Introduction

by rickcopeland on October 10, 2008

My name is Rick Copeland and am sole proprietor of Rocky Mountain Wonders.  I have been a silversmith since the 1970’s when I got caught up in the silver and turquoise craze.  I still have a passion for turquoise but have since incorporated many other stones in my work.  Around 2001 I got into lapidary, thinking that the only way I could get stones that I wanted at a price I could afford was to cut them myself.  Well then I got bit by the lapidary bug and now cut 100’s of pounds of stone each year looking for the one half of one percent that inspires me to make a piece of jewelry from.

With an ever increasing inventory of cabochons I decided to reach out to fellow jewelers and wire wrappers as customers for my stones and found my work was well received.  I also do custom cutting and have built a reputation among Turquoise collectors as an honest cutter that could be trusted with their collectible turquoise.  In exchange I have acquired rare Southwestern US turquoise from extinct Turquoise mines.

I am also a born tinkerer or inventor wannabe.  I fix and modify used lapidary equipment and hope to pass on some of my adventures on this blog along with silversmith and lapidary tips.

I now incorporate gold in some of my work but try to keep my work affordable to all so the majority of my work is in silver.  I again hope to pass on what I’ve learned in my years of working with silver.

I am hesitant to refer to myself as an artist.  My father was an artist.  He could sculpt, sketch, and paint.  He had a BA in Fine Arts.  In my opinion a true artist.  In my work the stone is the art, I am the humble artisan who frames this piece of art.  I strive to keep my designs simple in order to showcase what God, Mother Nature, or insert your preferred deity here, created.  My goal is to present the stone and metal in their best possible form and finish.

Although I’ve worked with silver for years the Orchid forum has added many tools to my skill set and am forever thankful to Hanuman, Ton, and Charles for all their hard work making Orchid the premier forum that it is.  I hope my blog will be a small contribution to Orchid.

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rickcopeland

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