Stones and petrified wood with swirls of brilliant colors are being cut, ground and polished as they are transformed into fine pieces of jewelry and art by skillful hands.
Brazilian agate, Nevada wonder stone, malachite, obsidian, Mexican laced agate, African malachite, black onyx, jasper, paua shells, rhodonite, jade, gold stone and more are used by the Gems and Minerals Club at the Carson City Senior Citizens Center to make art.
What took the Earth millions of years to create will take Howard Pressley less than an hour to become the centerpiece of a belt buckle.
Organized about 12 years ago, there are eight to nine members who attend the Tuesday and Friday afternoon classes regularly. Membership is restricted to those 60 and older and a $1 donation is requested at each visit.
"We've been working our butts off these last couple of months getting ready for the Thrift Store's Santa's Village," said Ellen Pressley, club coordinator.
"We don't have a set amount of items we're making; we just want to get as much made as we can for them to sell."
The Gems and Minerals Club works year-round, learning about the materials they use and how to grind, cut and polish them.
The stone or petrified wood may start in a rough, oval shape about 6 by 12 inches, and up to 8 inches thick. Slabs are then cut from the rough piece, about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch thick, much like a butcher would slice meat.
"We never know what we're going to get as far as the pattern inside the rock until we cut it," said Bob Haselwander, the club teacher.
"The picture jasper, a local product, usually has a beautiful, painted picture landscape within it. It makes for beautiful pieces of art. It just depends on the cut of the rock."
Once the stone is given a rough cut, the piece is cut into a smaller slab of about 6 inches. A gem template is placed over various areas of the stone to enable to artist to find the best spot for cutting.
The area is scored with a copper tool, then the small slab is taken to the trim saw where the scored area is cut out. The artist whittles the area around the score to get it as close as possible to the desired shape.
"Then we go to the grinder and smooth it even closer to the shape we want," said Haselwander.
"From the grinder we move to the sander, sand all the scratches out of the stone to make it smooth and even all the way around. And the last machine we use is the polisher, which puts a nice shine on the piece.
"It's easier to use a drop stick at the polisher. A drop stick is a five- to six-inch long round wooden stick, to hold the stone for polishing. The stone is held onto the end with wax.
"Then the stone is placed in whatever 'finding,' the jewelry piece, you choose. You do want to check every now and then between the stone and your finder to be sure it's still going to fit properly."
Most of the machines used by the club were donated. The saws used to cut the stone have industrial diamonds on the surface, the grinders are made of a silicone carbide.
Much of the material used by the club is donated and some is purchased.
"Petrified wood is a nice piece, but it's hard to find the good stuff. You've got to dig deep for it. Usually the harder the wood, the better the polish."
If you go:
What: Santa's Village
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 12
Where: Carson City Senior Citizens Center, 911 Beverly Dr.
Why: Meals on Wheels fund-raiser
Free admission