I can't stop picking up the yellow stones

I'm also a compulsive stone picker-upper. Especially at the beach. I try to limit myself to just a couple per trip, or I'd pick the whole beach clean. I put them in a little teacup on my windowsill as momentoes of various walks.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/bodegabaystones.jpg

I think it goes back to when I was a kid, spending long amounts of time with relatives in South Africa. There's tons of semi-precious stones that come from that part of the world, and we used to collect them - mostly ones we got in pebble shops, but some just found, while rock collecting.

My scanner has a lot to forgive.

I had a rock tumbler when I was a kid. I want one now! It made a HUGE amount of noise, and took a whole month to do the job, one week with each successively finer grit.
I could put it in the basement—improvise an insulated chamber. Hell, I'm half-deaf at this point anyway. Probably wouldn't hear it.

Yes, got some good finds on South African beaches - but I was more interested in the sponges and the mermaids purses and things. I seem to remember getting some beautiful shells, though. We had loads around the house. I liked the spotted ones best.

Not on Lake Erie! You can find it along with lots of dead fish and industrial waste. Most of the beach glass is green, presumably from Molson Canadian bottles.

The only thing better than picking up pebbles is picking up weird shit that gets washed up on the Thames banks at low tide. My favourites are pipestems and teeth.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/lakeerierocks.jpg

Your scanner can hardly wait.

I have a soft spot for the middle-aged guys who collect shells with their wives, only they use a tool! A special clam rake. My husband refuses to join their ranks.

And now for the real fun! Petoskey stones are made up of calcite, and therefore are a good candidate for hand polishing. Calcite is soft enough so that it can be easily worked, but dense enough to take a nice polish.

WHAT YOU NEED TO POLISH THE STONES:

Petoskey stone
Sandpaper (220, 400, or 600 grit)
A thick towel or newspaper
A piece of corduroy or velvet
Polishing powder
Water

Once you have found the stone you want to polish, sand it down with the 220 the sandpaper mentioned above. After rubbing, rinse the stone down and dry it off. Examine the stone for scratch marks, and if there are any, keep on sanding! All scratch marks should be gone! Next, sand again with 400 grit sandpaper. This should remove any coarse spots. Once again, rinse, dry and check. Now sand the paper with the 600 grit to make sure that the stone is smooth and scratch free. When you think it looks perfect, continue sanding for another 10 minutes, just to make sure. At this point, it is time to polish. Sprinkle the damp corduroy or velvet with polishing powder. A short, rotating rubbing will polish the stone. However, if scratches appear, start from the beginning with the 220 grit paper to remove them! When you’re finished with the polishing, simply rinse the stone off in clean water, and dry. Now you have your own, hand polished Petoskey stone!

http://www.petoskeystonefestival.com/PETOSKE1.JPG

I used to have a boyfriend from Traverse City. If he had wooed me with Petoskey stones I wouldn't have left him.

Great story: at three in the morning, eighteen hours into a move to a third-story apartment (stairs only), my roommate looks down and sees writ upon the box he is carrying, "Jeff's rock collection."

Some people don't understand.

I like how your arrangements on the yellow and green sweaters match nearly perfectly. I find that satisfying.

I wish I lived near a beach, I'd be out collecting stuff like that all the time. My husband bought be (a really powerful and, I suspect therefore expensive) electric pebble polisher machine for my birthday last year because I said I'd always fancied having one, but I am ashamed to say I haven't used it yet :( That ought to be my new year's resolution, to get it out of the garage and find some nice stones to tumble in it.

I have a compulsion for smooth flat stones, mainly for skimming with.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/253/523725920_5c21cc6631_o.jpg

a selection from the playground.

I got to see some of these rocks "in person" tonight. Thanks, B & D, that was nice.

Look at that little fossil teeny got!

i like whorls like that

Beach glass for Beth!

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1258/832495899_20e7f081f1_b.jpg

and some shells too.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1406/832495965_a99b15e837_b.jpg

Looking at this thread always makes me happy.

Oh my GOD!!!!! Teeny, where is this playground with toffee rocks and fossil shells lying around? Jeezy peezy!!!!
And HLA, those shells! Limpet craziness! Is that a collection you gathered, or does the beach just look like that? I'm there!!! And your seaglass looks just like our seaglass!
I AM BURSTING WITH EXCLAMATION POINTS, AS YOU CAN SEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The aquamarine seaglass in the center is especially fine.

I love your passion for all things geological! That was the only piece of aquamarine I found, the rest were garden variety clear, brown or green. The beach is covered is masses of jumbled shells like that at the moment due to some big storms a couple of weeks ago.

Last summer I only found about half a dozen pieces of beach glass in total, but yesterday I came home with pockets full.

I love going to the beach after storms. So much stuff! So many plastic tampon appIicators—I've always left them there, but I may start collecting them. I could Crazy Glue them into an igloo. The ultimate Menstrual Hut. I could charge the big bucks. Women could stay there and bitch about their cramps.

I can't wait until all the people leave after Columbus Day so I can have the beach to myself again! My stone collection needs upgrading.

The Knee Sock thread actually made me nostalgic for the frozen nose of winter beach-walking.

This thread is an absolute wonder!

I can't believe I didn't ask Teeny where that playground is with the toffee fossils!

We have to decide where to place some boulders that were unearthed from our septic pit.

I have always wanted to construct a multi-tiered mountain out of boulders in my yard. Fun for any visiting kids and goats.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/CharlesRiverpotsherds.jpg

Charles River potsherds. I put my hand right into a pile of wet Canada Goose shit, bracing myself as I leaned into the river. Oops. I got it all over the cuff of my jacket, too, before I realized what I'd done. I had to do a major cleanup in a public bathroom. Merely rinsing in the river wasn't enough, even for a non-germphobe like me.

http://www.viequestravelguide.com/images/sea-glass-vieques-puerto-rico-131.jpg

We're going to Puerto Rico in 2 weeks, and I'm looking forward to this beach, Playa Cofi, on Vieques. It's full of seaglass due to an old off-shore dump. Not a picturesque swimming beach, but there will be plenty of those, too.

I have recurring dreams of scrounging for treasures on despoiled industrial-wasteland beaches, so maybe this vacation was MEANT TO BE.

beautiful thread, thank you :-)

these are awesome. get thee to a gallery beth.

Looking at this thread always makes me happy.

-- Sara R-C, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 02:39 (7 months ago) Link

Yes!

I guess Beth might still be in Puerto Rico?

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/prshells.jpg

I'm back.

With another great picture, too!

Lovely, it's great the way the scanner makes the insides of the shells so black!

Do you ever have these scans enlarged and printed, Beth?

Beth! I missed you!

yay

Do you ever have these scans enlarged and printed, Beth?

Because I would totally have one in my bathroom.

I missed you guys too!
I've printed the scans, with varying rates of success. Talk about plowing through the ink cartridges! Oy. They're so much more beautiful on screen, because of the light coming through. The stained-glass effect.
I just bought some smooth opaque paper—maybe the scans will print up sharper on that, without a spongy surface of the cheapo Staples paper. I'll report back. I want to do more scans of the shells, too. The one above was sort of a random dumping.

Try saving them to a JPG at whatever size you want, and uploading them to mpix.com for prints.

This thread is like my moment of zen, so I am reviving it because I really need my moment right now.

I really really miss Beth Parker. I still have one of her paintings up on my wall.

great thread

Beth <3

This is one of the best threads on ILX.

yeah, this truly is a gem of a thread.

i was just thinking of this thread the other day! i took home a stone from the beach where we held my grandma's memorial, and while it means a lot to me, i couldn't help thinking "this stone is not as pretty as the stones on that thread."

photos in the OP are among the most beautiful I know

i would buy prints of those photos, f'reals

classic thread

still a classic thread!