(Adrian St.Onge/CHAT News)

By Adrian St.Onge

‘It’s like looking into the cosmos’: Lapidary enthusiast sharing hobby with the community

Mar 18, 2024 | 1:26 PM

Joel Wardle started off collecting and polishing common river rocks and now he hopes to share the hobby with the community and buff his way to new heights.

Wardle’s day job includes pool installation and managing a moving company in Redcliff, but he spends his free time polishing stones and gems.

His hobby has led him to working on fossils, dinosaur bones and various gemstones and quartz.

Wardle said the gemstones represent something larger than just a rock, especially opals.

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“You can mix space and that rock, it’s like a little fractal I guess, it’s an unending thing,” Wardle said.

“When you start looking into it, you can just be lost,” he said.

“You’re taking the thing from the Earth but when you look into it, you’re looking into a cosmos or a cosmic cloud kind of thing sometimes. When they’re polished just right, every now and again, you get that maig picture of the world beyond.”

Wardle is encouraging newcomers to reach out to himself or the Medicine Hat Rock and Lapidary Club on social media.

The Medicine Hat Rock and Lapidary Club provides tools, training and runs workshops between September and June.