I read somewhere that taking crystals and minerals from the earth in an immoral way affects the energy that the stone emits — and no one understands this better than local jeweler Elisa Cutler.
Born and raised in North Lake Tahoe, Cutler learned about the healing power of crystals because her father owned a gift shop in Incline Village, Nev., called Northern Lights that sold books, jewelry and stones. Her grandmother also owned a shop that focused on the metaphysical realm and her mother practices Reiki and performs angel readings.
“I’ll go out 10 times in a row and find nothing, then I’ll go out twice in a row and find a ton of them all sitting together.”
–Elisa Cutler
“People would come in and sell [my dad] crystals and I became interested in it,” she says.
Cutler started making beaded jewelry, wire wrapping and bone necklaces when she was age 10 and kept at it as a hobby.
When she got older, Cutler took a sauntering class in 2014 with the Reno Gem & Mineral Society. Cutler believes that some of the traditional techniques of making jewelry has been lost with the advent of 3-D printers, which allow one to make carbon copies of the same thing. She wanted to learn casting and sauntering the old-school way.
She also started going out to dig up minerals and crystals within the Reno-Tahoe area.
“I’ve found smoky quartz in Incline Village and clear quartz up on Crystal Peak,” Cutler says. Crystal Peak is a famed public rockhounding spot between Truckee and Verdi, Nev.
She’s also found amethyst and citrine on private land, with permission from the owner, north of Reno.
“The longer I’ve been digging, the more I’ve gotten,” she says. “I’ll go out 10 times in a row and find nothing, then I’ll go out twice in a row and find a ton of them all sitting together.”
Using diamond bit saws, polishers and drills, Cutler then turns the stones into cabochons and beads or will sometimes send them away to be faceted. She also uses her tools to cap the stones and trap them in a silver bezzle, transforming them into beautiful one-of-a-kind rings, necklaces and earrings.
Also in 2014, she launched an Etsy website to sell her hand-dug, handmade, crystal jewelry and started participating in craft shows. She sells her goods at Well Being Massage & Skincare in Kings Beach and Healing One in Reno. This was also around the time when Cutler worked for Truckee jeweler Lorien Powers for two years, who helped her improve her craft.
“Lorien is an amazing goldsmith and silversmith. She helped me home in my techniques when I worked for her. She had a very finished look, an industrial kind of style and a wealth of knowledge about how to set stones,” Cutler says. “My jewelry became more well-rounded. I started making things that made more sense to me. And no one else around here is really using locally sourced stones.”
A big part of mining her own gems comes from her upbringing, since both of her parents instilled in her the importance in the energy and healing power of crystals. Cutler believes that mining clean crystals comes with a clean conscience.
“Most crystals, minerals and diamonds are not ethically sourced. They come from China and Brazil and they’re using heavy machinery and chemicals that hurt the earth,” Cutler says. “It’s a crazy trade because these stones are worth so much because they’re in high demand.”
Anything that Cutler can’t find in the Sierra Nevada, she turns to a group that she belongs to that shares stones ethically mined in the United States such as sapphires from Montana, garnets from Idaho and turquoise from Nevada.
“My goal is to be able to support myself doing what I love and bring awareness to the community about the power of stones and ethically sourced jewelry,” she says. | elisacutlerhandmadejewelry.com
