Some years back, my wife suggested that we take some of the thinnest and the lightest stones we find when beach combing — mostly in smaller sizes — and drill holes in them so they could be sold as wearables, AKA jewelry.
A larger finished Alchemy Stone pendant.
These jewelry pieces have been relatively popular at shows, particularly with the people who look at a painted rock and say "yeah, but what do you DO with that?" Well, here's an answer!
Perhaps the most difficult thing about creating Alchemy Stone jewelry is drilling the hole in a type of rock that is actually extremely hard.
You'd think that drilling a hole in something that is maybe 1/8"-1/4" (3-6mm) thick would be relatively straightforward, but it's not.
The only thing that will actually make a dent in this particular kind of stone (or most of them anyway) is a high speed diamond dust coated drill bit. And even then, I'm lucky if I can drill 15-20 stones before the bit is too dull and has to be replaced.
Stones with just the beginnings of a hole from one side.
So what exactly makes it tricky?
For starters, the drilling has to take place under water, to prevent the drill from overheating and shattering. Drilling underwater is challenging because the vibration from the drill turning at 12,000 RPM creates a little ripply "wake" that makes it almost impossible to see what you're doing. And once you've made a little progress, the stone dust becomes suspended in the water, making it milky.
The holes have to be drilled extremely carefully because if you exert too much force you end up with either a shattered rock or a shattered drill bit. On any given day, I seldom attempt to drill more than 10 stones in a sitting.
The wooden board floats when needed, and can be submerged when needed. And it saves me from puncturing the metal tray!
I use an extremely pointed drill to start the holes, and then something more like a tiny teardrop shaped burr to enlarge them. You have to drill from both sides because if you just try to drill all the way through from one side, the burst-through is likely to shatter chips off the far side and create an ugly flossy hole.
The best approach so far is to drill the hole just deep enough that a very very tiny hole shows through on the opposite side of the stone, and then use that tiny hole as a pilot hole to use the burr drill to create the larger hole from the other side. Using this particular approach I've gotten to the point where only about 1-in-30 or 40 stones fail.
Daylight! Sorry about the poor focus.
Adding together all the bits and pieces, each stone takes maybe 8-10 minutes to drill, so I'm not exactly becoming a millionaire from doing this! After all, now I have to paint the designs.
However, I am pleased to be able to offer this additional variation on Alchemy Stones, and it brings in a customer that perhaps otherwise would not be interested, particularly when we go to shows.
Come to think of it, the jewelry also sells relatively well through the online shops, even with as little as we sell.
Today I managed to get 10 holes drilled, even though it was a completely unplanned session. I was actually in the garage using my drilling rig to polish some tiny chips out of a piece of glass. Then I realized I had a whole tray of flat stones already marked up to be drilled and decided to sit down and get them done.
Because why not?
Another finished pendant.
A preemptive strike is a good idea with the pendant stones, because we often get to taking inventory a few weeks before a show and by then there's usually not enough time to do the marking and drilling and painting and finishing and adding of a cord so they become wearable in time for the show.
Feeling quite good about actually being ahead of the curve for a change!
Thank You!
If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!
Because I am trying to make some semblance of income — a part time living, even — I now add this footer to all my posts, in the hope that someone, somewhere, might decide to take a further look at my work, and perhaps consider supporting independent art.
Thank you, in advance, for your consideration and support!
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2025.08.11 AS-TXT-340/310