The thing about objects that are meant to be picked up — and used as meditation stones or something similar — is that they invariably end up getting picked up!
When you're trying to sell something, the unfortunate side effect of that is that some items end up getting a little "shop worn" over time... which often can make them unsellable.
But they are rocks!?!
Indeed, they are. But that doesn't make them immune to butterfingered festival goers picking them up and accidentally dropping them — paint side down — on a rough concrete floor or asphalted parking lot. The result is usually that some small patch of the design ends up with tiny cracks in the finish coat and sometimes a little spot that looks like somebody took sandpaper to it.
Which, for all intents and purposes, is pretty much what happened.
Since I'm redoing all our listings and moving them to Etsy, it's also a good time for me to take a closer look at every single item we have and to make sure that everything looks good. And, indeed, it is definitely turning out that there are a few stones that need a little bit of a touch-up.
Touch-up work is not really difficult as such, but matching the paint colors exactly can be a bit of a challenge. For the most part these tiny repairs end up pretty much invisible, particularly considering that few people actually look at these rocks under a microscope... more likely they hold them in their hand at normal viewing distance.
As I emptied out one of our bins today, I found four different stones that were in need of a little bit of touch-up work, which just adds a few hours to the transfer process. The tiny patches get the paint touched up to remove any scuffs, and then the entire stone gets retreated with an extra few layers of protective coating.
It's definitely part of this gig that people who paint on canvas would not have to deal with! But it beats having to start over, and we really don't want to put everything under glass.
Alchemy Stones were always intended to be touchable which also means that the risk of wear is present.
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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2026.03.06 AS-TXT-384/354