"The Wired Artist" &   "Wired-Artist-Jewelry.com"

The "Wired Artist" is Chris McGuire of Winnemucca, Nevada. Born and raised in West Virginia. Chris entered the U.S. Navy in 1962 and spent 25 years flying as an Anti-Submarine Warfare Aircrewman in the P-5M Martin Marlin Seaplane, The P-2V Neptune and various versions of the P-3 Orion aircraft. He retired from military service in May of 1987.

After a life of military service a change of pace was needed so Chris went dredge mining on the Klamath River in Northern California. After several years of a rather laid back life style, occasionally punctuated by the excitement of discovering a fruitful Gold deposit, it was decided to move on to less rigorous endeavors.

In 1993 Chris moved to Winnemucca and went to work as a Training Specialist for Getchell Gold, Incorporated. In 1999 the Getchell Gold processing plant was shut down resulting in the lay off of several hundred employees. So it was time to pursue other interests.

Chris always had an interest in "pretty rocks" and mineral collecting. It was time to enjoy natures blessings and transform some of it into artwork that could be enjoyed by others. Hence the "Wired Artist" was born.

"Wired-Artist-Jewelry.com" and "Xtal Xplore" were formed and licensed in Nevada in 2000 to provide a way to share natures beauty with others. "Xtal Xplore" was formed to accomplish the mining and mineral acquisition needs of the "Wired-Artist-Jewelry.com" business.

The "Wired Artist" spends most of his time prospecting, mining, practicing lapidary skills, wire wrapping and maintaining this web site.

Rocks, minerals and Crystals are sought out and mined and specimens from around the world are traded. Once a pretty rock is obtained the transformation to "Wearable Art" is started. Stones are first cut on lapidary saws to the desired size. Only the growth end of natural Crystals are cut and polished, leaving the points natural. After cutting the stone is ground to shape, Diamond sanded through five grit sizes and polished to a beautiful luster.

A stone or Crystal is selected for the Art project. It is studied, measured and a plan adopted to best show off the natural material. Wire is selected of an appropriate gauge and material, Sterling Silver or Gold filled. The wire bundle is shaped, wrapped with its bindings, carefully fitted to the stone or Crystal and bound securely. The piece is then hand polished with jewelers rouge and scrubbed clean.