SALE on all Earrings, Charms and Pins in stock!

All of our Earrings, Charms and Pins in stock are marked at 15 % off…..

Sale starts March 1^st and ends May 1^st.

Sale does not includes items which you special order.

Introduction to our new website

Our new website includes many additional features:

Now you can navigate anywhere in the website from any page. By using the drop-down lists at the top of each page and the side-bar lists, you may go directly to any animal category, the shopping cart, the newsletter or the studio tour.

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The News and Thoughts section will answer your questions about shipping and payment options, product information of all sorts, Frequently Asked Questions, polishing your Brooke Stone jewelry, the meaning of the term “totem”, and much more. The drop-down list at the top of the page allows you to navigate directly to your topic of interest.

Visit the Animal Stories section!  You will find animal stories on individual pages. CLICK on a title to be taken directly to your favorite story!

Some of the best animal stories come in the form of old songs, many of them children’s songs. I grew up in a family that sang story songs from morning ‘til night, so I have included some of these old folksongs from my childhood…maybe your children or grandchildren will enjoy them too! Wherever possible, I have included links to internet sites where you can hear the songs being sung.

  Carving Lions

I use the winter months when business is slow to carve new animal images. This year people have been asking for Lions and Tigers...also sea turtles, squirrels and weasels!

A commonly asked question is “How long does it take you to carve a new animal?”

Well, it depends on the animal. I find I have to establish some kind of “connection” to the animal before I start carving. Since I do not live in Lion habitat, I have to study their ecosystem by means of books and the internet. I try to familiarize myself with their habits, their mythology and their interactions with humans, as well as their physiology.

The carving process itself takes 2 or 3 days for each animal. I carve in dark brown microcrystalline wax using handmade, rather primitive tools (a nut pick, an umbrella spoke, etc.) and work over a homemade alcohol lamp. After I am satisfied with an original carving, Jim casts it into bronze, then I begin refining the original. I make a series of rubber molds, each one shrinking the original by 10%, until I am satisfied with the image. The final rubber mold will then be used for production. For a detailed tutorial on lost-wax casting see our Studio Tour.

Look for Lions, Tigers, Cats and other critters later on this spring!

Early Signs of Spring!

An eternal optimist, I planted my peas yesterday. I once read in an old Farmer’s Almanac that George Washington used to plant his peas in February… He would pound a dowel into the frozen earth and drop a pea into each hole! I suppose this makes pea-planting a patriotic act….

Hazel catkins, Corylus cornuta

Twisted Stalk unfurling, Streptopus streptopoides

Pussywillows in bloom, Salix lucida