This website is the culmination of years spent exploring my creativity and making connections in the gem & mineral business. Gems and minerals have been an interest to me all my life, it started when I was just a child. My parents had me immersed in this world at a young age… From digging Aquamarine above the treeline on Mt. Antero at 3 months old (my first ever rockhounding experience) to spending weeks at the Spectrum Sunstone mine in Oregon where my Dad worked for awhile, it was quite the way to grow up! I would say my first interest in rocks beyond just searching for pretties was when I got into Lapidary at age 10 or 11. My parents bought a Diamond Pacific Genie and taught me how to polish cabochons! That is something I still love to do, and was my first creative venture involving stones I’d collected myself. I still polish stones myself for use in my jewelry.
My interest in making Jewelry didn’t really start until High School, when I started wire wrapping as a hobby. Often the things I wrapped were stones I’d found and/or polished myself. I never made anything that I deemed worthy of even selling, but around this time I made several good friends who are very talented jewelers. I think seeing their accomplishments inspired me to follow this path I’m on today. It was some time during my senior year of High School I had the vision to make jewelry with all materials sourced here in our beautiful state. I just did not have the connections at that time to make this dream a reality. And it wouldn’t be until several years after High School I would even develop the skills required to make such jewelry. I have such a tight connection with this state because I am a 4th generation Colorado native.
After High School I drifted around, living with family who needed my help and searching for a way to turn my dreams into a career. I spend my summers in the mountains prospecting for gems and minerals. I have made many notable discoveries on these adventures, including the discovery of several pegmatites in the Pikes Peak Batholith that regularly produce world class mineral specimens. These mineral specimens are still an important part of my business, and some even make their way into my jewelry (Smoky Quartz, Amazonite, and Topaz). It was my mineral collecting adventures and social media networking that connected me with the individuals who have been key in achieving this crazy dream I’ve never forgotten. Several really close friends of mine taught me the basics of soldering and silversmithing. I combined these skills with my lapidary skills and started fabricating jewelry with stones I’d found and polished myself the last few years. Jewelry I was actually quite proud of! I have spent most of my time and income buying the tools and building a studio I needed to support this dream. From slab saws to faceting machines, files to torches. I have most every tool I need to make anything I can imagine out of the stones I collect.
The gemstones I use in my jewelry are all “ethically” sourced here in Colorado or elsewhere in the United States! Many are from my own mining claims including Amazonite, Smoky Quartz, and Topaz. All polished stones are cut and polished in house or by other artists here in Colorado. The jewelry is all fabricated in the Butterfield Gems and Minerals studio in Conifer, CO.