The North Country hasn’t been all rocky road. We’ve had plenty of good times too, thanks to the Milepost Alaska Travel Planner that helped us find neat destinations like Jade City, a lapidary geek’s dream.
Jade City, a Lapidary Geeks Dream Come True
If Jade City sounds familiar to you, it’s because the Discovery Channel has an entire TV show around it, called Jade Fever. Their crew was on-site when we arrived, filming for next season.
Lucky for us, the talented New Zealand artists Nick & Mady of Kawakawa Stone are Jade City’s 2018 artists in residence. This couple is a rare find, because there aren’t too many jade carvers in the world. It is an incredibly hard stone to work with and few people have the right skill set to make beautiful hand cut and carved jade pieces.
One look at their work and it’s amazing that this crafty couple has only been making jade jewelry and decor for five years!
This season they’re working on-site at Jade City and giving nosy customers like me great lapidary tips. My burning question for the day was: can a Dremel drill holes in jade? Nick was kind enough to answer and give me some pointers about drilling holes to make jade pendants and jewelry.
I wasn’t into shiny rocks until I started hammering on metal. Now I love rockhounding, but I have to be careful not to acquire too many. An overweight RV is not a good thing, especially on these roads.
My cool little jewelry workshop doesn’t have room for lapidary equipment, but when I heard about Jade City, I knew we had to check it out. Talk about a legitimate business expense!
Our overnight accommodations were absolutely free, so I had some extra cash to spend on cabachons for future bling in my Etsy shop. It was a win-win for everyone!
