Turning rocks into works of art
The highly polished, green-hued stone sitting on Lyn Ratahi’s kitchen table is literally the one she tripped over that gave her the idea to turns rocks into treasures.
She calls it the ‘‘touchstone’’ and she found it completely by accident on the north Taranaki farm of her best friend.
As she walked along, cradling a washing basket, she tripped over the rock, a part of which was peeking out of the earth.
She dug it up and polished it, and now it takes pride of place in her home. It is also the origin story for her latest hobby, turned fledgling business.
The 74-year-old scours Waitara beach looking for rocks which she transforms into taonga, in the form of pendants and earrings.
Ratahi sells her creations through the Taranaki Lapidary & Mineral Club, of which she is a member, or at the Inglewood car boot sale on Sundays.
‘‘I choose a stone from what I see on the outside.’’
Colour is something which captures her eye, but one of the things she tried to avoid was changing the shape too much.
‘‘Once you start polishing a stone, the more beauty is revealed to you.’’
Character and colour are two big things in Ratahi’s life.
Her garden, peppered with pot plants of different hues is one clue, while her effervescent personality and love of all things purple is another.
‘‘This is me – colour.’’ While making jewellery is a new venture, beginning last year, Ratahi has always used her hands to make things.
As she raised her four children, she sewed and knitted their clothes, as well as her own. Through the years she has taken woodwork classes and done a range of other art and crafts.
The creative spirit is something which has blossomed within her whānau too.
Her eldest son is a master carver, while the others draw and paint as hobbies.
Ratahi explained how she had a knack of being able to look at how something was made, and be able to recreate it from memory, rather than needing written instructions.
It’s the same approach she uses for her beach treasures.
‘‘You get a stone, cut it open, look at it and say ‘wow, I can make something out of you’,’’ she said.
‘‘It is good therapy as well.’’ Ratahi said making taonga which she had given to whānau and friends as gifts, and has now started to sell, was satisfying.
As a wahine Māori, ‘‘we give a lot and put a lot into what we love,’’ Ratahi said.
‘‘Your aroha goes into the pieces that you give away.’’