ASG - Rick Olmstead

What person, as a child, has not collected colorful stones from a beach or roadway somewhere and wondered how they came to be and what could be done with them? This is how the spark of curiosity, and a lifelong fascination with gems began for gem and jewelry artist Rick Olmstead. That fascination influenced him to join a rock-hound club in Boulder, Colorado, where over a period of 20 years, he collected crystals, enrolled in jewelry making classes and refined his art to a gallery quality level. A longtime lapidary and metalsmith, he custom cuts all but a few of his own stones, and does all of his own silver-smithing and gold-smithing. He creates gemstone carvings, Intarsia and traditional jewelry, but has a special affinity for the precision requirements of the Intarsia art form, This is an art where tiny slices of colorful gemstone are cut and assembled into complex geometric patterns and then polished as a single stone. These stones are then mounted into wearable, jewelry sized gem art. He has won numerous competitive awards for his work in Colorado. In 1998, his work with Intarsia was the subject of a feature article in the Lapidary Journal, a notable national gem and jewelry arts magazine.


Rhodenite in Sterling Silver	Fossil Turetella Agate ring in Sterling Silver	Youngite in Sterling Silver	Apache Chrysocolla in Sterling Silver	Rhodocrosite in Sterling Silver