Be Inspired
Rock Jewelry Inspiration
I’m home from a week long vacation traveling up the Washington Coast. I was so inspired by the natural treasures that I found along my coastal journey, I wanted to come home and start to play. Some of my treasures were smooth rocks that I picked up on the beaches. Here is some of the inspiration that I have found to inspire us all!
Drilled Rocks!
I found this tutorial on how to drill natural stones from Jenny Hoople to be great. This is a woman who does a lot of great river stone jewelry with her company Authentic Arts. Working artists like Jenny are the best to learn from!
http://www.papernstitchblog.com/2011/07/18/make-this-drilled-natural-stone-jewelry-tutorial/
Wire Wrapped Rocks!
Dania Chelminsky does a beautiful job of wire wrapping stones and linking them together. http://www.daniachelminsky.com/?page_id=486
To be truly inspired, visit Strukova Elena’s website. She is doing some really interesting and beautiful jewelry pieces using natural elements and wire wrapping. http://www.strukova.ru/shop/737/desc/kameshki-s-glendonitom
Riveted Rocks!
Nicole Ringgold is a fellow Washington State artist based out of the beautiful Methow Valley. Nicole created this tutorial on how to rivet rocks for her blog Live in Art. http://www.liveinart.org/2013/08/how-to-rivet-natural-stones.html.
Painted Rocks!
Although Waii Waii isn’t creating these painted stones for jewelry, she should be! http://waii-waii.com/editions/objects/
Inlayed Rocks!
Andrea William of Bound Earth Jewelry Design work is beyond stunning. There isn’t a piece that I have seen of hers that I’m not in awe over. http://www.boundearth.com/
Strung Rocks!
Helen and Soren are the artists behind The Natural Free Human Being. They tan the deerskin that Helen uses in her jewelry creations!
http://thenaturalfreehumanbeings.com/collections/creations/products/abund
Leather Wrapped Rocks!
All right, so it is a crystal and not a river rock, but you get the idea! Here is a tutorial showing you how to use leather and wire to wrap the stone.
http://naturalwitchlife.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-to-make-crystal-necklace-with.html
Prong Setting Rocks!
More of Strukova Elena’s beautiful work, but this time showing how she has used prong settings to hold her rocks in place.
http://www.strukova.ru/shop/737/desc/kameshki-s-glendonitom
Stacked Rocks!
I really enjoyed looking at the work of Cape Cod Beach Stone Jewelry. Finding stones to stack like this might be a wee bit challenging, but this company does it with ease. http://kemdesigns.net/index.html
Carved Rocks!
Ashley Hackshaw of Lil Blue Boo has a great tutorial on how to carve river rocks with a handheld Dremel. http://www.lilblueboo.com/2012/09/carving-rocks-with-a-dremel.html
There is a lot of wonderful artist doing great things. Thank you to all that have provided us with such great inspiration!
Shop Nunn Design Wholesale
Nunn Design has been supplying jewelry artists with findings for over 20 years. Shop wholesale jewelry findings for creative jewelry makers.
Shop Nunn Design!How to Purchase Wholesale?
If you are interested in becoming one of the many designers who trust their jewelry to Nunn Design Findings, please join us by registering to become one of our wholesale customers!
Please visit our Where to Buy Page for a listing of online stores that sell Nunn Design Findings retail.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe to our blog. Here are 10 Reasons Why to Subscribe and a place to do so!
I love that you are giving away rocks! I grew up in OH on Lake Erie where there were great, smooth rocks like that, but now that I am in FL, they are hard to come by! At least I get seashells in exchange 🙂 I would love to try drilling stones, I am just a little intimidated by it.
I love to collect rocks too! All of these techniques look amazing, but I would love to try out Inlaying. They are simply gorgeous!
Angi Mullis dj2isme@aol.com
I am a follower on Facebook
Angi Mullis dj2isme@aol.com
I am a loyal blog follower
Angi Mullis dj2isme@aol.com
I love love the organic look of the rocks. Would definitely try the rivet, wire wrapped and prong looks, but anything would go using the rocks.
wire wrapped and inlaid rocks!!
Love the inlaid Rocks, what a clever idea, looks very Japanese inspired. i can’t help but pick up ‘souvenirs’ where ever I go – much to my husbands amusement. I often empty my pockets when home and love seeing his expression. Liked and shared on Facebook
I shared on FB!
I am a blog subscriber – LOVE your blog posts, especially your giveaways 😉
Seeing all of these creative designs makes me wish I had all of the rocks I picked up as a child. I would love to try the inlayed rocks.
I LOVE using rocks in jewelry! Living in Indiana I don’t really have good access to find them around here, but I have found some and made a few things. Hoping to make it to a beach this year before summer’s over…or winning this would be awesome too! haven’t tried inlaying yet. I’ll have to try that!
All the pieces look so interesting! Love the strung rocks and the stacked ones and the inlay-ed ones!
I love river rocks! I think my favorite methods are the stacked stones or using small stones with larger ones as toggles. But there are so many beautiful possibilities!!!
I especially love the inlaid rocks – very elegant!
Oooohhh, these are all so pretty. Thanks so much for the links to the web pages and for the tutorials. I’d love to try my hand at making some of your lovely smooth stones into jewelry. Thanks for offering.
I can’t believe I’m entering a contest to win rocks, but wow, what a nice selection and such beautiful inspirations!
I’m a facebook fan and blog follower
Shhh.. We won’t tell anybody!
I live by the water, and rocks like this aren’t easy to find in abundance. Just so happens, the beach I collected these from, they are everywhere! All smooth and perfect like this.
Oh, I forgot the technique I’d like to try. Those inlayed rocks are gorgeous!
Seriously!? Pick just one technique I want to try? The basic dremel instruction on drilling holes and etching is terrific. I will probably where I will start…. but the inlay and riveting infi was fantabulous. I collect rocks wherever I travel… habit I picked up from my mother and use alot of semiprecious beads in my work.. What a great addition this will make. One more thing to add to my jewelry making arsenal. I look forward to your emails with the tutorials and inspiration. Keep it going and Thanks.
I would love to surround these wonderful rocks with crochet – similar to doily work with a lot of open spaces to see their natural beauty.
Stacked & Strung! What awesome examples of natural materials. I long ago liked Nunn Design Facebook page and am a blog subscriber. Am sharing on Facebook. Thank you so much for the amazing inspiration!
I just purchased the buy and try Rox technique and now I see this post. I have been searching for how to drill rocks. We just moved to Southern Utah with tons of beautiful rocks. I am drooling and off to buy a Dremel. First, I would like to perfect the drilling of a hole then I will let my creative juices flow. I would love to win the rocks you found and are willing to share. Thank you. I was so excited I signed up for the blog twice, already follow on FB and now Pinterest, newsletter and will now share reluctantly 🙂 Thank you for Nunn Design…I’m hooked.
I have been an admirer of Jenny Hoople’s work for a while but had not seen the tutorial, so thanks for that! I’d love to learn to drill stones so I could use them with multiple techniques. My immediate favorite is a simple strung look like The Natural Free Human Being. I love the use of another stone as clasp and a natural stringing material. Just beautiful.
I like you on Facebook and shared your post of this blog post on my timeline. Everyone should see these beautiful creations!
I am a huge rock hound so I absolutely love these pieces- brilliant designs! Liked on Facebook, shared to Facebook and Pinterest both.
Just tweeted too 🙂
(and for one more entry, I just signed up for your email updates)
🙂
I subscribe to your Nunn Designs Blog and I love that this week’s post is about rocks–there’s something so organically beautiful about them. I look forward to learning how to drill natural stones!
I would like to try wire wrapping & craving.
I want to learn to drill rocks, so I’d make either the strung necklace or the stacked earrings (which I guess are drilled).
While I love all things Nunn Design, I think this giveaway absolutely ROCKS–lol! I’m definitely a ‘rock hound’ and I am in awe of the small stones being used. I really think all the ideas are fantastic, but especially the dremel ideas. Thank you!
So many good techniques, I couldn’t choice just one. Inlay, Prong setting and wire wrapping interest me the most, though drilling would seem like a necessity too.
Oh and I shared on Facebook and already like your page:)
OMG OMG OMG!! I’m SO EXCITED!! These are ALL AMAZING!! I would say that the Inlayed and the Strung Techniques are going to be the Techniques I’d like to TRY the MOST!! I jus LOVE them all and THANKS SO MUCH for sharing and for the chance to win!! Have a FABULOUS WEEK!! =)
I shared this on FB and Twitter!! =)
I subscribe to your Blog and Follow you on FB and on Pinterest and You-Tube too!! =)
I am going to try out the carving out rocks with the dremel tonight. I have never thought of that and it is a great idea! This is a great giveaway and I would love to win it. Once again Nunn Design has a great forum.
Definitely want to try Andrea Williams’ inlay technique! Thanks for all the inspo!