Making Art From Stones | Kevin Kaye, The Michigan Stone ArtistMaking Art From Stones | Kevin Kaye, The Michigan Stone Artist One Michigan artist’s stone collection transformed itself into his medium  Kevin Kaye divides the world up into two different kinds of folks: There are those who seek out rocks, pick them up, cart them home and add them to their growing collections. And then there are those people who don't collect rocks—they don't see them underfoot; they pay them no mind. Kevin is staunchly in the first camp.
But it wasn't until a fateful stroll along Michigan's Lake Superior that Kevin turned his rock-hunting pastime into a full-fledged career. "My wife and I were walking on the beach one day and I picked up a particular rock and thought, 'I could make a candle holder or a vase out of this.'" Once inspiration struck, Kevin was spending hours figuring out how to craft stone-based decor, but it didn't come naturally at first. "My first lamps looked like a stack of stone pancakes," Kevin chuckles. But he soon changed his technique, letting the unique shapes of the rocks determine the design. "I figured out a way to carve each one so they nestle into each other," Kevin explains. And the most impressive part? Kevin constructs his pieces without one drop of glue—just a solid-brass rod, which is used as a bolt, keeps the whole thing together. "If it's not lined up exactly, the whole thing will lean," Kevin says. "But if I do it right, it'll stand straight up and down. It’s a pretty time-consuming process." After a coat of matte sealant made specifically for stone, he finishes each piece with the finest hardware, electrical parts and lampshades. If there's any drawback to his work, it's his heavy medium. Kevin continues to stalk the shores of Lake Superior for suitable rocks, which he hauls home in the bed of his truck. There, in his stone yard (AKA, his back yard), Kevin sorts through the stones by hue and size. "That's my palette out there," Kevin says, "so I can pick out just the right colors and shapes." He normally chooses one rock as his inspiration for a piece, and then chooses other stones to complement his initial selection. "If the rocks cooperate, it can take me a just a few days to complete a lamp," says Kevin. He estimates that he makes about 100 or so lamps a year. Cooperative rocks or not, Kevin's glad to have found his calling. Before he was a full-time artisan, Kevin spent his days working in a warehouse and as a truck driver. Yet he was always drawn to rock, building dry-stacked stone walls for friends in his spare time. And since he's been crafting his rock lamps, Kevin admits, "This is a lot more fun." Kevin's pieces are normally about 16 to 18 inches for a table lamp and 36 inches for a floor lamp. Prices typically range from $175 to $650. Visit Kevin's web site, Rockin' K Stoneworks, at rockink.com. More: Timber Home Decor Ideas
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