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Rummaging in his attic, he dug out a sack of pine cones that he had collected near Yellowstone Park. Sorting through the cones, he selected two that were matched for size, and from them he made the first pair of cone earrings, forerunner to the hundreds he now turns out. Not only was his daughter delighted with her birthday gift, but she eagerly displayed the unusual present to friends. Soon Hall was receiving urgent letters, requesting that he duplicate the first pair of earrings.

The making of pine cone jewelry was, in a way, the end of a quest for Hall. A retired hardware salesman, he had long sought a hobby that would fully satisfy his creative desires. During his years on the road he had carried an easel and oil paints with him and frequently stopped to paint points of scenic interest. For three seasons during the depression years he operated a curio shop at West Yellowstone, Montana, carving many of the souvenirs himself. For him, the possibilities to be explored in the jewelry line were a challenge to this ingenuity and skill.

Just as he could walk through a forest and spot a branch that "looked like a kingfisher," so now he can pick up a cone that, to the average person, looks like thousands of other cones and detect in its surface the suggestion of a flower or a bird.

FOR HIS work Hall uses the cones of the lodgepole pine and the western hemlock primarily. The lodgepole pine is widely distributed in the Rocky Mountain region, the Northwest, California, and western Canada. Although he has drawn his hemlock from the western hemlock common to the Northwest, the cones of eastern hemlock found in the Great Lakes region and the northern tier of states toward the eastern seaboard could be utilized.

In the lodgepole he selects the first-year female cones that are not fully matured, the scales having a compact, rounded or peaked appearance rather than the open flaring that follows the loss of the seeds. The cones range in size from ¾ inch to 1½ inches in length. In some of the lodgepole cones he finds the basal scales arranged in a rosette pattern, which enables him to carve or to scallop the surface in almost-perfect flower shapes. Many of the lodgepole cones are rather flat on one side and readily adapted to the contact earrings as well as the tie clasps or brooches. Rangers explain that the cones lie so close and parallel to the branch that the under-side cannot get sufficient air and sunshine to develop fully.

As proof of how avid a cone collector can become, Hall tells of this incident. Twenty years ago, in roaming through the forests near West Yellowstone, he spotted a certain lodgepole pine with unusually fine specimens of the flower-imprinted cone. After developing his jewelry interest, he returned to the grove recently and from a grove of more than 5,000 trees, Hall singled out the tree he remembered. Such a find is similar to the joy that a miner has in making a gold strike. Continually he is on the lookout for some new formation that has not heretofore been detected. As Hall says, "When you think of collecting half a bushel of pine cones and turning them into $1,000, well, that is adventure."

From the western hemlock he selects mature female cones in which the scales have fully opened to shed the seeds. Before maturity the scales are tightly compressed; afterward they have a layer effect much like that of an opening rosebud. One-half to ¾ inch in length, the hemlock cones lend themselves to delicate dangle or drop earrings and necklaces.

Although he is nearing seventy, Hall is not averse to climbing a tree to harvest his cones, if need be. Since the lodgepole cones have thorns up to ¼ inch long, he wears horsehide gloves to pull them from the branches or to gather them from the ground.

AS A first step in processing, Hall spreads three or four hundred cones on a table and sorts them for near-perfect matches. The pairing takes both time and patience. As the selections are made, Hall arranges them by twos in open-faced boxes across which he has tightly drawn sand screen or hardware cloth. After wedging from a dozen to a hundred pairs into the mesh squares of the screen, he is ready to begin dethorning and dressing the cones. For this process he employs a Casco Craft G-10 tool, which is designed for small bench work and weighs about six ounces. The tool fits neatly into the palm of his hand and handles as easily as a pencil.

Fitting a ¹/8-inch cone-shaped burring cutter into the chuck of the tool, he works into the crevices, smooths rough areas, and strives to bring out the natural beauty and variegated sheen of the cones. Before burring, the cones appear gray and dusty, and the scales bear thorns up to ¼ inch in length. As the cutting surface of the burr fills with pitch, the tool not only grinds the rough spots, but acts as a buffer as well.

To accent further the luster of the cones, Hall brushes them with a coarse steel brush. In this operation he searches for any upraised surfaces where the burr may have broken into the pitch. When such a break is made, he again applies the burr to smooth the surface, so that it will take a finish.

If a design is to be worked in the scales, Hall switches to a rounded cutter and carefully hollows out the scales to resemble the petals of a flower. Individuality of design comes into focus as he studies each cone before beginning to carve. Buyers who see only the finished product have no idea how long he may have spent in decisions alone. Hall states, "I like variety, so that the pieces do not look as if they were stamped by a machine."

While he is carving, he will round any peaked edges so that a smooth surface results. As he says, "I desire my jewelry to be comfortable to wear as well as beautiful."

AFTER CARVING, Hall uses a ¹/16-inch bit to center the base of the cone before drilling a hole in which to place an eye-pin. For actual drilling of the hole, he fits a ¹/16-inch or ¹/32-inch bit into the chuck of his quarter-inch electric drill. Care must be exercised lest he drill through to the apex of the cone. Next, he sharpens a toothpick and dips it in Elmer's Glu-All. After swabbing the inside of the hole with the cement, he lifts the eye-pin with his jeweler's pliers and coats it with cement, too. Holding the eye-pin with his pliers, he inserts the pin in the hole, rotating the cone as he does so in order to assure the cement's penetration of every crevice. Confidently he asserts, "That pin is in there so tight that it will come in two before breaking and could support up to ten pounds in weight." The eye-pin will serve two functions: (1) it will enable him to string the cones on wires so that they hang free of contact with other objects while the finish dries; (2) it will support the ear-wire of a dangle earring.

After the cement has dried overnight, Hall is ready to apply the first coat of Plax water-clear high gloss finish. For this precision work he uses small brushes varying from ¼ to ½ inch in size. In explaining his preference for handwork rather than spraying of the cones, Hall says, "So often in spraying cones, you will find that many spots were not completely covered; that certain areas appear lighter or that shading is too variable. With the hand brush I can get into the tiniest cracks and satisfactorily coat all surfaces. This is essential, for the finish serves to interlock the small layers of the scales and thus guard against breakage of even the finest specimens."

To dry the finish, he slips the protruding circle of the eye-pin through one end of a two-way hook, which he makes of wire; the other end of the hook he loops over a wire stretched above his workbench. In this way the cone does not brush into other objects and receives free circulation of air during the four-hour drying period.

If the cones are to be natural in tone, Hall applies finish until he is satisfied with the effect, ranging from five to eight coats. If he plans to use color to accent a flower carving or to change the natural coloring to the popular chartreuse, blue, black, yellow, red, etc., he applies the color in the third coat from the last. For color, he uses paint ground in oil, similar to that employed by artists in oil painting. In fact, much of his paint comes from the supplies that he accumulated while he was interested in painting scenic views. After adding the color, he goes over the cones with several coats of clear finish.

WHEN THE last covering of high gloss finish has dried, Hall is ready to attach the ear-wire, either screw-type or clip style, for the dangle earrings. Picking up a jump ring with his jeweler's pliers, he pulls the ring slightly apart and clasps the eye-pin. The jump ring is then joined to the projecting ring of the ear-wire and the juncture locked by squeezing with his pliers. The steps in making a necklace are the same up to the point of adding the ear-wire. For a necklace he clasps the jump ring through links of curb chains which he buys by the hundred feet.

In working with the hemlock cones, which are both too small and too fragile for insertion of an eye-pin, Hall cements a jump ring to the base of the cone to take the place of the eye-pin.

For making contact earrings he deviates from the above steps slightly. After dressing the cone, he slices it to achieve a flat surface against which to cement the ear-wire. To hold the cone steady while slicing, Hall devised a wooden block, embodying mold features, which he clamps in the jaws of a regular metal vise. (This precaution is necessary, for the metal vise might split the cone.) Above this he secures a larger block, the lower end having similar cone-shaped indentations. This latter block is grooved to permit the entrance of a hand saw. With the facing blocks held tight by an ordinary clamp, he can make a true cut.

Some of the earrings are brilliant with designs highlighted by cementing imported rhinestones into the scales to give random sparkle, a crown effect, or a jeweled flower. The rhinestones are purchased in lots of 1,000.

As proof of the almost indestructible workmanship of the cone jewelry, Hall tells this story of a pair that he refuses to sell, calling them Exhibit A. One evening, as he and Mrs. Hall were preparing to attend a dinner party, he dropped a pair of earrings into his shirt pocket, intending to show them to his hostess. On their return home, he threw the shirt into the laundry hamper. Usually Mrs. Hall checks his clothing, especially pockets, carefully before tossing them into the washing machine, but somehow she missed this shirt. Toward the end of the washing cycle, she heard a peculiar clicking noise. When she hung the shirt to dry, out tumbled the sparkling earrings, the gloss as high as ever, the stones and ear-wire firmly fixed. Many customers tell Hall that the durability of his jewelry is much greater than that of mass-produced factory items.

Hall comments rather ruefully, "If I have a failing in this work, it is wanting to make something twice as good as need be." Perhaps like the ancient Egyptians, he hopes to fashion handicraft that some archaeologist will dig up hundreds of years from now.

FOR HALL'S tie bars the treatment and decoration of the cones is essentially the same as for the contact earrings. However, to fix the sliced face of the cone to the portion of the clasp that holds the tie, he drills a hole into the cone into which he can fit an eighteen-gauge flat-headed wire nail, ¾-inch long. With his jeweler's cutting pliers he snips the nail to the desired length, swabs the hole with glue, and then wedges the nail in place, so that the head lies between the parallel strips of the clasp. To hide the nailhead to guarantee tightness, he covers the nailhead with the adjoining section of the clasp with glue, colored to match the underside of the cone.

Not averse to kidding the ladies about their jewelry styles, Hall makes "gag" earrings of the ponderosa pine cones that range in size from four to six inches in length. He hardly dared hope they would sell, but a West Yellowstone dealer promptly ordered a dozen, saying, "These are just what I've been hunting." Another customer remarked, "Just the thing for my wife. She's always complaining that she can't get earrings big enough."

Among other designs which he has developed is a rosebud earring, using the hemlock cone with a sunburst jewelry finding. In the center of the eight-petaled metal sunburst, he glues the base of the cone in an upright position. Then, working from the inner scales outward, as with the overlapping petals of the rose, he paints the scales in gradations from deep red to soft rose.

Using alder catkins, he makes a three-cluster effect in the same sunburst finding, the catkins joined at their bases and glued tightly to the finding.

For a striking dangle earring, Hall slices the upper section of a flower-type cone and glues this portion to a sunburst finding. Then he accents the flower with rhinestones and in each tip of the sunburst, he glues a matching rhinestone.

NOT LONG ago the Halls entertained a visitor from Astoria, Oregon. During the evening the lady evinced a pronounced liking for the hemlock earring and necklace sets. Before leaving, she ordered five or six sets. Following her return to Oregon, she wrote to Mr. Hall, enclosing a box of alder catkins and asking that he make up a necklace and earring set from the catkins. Hall was so taken with the novelty of a catkin set that he not only complied with her request, but he mailed the order with the suggestion that, in lieu of payment, the lady should send more catkins. Since the alder trees grow to considerable height, the customer really climbed her way to payment.

Approximately one-half inch in length, the catkins are conical in shape and so delicate in appearance that the jewelry made from these catkins can be worn with very dressy gowns.

For the Christmas trade, Hall designed Christmas tree earrings that proved very popular. Using lodgepole cones of a symmetrical roundness, he cemented a hard wood stem or twig to the base of the cone to simulate a tree trunk. This stem was then inserted full-length into a hard wood flowerpot of miniature proportions. The latter is lathe-turned and is painted either green, red, or white. The cone which forms the body of the tree is painted green and white to give the effect of a snowy evergreen. Rhinestones are cemented to the scales to simulate baubles. Instead of placing the eye-pin in the base of the cone, Hall drills the hole for this finding in the apex of the cone.

Because he believes there is sales value in a souvenir tailor-made to a certain recreational area, Hall has developed a Craters of the Moon earring. On fringe areas beyond the National Monument, he has picked up volcanic cinders that glow with rainbow hues. By wrapping the cinders in transparent cellophane, he emphasizes the variety of colors in the honeycombed cinders. Inserting an eye-pin and fastening a jump ring, he attaches the cased droplet to an ear-wire for an unusual type of dangle earring.

For the alder catkin jewelry Hall plans an unique promotion. Painting the jewelry gold, he calls his product "alder gold" in memory of the first gold strike made in Alder Gulch near Virginia City, Montana. For Hall, the stunt has a poignant significance. His father crossed the plains by wagon train and was among the early miners who opened the Virginia City area. This restored ghost town is now the mecca for many Yellowstone and Glacier National Park tourists, who long for a touch of the Old West.

HALL BELIEVES firmly in the value of personal salesmanship. As an example, he relates: "Between rush hours I like to go into a restaurant, sit down at the counter and order a cup of coffee. While the waitress is bringing my order, I set up on the counter a card on which I have displayed a pair of earrings with appropriate lettering.

"Returning, the waitress takes one look and screams, 'Look at those earrings. Freda (calling to another waitress), come here and see these beautiful earrings. These are just what I've been wanting.'

"So she selects a pair. Then she will usually say, 'Do you have any more?' (yes) 'Go get them.'

"I go to the car, bring out other earrings, and she exclaims again, adding, 'Any necklaces?' I answer in the affirmative, and return to the car.

"In the end, I have my cup of coffee and when I have finished, the waitress and her friends have bought something in the neighborhood of $15 to $20 worth of jewelry."

During the tourist season he runs an advertisement in the West Gate Guide, a small paper published in Bozeman, Montana. The 200,000 copies of the Guide are distributed to cafes, motels, and stores in and near Yellowstone National Park. Hall also makes a selling trip to national park areas and adjacent points of interest to line up sales prospects.

Prior to Christmas, Hall runs a classified advertisement in the local newspaper, the Idaho Statesman.

As an interest-arousing scheme for this year, he offers: One pair of choice flower-type earrings—painted, carved, or jeweled—sent to any United States post office address by insured mail for $2. If a gift box is desired, an extra 25 cent charge is made.

If requested, Hall will mail an illustrated price list. Sample prices include: earrings, $1 to $2.50 per pair; costume pins or brooches, $1.50 each; tie bars, $1.50; necklaces, $3 to $4.50; matching sets of necklaces and earrings, $4.50; bolo ties for men, $1.50 to $2 each. Variations in price are determined by the amount of work involved, the colors applied, the painting and carving of scales, and the decorative devices such as rhinestones.

HALL BELIEVES that he has just touched the fringes of the possibilities that are open to him in this unusual hobby. Locally his jewelry is handled by the Country Store, a souvenir shop on the road from Boise to Meridian, and the owners report that his wares are very popular. Within the last year, through personal contacts, mail orders, and through the aforementioned shop, he estimated that he sold some 500 jewelry items.

Of the advantages to be found in such a hobby, Hall says, "I derive the greatest profit from the satisfaction of having created something beautiful. Both Mrs. Hall and I enjoy outdoor jaunts and now we are constantly on the search for additional products of the trees which I can turn into jewelry."