but maybe someday.

I found this book when I was on vacation this fall and it just occurred to me this thread is the perfect place to mention it. It's an "art book" for beach stones. Each page has a single beautiful beach rock with a paragraph of text on the opposite page.
http://www.amazon.com/Beach-Stones-Josie-Iselin/dp/0810955334/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260254698&sr=1-1

Jada, the breathing holes are air bubbles from when the rock was molten...hard to imagine, huh? (I took a geology class on volcanoes once-the field trips were really neat, although we didn't get to go beyond Washington. )

Sue, I've been searching for a long time for a book that would help me identify the stones I pick up on the beach. So far, I've not found one. I found a sort of fold-out laminated thingy at a book store this summer, but I was unimpressed with how many rocks they identified. I was hoping that book would turn out to be the one! It looks like more of an artistic type, as you say. Beautiful photo on the front. Wish I could 'see inside' the book on Amazon.

My mother threw out my rock collection when I was between 5 and 8 years old. I've teased her that I was emotionally damaged by loosing my collection. LOL

To me, those chunks of nothing were everything.

Guess what mom collects now (other than a little bit of everything from egg cartons to costume jewlery). Yep. LOL I gave her some nice fools gold a few years ago. Found it at a yard sale. Found a lovely thunder rock, too.

Edited to say: Sorry, I'd better get back on topic before the general public Thread Mothers say something.

Ummm...what is the topic? Trading rocks. See, I said it so my post is okay ^_^

This message was edited Dec 8, 2009 5:59 AM

O.K. I'm Game. What is a Thunder Rock?? Moms sometimes don't understand us ,but we learned it from them. Love you Moms while you got them, Girls. Wish mine was around collecting things, my Mom collected all kinds of things. She like Rocks too.
You are a travelling Pony, How marvelous. I'd have rocks in my suitcases too.
RRM
Charleen

My mother nurtured my love of rocks. Wish she was here to share this thread with. She would love each and everyone of you. : )
My biggest aquisition was from Kauai. I found two matching rocks on the beach filled with tiny air holes (volcanic rock). I packed them into my carry on bag, put them through the security screening and when it came out the end the security guard gave me one of those looks. He said 'You know about the legend?'. I said yes. My sister standing beside me turned and looked him in the eyes and said 'Don't worry, it's just her breast implants.). The guy was so taken aback by the comment he didn't know what to do. So he just passed us through. They are out in my garden with tiny succulents growing in them. I love those rocks, so did my Mom.
I will take a picture of them and post it. : )
Lynn

Ha! What legend??? Please tell....

If you take volcanic rocks from the Island it is supposed to bring you bad luck from the Volcano God? That was in 2004. He hasn't found me yet. : ) Plants love the two rocks.

Sorry...we call them Thunder rocks but they are really called Thunder eggs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderegg

Beautiful things.

ok the link talked about washington state - how did they get to OK?

Hmmmm....how about..."they got in a rock trade"?

Dunno. Maybe somebody sent them to somebody else and that somebody didn't think they were too special so that somebody sold them in the yard sale here in OK, then I found them at the yard sale and bought them, then gave 'em to my momma.

Or maybe somebody's momma didn't like the rock collection and so she sold 'em in a yard sale, then I bought 'em here in OK and...whoknows?

LOL

^_^

P.S. Yes, I love mom. Memories are memories and if she threw my poor little collection of junk rocks away, she threw them away. (They really were a poor pitful collection that I glued on cardboard). So, if you find some little rocks, glued in crazy directions all over a cardboard at a yard sale some day, maybe...just maybe you are looking at my little collection from the 70s or before but I don't think I'll claim the "before" part. LOL

My daughter & family lived it Utah for several years, they went into the hills outside there little town and gathered Thunder Eggs by the buckets.

How awesome! Maybe someone from that area will join the trade! I could look at Thunder Eggs for hours.

Me too! They are truly beautiful!

I want one, I've hear of them til now. I opened the link. They are beautiful.
Thunder eggs are really prett. Thanks for letting me know.

I just came across this thread and find it enlightening. I've a lot of rocks, crystals, and fossils. Heres a pile of garden rock.

some more

pile of geodes

tumblers

97 pound geode

jmorth, welcome aboard. Great rock pictures, treasures every one of them. We are still working out how we will do a rock trade come next year. All ideas are welcome.
Lynn

I'll keep tracking the thread.

jmorth i think that 97 pound geode looks ot be no more than 93 lbs!!

great collection - did you find all of those yourself?

Probably about a third, another third were bought, the remainder traded for. I found most of the rocks in this section of the collection:

This thread shows where I collect quartz in Arkansas- http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/484928/#top

Very nice jmorth! Nice displays and quite a variety. I particularly like the tumblers.