Petoskey Stone Bolo Tie
This Petoskey stone was found by my good friend and avid rock hunter, conveniently named Joe Petroskey. Joe dives underwater off the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior shorelines in early spring to collect the higher quality stones that most people don’t have the resources to pick through. He then spends hours sanding, “cabbing” and polishing the rocks he’s collected; a skill he’s perfected over many years.
Joe reserves his best rocks for me to turn into jewelry and I was very excited to receive this one. I started by selecting an appropriate sized sheet of silver to use as a backer. I then cut an appropriate amount of bezel wire to length and the ends were soldered together to create a continuous loop. This loop then had to be fitted to the exact size and shape of the rock to ensure it would be tight after soldering to the backer.
The bezel and backer were then held in place with some thin stainless steel binding wire and the two pieces were soldered together. After this the excess backer material was trimmed and the edges filed until the solder joint became seamless. I now needed to make the spring clip for the back of the stone. To do this I started by cutting an appropriate length of silver and using a special pair of jewelers pliers, bent the ends into small loops.
I then bent each end over towards the middle to form the loops that the cord would slide through. The spring clip was then soldered to the back of the silver “cup” and the whole thing was polished. I trimmed the chord to the appropriate length for the customer and attached the silver tie tips by crimping the ends onto the wire. The stone was then set into the “cup” and the edges of the bezel folded over to secure the stone.
This style of mechanical fastening is the only proper way to make jewelry. You will never find glue or any other kind of adhesive in the jewelry I create because it simply will not be durable and stand the test of time. To finish this off I apply a stencil to my jewelry box and airbrush the logo on. I slip a thankyou card and a silver wipe inside and it’s off to the customer!
