09 Jan 10 Mountain Born Drink Coasters
We sort of take natural stone for granted. Its all over the place, under our feat, pebbles are scattered around driveways and lawns, and there are whole mountains full of the stuff towering over our heads.
But when you look at a piece of stone, what you are actually seeing is the beauty of nature, formed and evolved from stardust over the course of a billion years. Within the surface of a rock you can see the soul of the earth itself.
Drink coasters which are made from various types of natural stone are quite popular in homes right now. The stones used usually have a naturally absorbent property, allowing them to soak the moisture from a glass and store it within its pores, until the air can evaporate it away. This property has exploded the use of natural stone as a medium for the creation of beverage coasters, in a wide variety of styles.
However, even pieces of stone which are made into drink coasters are taken for granted. We use them as a place holder, a barrier between moisture and the possessions that we actually prize. But that stone isn't just a manufactured piece of human ingenuity, it is born of nature itself. It is a child of Gaia, a piece of your earthly home, in its truest form.
Most of the stone used in drink coasters is different from the pebbles that you find on the ground. Coaster stone is usually quarried, from mountains and caves which are rich in a particular type of stone. Popular materials include sandstone, slate, marble, travertine, and limestone. This material is born beneath the earth, where the various constituent chemicals are forced together. The nature and arrangement of those chemicals will determine the eventual appearance of the stone that emerges.
Each stone is refined as it forms, changing slowly over the course of millions of years. While life above ground is quick, and constant, the birth of a piece of stone is slow and languid, stretching on endlessly through time.
When the material is quarried, it is removed from the mountain in giant sheets, called slabs. The enormous slab sheets are like a record, showing a cross section of the mountains belly. This cross section displays all of the patterns and colors that emerged from the various chemicals and how they merged, and is like a giant portrait created by Mother Nature herself.
This enormous slab is then cut down, many times, into smaller and smaller pieces. Each time it is worked, tooled, and refined, giving it sharp straight edges, and a flat gauged surface. The final piece used in a drink coaster is normal just a few inches in diameter. This tiny piece is just one small section of the wider picture that existed in the slab, and yet it is a unique piece of that greater picture, and the patterns and colors found in its surface are still one of a kind, one harmony of the greater song.
The next time you kick a pebble, toss a stone, or take your stone coasters for granted, remember the rich history that the stone itself has been a part of, and appreciate that stone itself, is a child of the earth, and thus a piece of the worlds very soul. Don't underestimate stone.
About the Author:
This article was written by Joey Pebble on behalf of http://coasters.PebbleZ.com ' manufacturers, importers, and distributors of high quality natural stone beverage coasters, as well as a unique line of stone home décor accessories including wall clocks, stone chess sets, coffee tables, onyx lamps, and much more.
