Stone Guitar Picks!, Handmade by Denise Options

[nm jack]

Sure is pretty fire agate!!!

[thegeno]

WOW! I guess that pretty much says it all! You have really made some beautififul artwork guitar picks. I still have the one you made for me and when I play acoustically, thats the one I use or for a "special " sound on the electric. Awesome stuff guys!
geno

[CP]

Thank you all for the very nice compliments.

Awesome Geno, very cool to hear you favor the stone pick, we would all love to hear a sound shot sometime too.

For those of you reading but haven't seen these in the online store yet, you can check them all out on the Folk Art page of the Miners Market goodies. Stop in soon and check back often, new guitar picks are added frequently, ranging in thickness from under 1mm to 3mm and up.


CP

[Denise]

This is one cut from fire agate and not showing the "fire" much, but you can definately see how fire agate formation occurs in the banding blended with bubbles or boytroidal.....WOWSER! Clear, white, and the copper inclusion reds. It does show hints of "fire" near the edges in hand and the mix of clear with red areas has rainbow colored twinkles due to the crystal type form that tried to blend......maybe the blender wasn't on high enough though.

Thanks Dan!
The fire agate guitar picks are one of my favorites to make. I love the patterns in them!!
Im glad you all like them as well, and dont forget that sales in the Miners Market and memberships to the club help keep the ColoradoProspector.com website up and running for everyone.
Thanks for all your support!

[Zer0ne]

Black Brasilian Agate 1.5mm Combo Grip Pick

I was curious to know what gear is used to produce a stone guitar pick & how the creative process is conducted. Any educational link reference or reply is appreciated.

About kreider

Extreme tonal sonorities of the harpsichord with the addition of today's multitude of effects to generate a newer more extreme tonal library.

[jim]

Now......If you are talking about making picks as part of your lapidary hobby that is one thing. On the other hand if you are talking about mass produceing it's another. I make my picks on my 6'' flat lap. I first slice my stone on my 10'' stone saw to the thickness that I want. Then mark the slabs using a regular plastic pick for a template. I'll then go back to the saw and trim to get rid of excess but leaveing the mark well visable. I start by using my 120 grit lap to shape to the mark. i'll also start a bevel around both sides. I'll then go to 400 grit and finish shapeing and refineing the outer edge. Then to polish.
This is roughly the process that I go through to make a pick but, it is not the same with everyone. Dan and Denise use thier genie to do thier picks and I am sure thier procedure differs from mine alot. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we all do things differently. No one taught me to do picks.I just had the desire to give it a try.
As far as mass produceing picks go it's bound to be done by machines.I see no other way to get them exactly the same every time. No two picks that I make are the exact same. They are made individually and differ from one to the next. In my opinion that fact makes them better.Theres not a machine made that can put its heart into what it makes nor take pride in it's production. I do both!
By the way I have posted some of my picks in the forum if you want to take a look. Jim

[jim]

I condensed my explaination quite a bit. Feel free to post more questions if you like.

[CP]

Hello ZerOne and welcome to the ColoradoProspector website/formus. Make yourself right at home browsing the entire website.
Cool Brazilian agate pick in the pic too.
For our production we go through normal lapidary processes using mostly diamond carbide saws and cabbers (grinders) working each one by hand and continuosly culling out any fractured or flawed pieces so that only the highest quality finished picks are listed.
There are at least three visits to one of the 3 rock saws through the steps in our shop, begining with slicing or slabbing as it's called the rough material that we know is hard enough to not wear out on steel strings. Thickness on the picks is consistent all the way across ranging from very thick 3mm and over to our extremely rare ultra thins which are under 1mm.

Once slabbed and trimmed, each pick is then worked free hand on the cabbing machine which has five steps from rough to polish with grits ranging from 100 through 14,000. Both sides must be worked to match as well as all edges rounded over to create a smooth playing surface free of any catches or divots etc.
We've had requests for large quantities at lower prices but we just won't as the picks are not as good finished out in mass (tumbled) rather than hand worked. Like Jim said, no machine can put the care and attention in needed to achieve high quality.

Thanks for posting up the question ZerOne and sorry for the delayed response too. We are still in move mode but we are always happy to answer everyones questions. Believe me, there have been literally hundreds of q's about how we make the picks. That's one of the coolest things about the internet, everyone can interact and learn from each other about the best techniques. I know alot of folks gave us tips and advice when we were first starting out which we've always been happy to share with everyone around the CP website.
Hope I've answered your question and feel free to post more up if not.

CP

[Denise]

Hi Zer0ne and welcome to the forums. Nice Brazilian Agate with grips. I have considered adding grip spots to the picks I make before like that, but Im worried it would weaken the pick so I havent yet. Was also the reason Dan decided to make stone guitar pick wraps to be removed and played with instead of drilling holes in them. However, I have used natural grip spots in the stones to double as such, like the NM Baker Thunderegg with shadow bands. (also pictured on the previous page of this thread)




Enjoy the site.

[Denise]

Here is another example of how I use natural grip spots.
This is one from my collection that I carry around with me in my pocket....hehe
Very strong, and I made sure there was no pockets close to the tip of the pick for playing.
After all, it is a tool and has to function as such.



Plus.....You cant beat American mined and made products.

[Trilobite]

Ha, natural grips huh.... I see. Very sparkly natural grips.
you think it would keep your fingers aired out while you play?
And it's easy to tell why it's in your pocket collection.

[Zer0ne]

.....makes me wish i had gear to cut my own picks, cause your not going to find anything like this for sale on the market. nice cut!

If i were to blend the variety of:
Rockpick Legend Co.

with the innovative cut designs of:
picks and stones

and the creative thinking in:
colorado prospector

Add gold trim with inlaid gems and we would have one hell of a product..hello Tiffany & Co. of guitar picks



--Now if i can just get that meteor to fall to earth

[CP]

Hi ZerOne,

Thank you for the kind compliments. That material will yet produce a few more picks, hopefully some thins like that one was.

Not a problem at all mentioning other sites, thanks for the links. I've seen the picksandstones site and they do have some nice shapes in their options.

Maybe someday we can work on some together as a custom project with you. Let us know if you see something you might like to try that with.

We've just uploaded some new thin picks today in the Miners Market too.....Here's a couple added today.

This one cut from an Oregon ThunderEgg


And this one is Coprolite or dino dung


Stop by soon to see all the rest of the new added picks everyone. CP Miners Market

[Zer0ne]

Materials im interested in would be along the lines of: Red Horn Coral, Rutilated Quartz, Dinosuar Bone, Meteorite, but there are so many interesting rocks, it would be difficult to choose, it's a matter of aquiring an excellent specimen. Im into anything clever and creative like i see here at coloradoprospector.com, learning new pick patterns is nothing, your eye for bringing out unique qualities in the rocks is real skill.

You know what would be cool, if you could cut Meteorite in the shape of Star Trek and market it in time for the movie, probably make a few bucks, i asked Meteorite Guitar Picks.com if they could cut a pick like that for me, but i don't think they took me seriously. Also i used to run Nicos Intimate Notebook.com, it looks nothing like how i originally created it, my brother does it now, im sure it might still bring in clients. Maybe we can get your site linked in the menu.

I was thinking something that can still look good with only the edges & tip polished. You see the thing with Picks and Stones new grip line is that i was looking for a better grip, one that was not slippery when wet. He told me none of my ideas were possible which i could not understand, but he was more than just troublesome to work with and even screwed me out of a bloodstone pick i sent him to work with that he has up for sale now. He's more than just lucky i don't have uber elite hack0rz skillz or know one to mess his site up for that.

[Denise]

Thanks for the kind compliments. Great ideas ZerOne!
From what you have mentioned so far, all sounds possible to me.
I do all the work by hand, so polishing just the edges and the tip is possible.

Sorry you had problems with Picksandstones, thats a bummer! Some days life is just a live and learn.

I love the idea of shapes like the Star Trek symbol (as long as the pick remains playable)
I have thought of making a "Pick of destiny" replica out of green Jade, or a green agate.
Carved top with a perfect playing tip. Sounds like a fun challenge to me.


Were you looking for a deeper grip? Or?
We would be happy to try to help with custom lapidary services if possible. Always feel free to contact us.
We keep in close contact all the way through each process on special orders to assure customer satisfaction.
Including pictures during the steps.

Denise