Hello!   We are John & Patty & we would like to take this opportunity to share a little of our lives with you.  Blue Heron Gems had its humble beginnings on the North Shore of mighty Lake Superior on a cold week in November.  A popular activity on the North Shore is searching for Lake Superior Agates on the beaches.  We began our own search & soon discovered that we couldn't stop!  Rock hunting is truly addictive!  Three or four days later & heavily burdened with our finds, we visited the rock shop in Beaver Bay, MN to find out what to do with all of our finds.  Incidentally, if you haven't been to the Beaver Bay Agate Shop, it's worth the trip for great lapidary rough & a world class Laker museum.  Starter saws & arbors were available & we began our long journey into lapidary & jewelry.  As the years went by, we continually added to our lapidary equipment & of course, our rock collection.  We now refer to our home as "The Mine" which consists of 10 parts rock to one part living essentials.  We mean really, who needs furniture anyway?? =) 

Our latest adventure has brought us to the beautiful northwoods town of Iron Mountain, Michigan, up here in "da UP, eh" :)  We purchased a cute little house with a large basement which is where we cut all of our stones.  It has been nice leaving the big city behind.  The small town atmosphere works great for us & the close proximity to lots of wild & wonderful backwoods country makes our heads spin with the possibilities.   We are adding a few pictures to give you an idea of what we are talking about.  You can also visit our Michigan Travels pages, there is a link on our home page, for even more photos of the surrounding area.

Our interests lie in the unconventional & unusual & we try to offer the same in our gemstones.  All of our offerings are made one at a time in our shop & are truly one-of-a-kind items.  No mass production here!

We have lived & traveled extensively in the Southwest, Pacific Northwest & the Midwest & we feel those experiences have benefited us as we incorporate those memories into our work.  We have camped, hiked, canoed, kayaked, bicycled, skied, crawled, slithered, slid & hit bottom in all of those places & have always felt the deepest regard for all things in the natural world.

Our 11 year old grandson Dakota has now joined us. He plays an active role in finding rocks & new materials for us to cut.  He also has his own page here on the website, "Dakota's Prospecting Page", there is a link on our home page.  We have plenty of pictures of Dakota in action finding new rocks.

We are quality minded people who strive to offer the same in our work.  While Blue Heron Gems is run as a commercial enterprise, we must admit our biggest thrill is sharing our appreciation & wonder of rocks & minerals with others who have similar interests.

Please check out our Links page which includes links to some of our most respected suppliers, contacts, customers & friends, in particular The Gem Shop.  They are respected dealers & will deliver the highest quality & customer service always.

Dakota, our favorite Prospector :)

                      Groveland Mine                                                   Examining a find                                              Dakota

Meet Gizmo, our faithful cat!  He is a true joy & just a little silly

                I am SO cute!                                                        Nap Time                                                  Watching TV

Michigan

                         Sunrise at Keewaydin Lake                                         Pier's Gorge                                                      Craig Lake

The Shop

                                                 John in the shop                                                  The Mess :-)