A panicky journey into stone jewelry.

For a wedding anniversary I came up with the idea of giving my wife (Kim) stone pendants. One for each year we were married. We had always liked stone jewelry and would periodically purchase a pendant, usually as a gift, but sometimes for her to wear. I had no idea how to make those pendants myself, but I thought I could figure out how to drill them, create a hole and install a fitting so they would hang on a necklace. Decision made, I went online and purchased what are called cabochons. Cabochons are essentially polished shaped stones that are not drilled or installed into a setting. They were perfect for my project.

I went ahead and purchased a model makers drill press, bought some diamond boring bits (you don’t really drill holes you essentially grind/bore them out) and started trying to create holes in small stones. I started with cheap cabochons since I didn’t want to ruin expensive ones.

I had no idea what I had gotten into.

First of all, (I forgot to mention) it was our 45th anniversary. Not only did I have 45 of these to drill, I quickly discovered to produce a well made hole (there is such a thing) I wasn’t going to just sit down one afternoon and complete them. Additionally, it wasn’t really 45. It was more like 60 or 70 or so. I actually lost count since my practice cabochons weren’t good enough to gift and I managed to break (I’ll never admit how many) some of the good ones intended as gifts. Every time I broke a good one, I was in a panic ordering another to replace it. This of course got into express shipping costs not to mention the cost of another cabochon. I also discovered there is a wider variation of properties in natural stone than I expected. This meant drilling/boring one type might take a heck of a lot longer than another. Additionally, I had to hide all this activity from Kim, including all of the packages being shipped to me containing the cabochons. It became a daily thing, get Kim out of the house, scurry into the basement, uncover every thing I had hidden and then drill baby drill or rather bore baby bore.

As our anniversary approached, I was in a true nutty panic trying to get the work done. Every time Kim would leave the house I would race downstairs and start drilling holes like some crazed miner drilling for gold. My mother-in-law (bless her) served as the go between on incoming packages intercepting them before Kim would get them. Our kids and their spouses coordinated with me getting Kim out of the house for some extended periods of time. I also had to get a case made for the pendants (which I hired out) as I couldn’t just dump 45 stone pendants into a cardboard box for her. That case was shipped to my cousin’s house and they hid it there until I was ready for it. The conspiracy kept getting bigger and bigger.

Did it finally come together? Yes, yes it did. Additionally, Kim swears she had no idea something was up (I have my doubts because I’ve never been good at hiding anything). Finally, I got quite the education and exposure to stone jewelry.

So, what did I conclude after it was all said and done?

First, I was pleasantly surprised with the end result. Second, I was amazed at the beauty in many of the cabochons I had purchased and was intrigued with trying to make some myself. Third, and perhaps most consequential, I was surprised how much I missed doing it.

So, with retirement looming, already having gained the experience of creating the “good” holes, already having purchased some minor equipment and being fascinated by the whole business, it seemed like an ideal retirement hobby. So I fully embraced it as a hobby.

Then it became an outright obsession.