Wednesday, September 14, 2011

A little slice of Michigan

Recently I sent a necklace to one of my best friends.


She lived in Michigan for many years. We met in high school and immediately hit it off. I wanted to send her something that would remind her of her time here. That's why I chose a Petoskey stone as the centerpiece.


I've always loved Petoskey stones. They're found only in Michigan, and they're remnants of an ancient coral reef. You can find a lot of fossil coral on the market, but Petoskey stone is special and you rarely find it.

The pendant posed a bit of a challenge. The hole was a bit large, and at first I was just going to string the necklace, but then I decided I wanted to use chain. The pendant was too large for a wire wrapped bail; I was also worried that if I wire wrapped it I would need stopper beads on each side, and if I made a wire wrapped link to hold the pendant and the stopper beads, it would be too wide, and it wouldn't hang properly.

So I decided to use a fine chain inside the bead to give it a little movement.


I love the way it turned out, and even better, my friend loved it! I hope it will be a happy reminder of Michigan and the good times she had here.

6 comments:

Christine said...

Your memory necklace is beautiful! My grandmother-in-law gave me a box of Petoskey stones that she used to hand polish w/different grits of sandpaper - even gave me a kit! I may make a necklace w/just a pendant for my mother-in-law & her sister ~ Thanks for the wonderful idea! :)

laurelmoon said...

Thank you so much for your kind words!

You totally should make necklaces out of those stones. They are so special, and I'm sure your mother-in-law & her sister would love them!!

Skye said...

Lovely! I've never heard of Petoskey stones before!

laurelmoon said...

Skye, they really are beautiful! They're a unique kind of fossil coral and they're hard to find outside of MI. They're not often cut and cabbed or made into beads, except by locals.

There are a lot of sources for other kinds of fossil coral, but Petoskey stone is a cool little secret here in MI! :)

Nancy Markosky said...

I'm a Michigan girl too- my kids are old now but one of our favorite summer trips was to Petoskey state park to hunt for stones. Where in Michigan are you located? I'm in GR :)

laurelmoon said...

That's great, Nancy! I love meeting fellow Michiganders. ;) I live north of Detroit. I actually do a show in Grand Rapids--the West MI bead show! It's coming up in a week or so.