Treasures From A Rockhound

This past summer I brought a few pieces of petrified wood back from Montana that were given to me. On the way home I kept thinking of who I could get to cut slices off of them so that I could use them as basket bases. Then my husband and I remembered meeting Mike Hoover at the Greater Gig Harbor Open Studio Art Tour on Fox Island a few years before. Mike is a true rock hound and has over 50 years of knowledge in geology and rock collecting. We went to this years Open Studio Art Tour and I brought him the petrified wood. We toured his shop again and learned a lot of new things about how he makes his beautiful knife handles and jewelry. The best part was picking out slices of stone from his "throw away" buckets behind his workshop. I must have spent at least an hour picking though the buckets and found some really nice stones to use as bases in my baskets. It was like Christmas for me finding all that treasure! Mike was very kind and took the time to identify all the rocks for me. He also took the time to put stabilizer on the brittle petrified wood so that I could use it without it falling apart. A few of the rocks that I chose are ones that he discovered, so that will make some of my baskets extra special.

If you are interested in seeing Mike's beautiful knives and jewelry he will be at the TideFest Art Show at Gig Harbor High School this weekend in his Stone Artwork booth. There are over a hundred artists and they are open Saturday, December 7 from 10 am-5 pm and Sunday, December 8 from 11 am - 4 pm. I participated in this show in 1989 and it is a wonderful holiday event to go to in Gig Harbor. The festival raises money for the school's activities and athletic programs, including the Speech and Debate team and the school newspaper.

I am grateful to my friend Shirley for pouring and preserving all of my stones and petrified wood in resin and drilling holes around the bases to prepare them for basket making. I not only admire her quality resin work, but all of her patience to drill all of those holes! If you want to see or buy some of her wonderful pine needle basket bases, you can find them in her Etsy shop named Pine Needle Creativity.

 ENJOY!