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Beachstone

The rugged Maine coastline is primarily granite, though occasional occurances of slate and basalt liven things up for beachcombers. The slate is softer to work with and erodes on the beach into every shape. We collect the stones and separate them by size and shape, little round ones, triangles, long thin oblongs and occasional squares. With practice it has become possible to discern which stones will drill through with cobalt bits and which will require diamond. The stone is dark gray when found, but turns black quickly when it contacts the skin oils.

About the process Collecting the sea glass and beach stones is clearly the best part of making these unique designs, but is only the beginning. After the fun part the treasures must be sorted by size, shape, and color to begin to find matches for earrings and other designs. Once a piece is designed it is either wrapped with sterling silver wire or drilled. Stones are drilled with cobalt drills. The sea glass and some harder stones require high-speed diamond drillbits and a jewelers drill with an RPM of 6000-25000 immersed in lubricant. If you use a slow regular wood drill you will dull your bits so fast it’ll make you crazy. Yes, the sea glass and stones sometime break under the drill. If you want to set yourself up to drill glass please wear safety goggles! (and take off your rings). Sometimes it takes up to 45 minutes to drill a thick piece of glass – so be patient. Any technical tips are greatly appreciated.

Check out a full array of beachstone jewelry in the Gallery!