Polished Stones Become A Work Of Art
There’s a beauty that can be buffed and polished from what lays in plain sight right under your nose. A local artist has been rock hounding for years, but recently turned his passion into beautiful artwork in the form of jewelry.
Cliff Parker, a 1980 NPHS graduate is the owner and designer of Twining Rose Lapidary & Handmade Jewelry. He makes handmade sterling silver jewelry with stones that I have cut and polished. To begin with, he was just cutting and polishing some stones that I had found, and everyone who saw them kept telling him he should start making jewelry with them. So last April, after attending the gem and mineral show outside of Fort Collins, he picked up some material to try his hand at jewelry making, stating out with some copper. That lasted about 2 weeks, then he ordered his first batch of silver to try and decided that that was working out quite well.
Cliff currently has some of jewelry on consignment at the Grand Encampment Museum in Encampment WY, and at Clark Peak Cabins, formerly the Drifter's Cookhouse at Gould. He also sets up a booth for the Ranch Rodeo and the Harvest Craft Festival later this summer/fall.
Cliff has learned the art of making jewelry for a little over a year now, and is self-taught from watching videos on You-Tube. He has 40 years’ experience welding, which he thinks helps. Sometimes things just do not go according to plan and he winds up melting the piece he needs to solder. His reaction, “Oh Well! Melt it down later and cast it into something else.”
Cliff’s favorite thing about his new-found art is seeing what he can do to turn a rough piece of stone with silver or copper into jewelry. To find Cliff and see more of his beautiful work, follow his Facebook page.
