How many people do something that is non productive so frequently or obsessively or compulsively that it is called a hobby?
Collecting things, for example, is surely one of the world’s most common hobbies. It is amazing how many people collect postage stamps, many of them commemorating special events, some from different periods of history, and some from foreign countries, even the same stamps posted from different parts of the same country.
However there is a wide and wonderful range of things collected by all sorts of people in all sorts of places.
- Antique these, antique those
- Vintage cars, vintage movie cameras, etc.
- Football cards
- Cartoon characters
- Model planes, tanks or cars
Precious or Semi-Precious Stones
One of the more esoteric but none the less interesting collections is of stones. Taking a precious stone off a shelf in a shop is one thing, but finding one in its natural state and revealing its beauty with a mini hammer and chisel is quite another.
Dozens of pieces of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock from various different formations in widely different locations and from different geological eras can all be amazingly different from each other, and some may display beautiful patterns caused by immense forces over unimaginably long times.
Indeed some types of rock are so beautiful that they are categorized as precious or semi-precious stones. There are far too many to list here, but most of them are very pretty and eye catching when polished. Some amateur collectors buy gems wholesale, which make them much cheaper, or go to mines and buy direct from miners. These people tend to build up large collections of rough, uncut stones which can make a fascinating display.
Many such collections include a range of crystals, or minerals, which are technically not rocks but often is even more eye catching. Of course precious stones are rather hard to come by because they have long been sought and collected by a large number of mercenaries thinking only of their commercial value.
Diamonds, for example, are precious stones, but not many casual collectors are likely to have many of them in that shoe box on the top shelf. However, with great care and diligence over a period of years, some people do manage to build up a fine collection of gemstones without spending a fortune.
Not all gemstones are expensive, and if you are an amateur geologist and have some idea where to look, then exploring and finding such things yourself must be exciting and entertaining as well as saving money.
Some really beautiful pieces of metamorphic rock are not classified as precious and therefore have little or no commercial value, even if they contain some beautiful crystals, but they could potentially be made into a remarkably pretty pendant, for example. In fact that is one way in which some casual collectors have ultimately made their hobbies commercially viable.
Even if they don’t particularly like jewellery they enjoy being creative and making the most of their beloved collection of stones. And no doubt the income does not go amiss.
From Hobby to Business Sideline
If you have an artistic bent, a talent for design or a knack for shaping things, and if you happen to be one of those collectors of rocks and crystals, just think about it. If you can make a deal with a local retail outlet, you could perhaps make a profit from your passion; make some money out of doing what you enjoy in your free time.
If you invest in a faceting machine that could take up many hours of your free time and the results could be extremely satisfying. Professional diamond cutters work very slowly and carefully, examining and planning before actually cutting.
If this sort of thing is your hobby then you are unlikely to be making and selling diamond engagement rings in the UK but you could develop a very lucrative business sideline by doing what you really enjoy. Now that is the sort of hobby that really makes sense in today’s economic climate.
This article was written by Misty Angel for Serendipity Diamonds. Misty is a wife and a mother. She is a keen blogger, combining the two by writing about family hobbies.
