Showtime Again: Healing Hearts Psychic Fair, Bremerton, Washington

This past weekend, Alchemy Stones went "on the road" again.

The Alchemy Stones table at the fair

This time, our travels took us 60 miles down the road to Bremerton, Washington, for the annual Healing Hearts Psychic fair on November 10th.

We have previously participated in this event as a vendor, and it has a very nice "spiritually oriented" vendor area with maybe 25-30 booths.

Elsewhere, a variety of psychics, medical intuitives, card readers and other members of the healing professions offered readings for visitors.

The event is part of the annual fundraising drive for the Chalice Heart organization.

It was nice to see some familiar faces introduce Alchemy Stones in a public setting outside our local area.

This was also the first time the new "Amplification Stones" were on display and for sale to the public... and they seemed to be quite well received.

Typically, we do quite well at "spiritual" events, because Alchemy Stones are more "spiritual art" than anything. We have never been very successful attending arts and crafts shows, although we are often asked.

For reasons unknown, this particular event drew a smaller crowd than usual — even according to the organizers — and whereas we managed to break even for the day, we didn't do as well as we had hoped to.

Yes, please DO touch the rocks!

That said, we hope to be back for the 2019 version of the event. It is a well established show that draws a largely Pagan audience, which also happens to be one of our strongest fan bases.

In the meantime, thanks for everyone who did show up and visited the Alchemy Stones booth!

Alchemy Stone Designs: Amplification Stones

The idea of "Amplification Stones" came to me during this fall. In a way, it was an extension of previous meditations during which I had focused on a very specific issue (or illness) for one of our clients.

A very large and intricate Amplification Stone

What if we could just amplify any intent? What if we could take it beyond just saying "F*ck cancer!" or "F*uck arthritis?"

In the process of exploring this idea, I came up with what is by far the most "intense" design style I have attempted, to date.

As the name suggests, the intention behind these stones is to amplify energy: focus, during meditation; intent, during goal setting; clarity, during prayer; memory, during studies and so forth. In the process of "field testing" these with friends, we discovered that looking intently at the pattern for several minutes also seemed to trigger memories of past lives in some people. No promises there, though!

Amplification stones are particularly powerful when used in conjunction with other Alchemy Stones, particularly Protection sets, Chakra sets and Altar Sets, but they can certainly also be used by themselves.

A selection of Amplification Stones, October 2018

They can typically be recognized by their "code;" an intricate compass-node color dot pattern at the center of the design — quite different from the design style of any other Alchemy Stone.

I am very excited about these stones! Several Energy Healers and Light Workers we "tested" them with gave extremely positive feedback... and the Amplification Stones really represent the next big "jump" in the history of Alchemy Stones.

These designs will make their public debut when we attend the Healing Hearts Psychic Fair on November 10th, at the Masonic Hall in Bremerton, Washington.

Hope to see you there!

To buy online, Amplification Stones also have their own special page in our eBay shop, for those who can't visit to see them in person!

Alchemy Stone Designs: Protection Stones

Alchemy Stone "Protection Sets" were originally created as an indirect outgrowth of part of Sarah's practice of doing psychic house cleansings for her clients, and for local real estate agents wanting to make sure that their property listings were "clean" of negative spiritual energy.

The First Protection set from 2014, before receiving its finish coat

The first set was created in 2014 to create a protected space around weekly Paranormal workshops Sarah was hosting at the time; it has been protecting our "Sacred Space" room in our house since 2015.

We all want to feel safe and protected — whether from the physical elements, or from forms of energetic or spiritual intrusion.

Protection Sets are matched sets of FOUR stones (one representing each compass direction) designed to protect your space and enhance your own intention setting for keeping your surroundings energetically clean and positive.

Creating a set begins with simply finding four energetically matching stones on one of our local beaches — which can take quite some time! I never start painting till I have a matched set of plain stones.

The stones are then cleansed and the painting begins. The four stones will have similar design elements indicating that they are clearly "a set," but they are not identical across each color — some variation will always occur.

Protection sets can be used to simply grid a room or a work space, or they can be used to protect your entire house or property. We have even sold a set that was used to protect an entire multiple-practitioner massage and yoga studio.

A smaller Protection Set from 2018

Having a compass (or GPS device) handy when you "set" the stones is important.

The North is represented by the blue stone; East is represented by the yellow stone; South is represented by the green stone and West is represented by the red stone.

Seems people need a lot of protection! You can usually find them in the eBay shop (← link), but they are often sold out, alas.

Please note: The sets shown in this post are examples only, and have long since found their homes! Items in the shop are going to be different. In the future, I hope to develop a fixed schedule for when new sets become available; hopefully every 4 months or so.

Alchemy Stone Designs: Goddess Stones

"Goddess Stones" are generally created around a soft oblong shaped stone that receives a mandala design only at one end (or sometimes the center) of the stone, leaving the remainder natural.

A "Goddess Stone" with a center design

This style of design was originally inspired by an idea from Sarah, who suggested I create a series of stones where only part of the stone receives the actual design.

These stones are basically a tribute to the Divine Feminine, and come in a variety of sizes... depending on what we are able to find on the beach!

When available, they have their own category space in the Alchemy Stones eBay shop.

The Intent Behind Alchemy Stones and the Red Dragonfly

As we announced a few months back, Alchemy Stones are now available at the Red Dragonfly Gallery, here in Port Townsend, Washington.

We — that is, Sarah and Peter — are also the proprietors of the Red Dragonfly.

The Alchemy Stones display at Red Dragonfly

Whereas the Red Dragonfly offers alternative art created by over 40 local and regional artists, a major part of our intent in having the gallery was to have a "street level" venue through which to share Alchemy Stones with the world.

Of course, we have long gone to crafts shows, street fairs and festivals, but there is a distinct difference between having a temporary booth, and having a permanent retail space.

So far, the "experiment" has been going quite well! What we have learned from being in a "retail setting" is that we are seeing a completely different customer than we get at more "targeted" events.

Port Townsend is also very much a "tourist venue" which means we have been seeing people from much further away than we normally have had access to. This past summer, we have sold stones to visitors from as far away as Finland, New Zealand, the Ukraine and Argentina! And that is definitely not something we have experienced before.

As an artist, it has been a very rewarding and cool experience to get a lot of positive feedback about my work, from such a wide variety of people. Of course, reactions run the range from those who are "instant fans," to those who simply don't understand what I am doing, nor why anyone in their right mind would pay good money for a painted rock. But that's pretty much to be expected.

On the balance, the experience has been very positive, and hopefully things will continue to go well!

Alchemy Stone Designs: Contrast Stones

I originally got the idea for what I now call "Contrast Stones" from the truism that light can't exist without darkness to give it a frame of reference, and from the psychological and spiritual precept that even the the most "shiny" people we meet have their "shadow" sides.

Medium sized stone with contrasting inset

How does this translate into an Alchemy Stone design?

Contrast Stones can be recognized because they mostly look like other designs, except for the fact that there's a small contrasting "surprise" somewhere in the design... done in colors that stand in sharp contrast to the rest of what's going on.

In part, these designs are also inspired by the Japanese aesthetic concept of Wabi-Sabi, which can be loosely described as "beauty in imperfection."

A little bit of the inspiration also comes from a period in my 20's when I got quite interested in the beautiful and colorful geometric patterns of Amish quilts. One of the attributes of these was that these otherwise amazing designs often had a "deliberate mistake" sewn into the pattern as a reminder that seeking perfection is prideful, and scorned upon.

Alchemy Stone Designs: Faerie Stones

Our "Faerie Stones" are the tiniest of all Alchemy Stones, some measuring less than 1/2" across. Being so tiny, they are also the most difficult to create, as there is almost nothing to hold on to.

They originally came about because Sarah wanted to have her marvelous polymer clay Faerie sculptures include a few Faeries holding a small Alchemy Stone... but these stones had to be "in proportion" to a figure standing maybe 5-6" tall.

Faerie Stones shown with a dime for scale reference

The first "Faerie Stone" was purely an experiment (and was not very attractive!), but eventually I made a few nicer quality stones. In time, we took some of them to an arts and crafts fair and they were among the most popular things we had-- especially with miniature collectors. A surprising number have ended up being part of "scale" dollhouse furnishings. A few have also been incorporated into jewelry.

The photo at left shows a selection of Faerie Stones with a a US dime for size comparison.

The supply of Faerie Stones is generally quite limited because we find very few tiny stones smooth enough to accept a miniature design. You might wonder why that is... well, with a rougher ("sandpapery") surface it's impossible to make a sharp and crisp line, so the stone surface must be exceptionally smooth in order for such a tiny design to not look "muddy."

We offer Faerie Stones for just $4 each, which we feel is pretty reasonable for an entirely handmade piece of art. At this time, they are sold individually only through the Red Dragonfly Gallery in Port Townsend, WA... or (when available) in sets of SIX for $20, through our Etsy store.

And now for something completely different: Symbol Stones!

For followers of these pages, you have probably come to see that "Alchemy Stones" are primarily works of exceptional accuracy and detail.

I have always been fascinated by nature and detailed patterns-- when I was a kid, the Spirograph was my favorite toy. When my father gave me my first "serious" camera-- for my 16th birthday-- my interest was not in taking pictures of parties or sweeping vistas... but in trying to photograph the tiny patterns found in the seed settings of a sunflower, or in old fossils in rocks.

But sometimes, all this detail and precision does get to be a little too much!

So what happens when a rock painter basically "flips out" and wants to do something more free form?

Symbol Stones!

Symbol stones are basically free-form pictographs (perhaps inspired a bit by cave drawings?) done in silver, surrounded by "shapes" in a specific color. Cave drawings? Remnants of an alien language stored somewhere in my DNA? Who knows...

I am not sure what-- if anything-- they "mean," but they are unusual and colorful... and because I can make them fairly quickly, they are also fairly inexpensive, at just $3.00 each or $25 for 10.

I haven't previously written about them because they have not been available through our web shops-- only "in person" when we went to fairs and festivals-- but now that we have the Red Dragonfly Gallery here in Port Townsend, they can be found as a permanent part of the Alchemy Stones selection there. In the future, I hope to add them to our web shops, as well!

Alchemy Stones at the Red Dragonfly in Port Townsend!

I am happy to announce that Alchemy Stones are now available through The Red Dragonfly gallery here in Port Townsend!

For those who'd like to see the stones "in person," the gallery serves as a permanent showroom for Alchemy Stones and generally you'll be be able to see pretty much all the different styles I make, including petites, Faerie Stones, Chakra Stones and Chakra Stone sets and much much more. Whereas I always do my best to photograph the stones well for the online Alchemy Stone shops (eBay, Etsy and Amazon Handmade), there's no doubt that experiencing Alchemy Stones in person offers a dimension you just can't get online.

Having a place to "show off" the stones also means more new ideas will be turned into reality. A recent addition to the Alchemy Stones collection is the "Altar Sets," (example pictured at left) created for those who like to take a representative sacred space with them, whenever they travel. These sets of four stones represent not only the four directions-- North, East, South and West-- but also the four elements-- Air, Water, Fire and Earth. Each set comes with a gift bag and descriptive booklet-- Sarah is working on creating "Treasure Bags" for some sets, as well.

Sarah and I are continuing to develop plans for the Universal Piece Project for Peace, which will be the central part of Alchemy Stones' charity and goodwill outreach program during the years ahead. More details here as they become available.

If you'd like to visit us at The Red Dragonfly gallery, it is located here in Port Townsend, Washington, in the historic "Undertown" shops, in the center of downtown. Just look for the green pergola and head down the stairs!

Fey Folk & Fairy Fairs!

The Spring Fairy Festival is an annual event hosted in WA State by Crescent Moon Gifts, and each year, it becomes bigger, brighter and more fun.

We're going to attend with our wonderful "Purple Pop Up" and we have the wings to go along with it too! Plan on attending, rain or shine, Saturday May 21! We'll be there all day with some new Chakra Sets, fabulous coloring books, stone fairies and altar stone sets! Many of these mystical wonders will be snuggled into Sarah's "treasure bags" made from recycled materials and goods found at thrift stores and garage sales.

If you're VERY FEY (like us) you're going to want to camp out for a few days with a bunch of glitter flinging bandits in Twisp, WA later this June at the Fairy & Human Relations Congress. Roll up your sleeping bags, bring a drum (or two) and look for the "Purple Pop Up" again!