About Our Rocks

Our specialty is jewelry featuring rare, unusual, and unique stones. We do not manufacture jewelry that you find in local jewelry stores. The material that I use is generally uncommon, and from this unusual material I cut totally unique gemstones.

We love working with many of Michigan’s native rocks, minerals, and gems.

• Petoskey stone (Michigan’s state stone)
• Favosite and other Devonian fossils
• Lake Superior Agates
• Isle Royale Greenstone
  (chlorastrolite, our state gem)
• Datolite
• Native copper
• Other Upper Peninsula material

Our favorite way to add to our collection is to collect them ourselves. We also buy rock collections, estates, and individual rocks, or barter with fellow rock hounds around the world. Special rocks are also purchased at major trade shows or on the web. I cut all my own cabochons allowing wide artistic choice in selection and cut. Only the best pieces are wire wrapped and offered for sale.

I use facetted gemstones for enhancements in some instances. I purchase beads at trade shows or cut and polish beads from my own material. Many of our beads are created in my shop, and some are purchased. Our stones are never dyed, but in some cases may be stabilized or enhanced to make them more durable and attractive. If a stone is stabilized, enhanced, a doublet or triplet, we let you know.

About Our Website Photos
Our photos are not altered in any way. The light reflections are generally brighter on the real jewelry than represented in our website photos. We have eliminated the light reflections to allow for detail in the pictures.

Don Reed

Types of Wire we use

ARGENTIUM® STERLING WIRE
Agentium® Sterling Silver wire is a new, highly tarnish resistant sterling silver that keeps its shine for years without polishing. Adding the rare earth mineral Germanium to replace 1.2% of the copper in Argentium® allows the silver to become almost tarnish free. Argentium® is at least .930 silver versus .925 for standard Sterling. The cost of Argentium® is generally 15-20% greater than that of normal Sterling, but we believe our customers deserve the highest quality products including the wire we use. We are gradually converting over to Argentium® in all our products, but in some cases the size wire we need is not yet available in Argentium®. In those cases we use .925 Sterling.

STERLING SILVER (.925) WIRE
Pure silver is too soft to be used in wire-wrapped jewelry, so we use Sterling Silver which is .75% Copper. Sterling silver is the industry standard for use in fine jewelry. One of the best ways to prevent tarnishing on your Sterling is to wear it. Contact with chlorinated water and common household chemicals such as ammonia or bleach should be avoided with Sterling. Sterling is quite easy to take care of under normal use.

14/20 GOLD FILLED WIRE (ROLLED GOLD)
14/20 Gold filled wire is made by pressure bonding a thin layer of 14 kt gold over tarnish-free brass. It is the finest wire available to wire jewelry. Fourteen kt gold is too soft to hold a cabochon properly, so brass is used on the inside of the wire for strength. 14/20 refers to the 14 kt gold which encompasses the outer 20% of the wire. There is 100 times more gold on 14/20 wire than on gold plated jewelry. This wire will last a lifetime under normal use. 14/20 wears just like 14 kt gold and only people with extreme sensitivity have any allergic reactions. If you can wear 14 kt gold, you should be able to wear 14/20 gold filled wire.