I have been tumbling stones for some years now. I inherited my mother's tumbler, which is still going strong. She used to make jewellery and ornaments - remember those rocks with bug eyes stuck on them in the 70's!

I started to get curious, and enjoyed finding out how rocks were formed, and what makes up the different colours in them. Why some of them polish, and why some of them just disintegrated to dust in the machine.

I have to say I was a sceptic of crystal healing powers. I thought all that stuff was at the far end of the weird spectrum.

But the more I thought about it, the more I worked with them, the more the I realised there might just be something in it. Some of them were just irresistible, some plain cute, and some not just a little scary. There might be something in it after all! 

It was only when I started to study and practise alternative therapies, it really seemed to make a lot more sense. Now I'm a convert!

I still work a lot of my own stones, working away in the greenhouse with my second love, all my plants. It can be a bit interesting when the stones fly about! I have four tumbling machines, a grinder and a polisher. I starting selling a few to friends and clients, and then Rosslyn Alternatives was born! I hoped to share my passion, and make enough cash to pay for the means to continue with it. Some of the machines are only available in the States and have to be imported