Rocks and Minerals are a big part of my life since childhood and have been a serious collector for decades.

With Galena Beads, I was able to incorporate this love and passion for semi-precious stones into a huge part of the bead  inventorry I sold at my Historic Galena IL shop. I aimed the store's direction into learning about rocks and minerals and exposing my customers to a higher quality of jewelry making. It was very successful at doing that. 

Moving to California, I had no idea the hotbed of Agates and Jaspers I had landed in. As I was Plein Air Painting  the California Landscape, I became intrigued by the land formations and the big question developed of why it looked as it did. I do consider myself a Geology Enthusiast at this point in my life and joined the Yucaipa Valley Rock and Mineral Society in Yucaipa CA. Here I discovered Geology of the the region, Lapidary skills, and Silversmithing Jewelry. The club has a full workshop to explore with huge saws to slice open rocks into slabs showing a whole different perspective view. Inside these rocks I sliced open was an incredible world of Abstract Art I discovered.