Arts & Crafts

People have been making decorative items out of stones and minerals for thousands of years.

At the very beginning when man began using tools, rocks were the first choice after wood because stones were so durable. As societies became more advanced and fire was harnessed to help shape tools, human civilization underwent great changes as societies learned to use metals like copper, iron, bronze and steel. That is why some of our human civilization time periods are named after rocks and minerals such as The Stone Age and the Bronze Age.

From very early on, people have been decorating the things they use and their homes. Stone carvings and sculptures have been favourites items made of stones and semi-precious gemstones.

	Onyx Bull
Elephant	Soapstone Elephant
Rutile Smoky Quartz Fish	Lion
Unakite Lizard	Mahogany Obsidian Rhino
Rhyolite Rhino
Soapstone Fish	Soapstone Fish

People have adorned themselves with rocks & minerals since earliest times. Jewelry is common to all cultures

Once it was known how to chip stones to make arrow heads, people also turned to making sculptures out of stone and decorating their day to day tools.

From this early beginning, rocks and minerals have been used to fashion arts and crafts. Today people who like rocks & minerals are involved in such crafts as soapstone carving, making eggs and spheres, lampshades, agate art and viewing stones just to name a few.

Gem Trees are often made by hobbyists who are interested in doing crafts.

Lamp by B. Kovacs

Of course since everything that is not grown is made of rocks and minerals, almost everything starts out coming from the earth. What makes these crafts different is that for the most part they use the natural beauty of rocks and minerals as a starting off point for their artistic interpretations.

Some artists use the patterns in rocks as inspirations for the design of wallpaper & paint finishes.

Painters paint landscapes and use the patterns they see in nature to make abstract paintings. Ed Bartram is a painter who draws his inspirations from the rock formations found in the Georgian Bay area of Ontario.

Photographers use the camera as a medium to capture the beauty of rocks - either in nature or close-up at a microscopic level.

No matter how you look at them, rocks are beautiful and are the foundation of all that is around us.