If you enjoy seeing the beauty of color, streaks of pattern in semi precious stones, and the challenge of a good jigsaw puzzle, then most likely you will enjoy "Stone Art".  Stone Art is our version of inlay stone art or sometimes called, stone intarsia.  We have selected some pieces to display. Some of these rock pictures are translucent and have the appearance of stained glass windows, while others apear as mosaic art.  Feel free to examine them, and if you like our work let us know through either of our email addresses at: eldonconder@hotmail.com or Kristina.Conder@Providence.org. 

The first step to this extensive process is to select a picture with color, contrast, and without too much detail or blending of colors.  We have found that we can take a digital photo of a picture that we like and use Adobe Photoshop to create an image that we can work with and that satisfies these conditions.  After we have selected the picture that we want to immortalize through stone, we next transfer this image on to a paper poster board backing.  To do this we use a tracer projector.The second step is to fasten a small wooden border frame around the picture.  The purpose of the wooden boarder is to retain the stones and fiberglass backing.  The wooden sticks are only about 3/16 of an inch thick and ¼ of an inch wide.  We use double sided cellophane tape to hold the wooden boarder to the poster board.

Third, we now select the stones and begin slicing them with a rock slab saw.  In this step we try to guess the amount of stones needed and what they will look like within the picture.The fourth step is to inlay the stones.  Now the stone picture will be viewed from the reverse side, so take care to place the best side of the stone face down.  We cut most of the stones with a pair of dykes or pliers.  This gives us the sensation of assembling a jigsaw puzzle and if the piece does not quite fit, we can always cut off a corner and make it work.  We also use double sided cellophane tape to hold the stones on to the poster board.

After we have all the stones inlayed and fastened on to the poster board, the fifth step is to then lay fiberglass cloth over the stones and pour liquid resin onto the entire picture.  The wooden frame should hold the liquid plastic within the picture borders. For the sixth step, we let the liquid resin harden, and then remove the paper poster board from the stone artwork.  We use a portable wet stone polisher to remove the paper and polish the stone artwork.

Finally after the paper side of the picture has been cleaned up and somewhat polished it is ready to be sealed with an epoxy finish. After all of the work has been competed, it is now ready to be framed or put into a tabletop.