Aru’s Stōnz
It started as a little girl, Aru picked up stones from the beach and filled all our pockets up with them… and the house, then a pile outside the kitchen window as Mum tried to empty the house on occasion. Then she had an idea…
Aru asked Chappy, would he come and show her the art of the stones? Chappy and Penny came and stayed and taught Aru how to tumble the stones she collected, drill and polish her stones and then how to put waxed linen string on them which are adjustable to length.
As a 9 year old, she is learning how to run a business, what money is needed to be put aside to pay for the equipment, tools and ongoing supplies she needs. Mum is helping her with marketing and show-casing her work to people who travel with us on the boat tour and who pass by her purpose built display area at Waiatoto river safari check in reception.
People are surprised how much work goes into a single stone pendant, first is needs to be tumbled, over a series of weeks, each week means changing to a finer grit in the tumbler to create a smoother surface. Then when the stone is finally ready for a hole to be drilled, this is done very carefully, in the right place so it will hang nicely and then a final polish before waxed linen string is tied and the stone is ready to find it’s owner.
Aru has a world globe in Mum’s office so every time someone buys a stone she can see where in the world it is going to. Some people have found their own stone and have asked Aru to put it through the process to make it into a pendant and then post it to them overseas.
All her stones are from this remote region and people love the reminder of what they experienced here in this unique corner of the world, or as a special gift for a person back home. If you want to learn more about how to find a perfect stone pendant from Aru’s collection, you can contact her here.
