My Geode Journey: From Dig to Design

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I mentioned earlier that I did mineral hunting and jewelry making. I wanted to go into detail about what that is like.

South East Iowa, North East Missouri, and Western Illinois, has a shelf that is full of geodes. It's called the Keokuk shelf and throughout these areas are places you can dig.

I hopped on a train from Denver to Burlington, IA, stayed with my folks in Western Illinois 😑 and went digging for geodes in North East Missouri.

Fun fact: the Missouri border is literally Firework stands and discount cigarette outlets. Maybe a gas station if it's not converted into a cigarette outlet.

So, I spent a hot muggy June day digging for geodes in the Missouri sun...for fun. And I somehow talked my mom and sister to come dig for me too. 🤣 I managed to bring back to Colorado about 75 lbs. of geodes. On the train. In a Victoria Secret tote bag.

So I dug the fuckers up, took them back to Denver, and I bought a chisel and hand sledge and started cracking open geodes on my Park Hill porch.

Some are available at messageinthecrystal.storenvy.com as they are. And smaller shards have been made into jewelry.

I love mineral hunting! I have a few Colorado digs planned as well as more around the country. Let me know what minerals are native in your area and I may poke around! 😜

VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
catdad:
Cigarettes and fireworks...what could possibly go wrong?  :D  There are some huge quartz deposits in the foothills of the Cascades here in Oregon.  I remember one area that was basically a hillside of the stuff that was dynamited out to make a logging access road.  My dad worked in the logging industry either building roads, hauling logs, or hauling heavy equipment, so was familiar with a number of areas and their history.  He'd go to places to pan for gold and I'd go along and grab cool rocks.
louiseethel:
How ! You really do that ?? How awesome :O

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