Gorge Local — In Business: Carnelian Moon sells unique gems, rocks, handmade jewelry

Jensen needed work that allowed her time to care for her ailing parents, she said, and has loved rocks since childhood; the name commemorates her first-acquired gem, a tiny carnelian moon, which she still possesses.

Jensen, who moved to the Gorge eight years ago, founded Carnelian Moon with a group of 10 artists, but nowadays it’s “just myself and the crystals.” She retails an estimated 50 varieties of stone alongside her handmade jewelry. “I was just making bracelets ... so I wasn’t confident in the art form yet,” she said. Jensen now spends her winters designing exquisite Southwest-style necklaces with wire wrapping and higher-end gemstones. A nickel allergy inspired her affinity for fine sterling and 10-carat gold. Nothing too high-end, though; “I don’t like it too over-the-top!”

Two years ago, Jensen met Abby Cole and Amber Bice, customers whose knowledge of rocks ran deep. “I was trying to figure out how to keep doing this,” Jensen said, as a new health problem made lifting pounds of gems difficult. “They’re rock people ... I got lucky.” She hired the pair.

“I was the kid that was digging around for rocks,” Cole affirmed. “I had a lot of identification skills.” The trio now vends at The Dalles Farmers’ Market, Mosier Farmers’ Market, 6th Street Market and holiday events. But finding markets that allow the retailed stones was challenging, Jensen said. Some allow only handmade items. And each market is different. “Hood River’s really competitive,” she noted. “The Dalles is a little more laid-back, more enjoyable ... Hood River’s a little more lucrative.”

Jensen appreciates local and regional stones, and shells from the southern Oregon coast. “I like to do stuff from Oregon, so I’m gonna have a bunch of sunstones next year,” she noted, adding she recently invested in American turquoise mined in the 1970s. “That’s stuff you never want to get rid off,” said Jensen, who plans to market it next year. Unlike most newly-mined American turquoise, ‘70s stones aren’t resinated, or crushed and filled with plastic. “Resinating basically ruined American turquoise,” Jensen mourned.

COVID-19 meant a year off for Carnelian Moon, and the gem market is still impacted, said Jensen, who buys some stones from the U.S., others from Beijing. Crystal City near Beijing, one of the biggest markets, closed due to COVID-19 and has only briefly reopened. Jensen said she’s lucky to have good purchases from before closure: “What’s on the market is bad.” Russia’s conflict with Ukraine also emptied the market of Russian rocks and gems, she said.

At the local farmers’ markets, COVID-19 meant all stones had to be packaged to prevent touching. Hand sanitizer can destroy stones, when the alcohol component alters their color. Contact with water causes some to deteriorate, their structure compromised, Jensen said.

Displaying outside in all weathers without “a ton of breakage” represents Jensen’s biggest challenge, though. Her canopy’s shadow bleaches stones’ subtle colors, and strong Gorge winds attempt to blow the booth away. But in some ways markets top a storefront, she said: Minimal overhead allows her to set more accessible prices, closer to wholesale, and she loves introducing children to crystals. “I’m a people person ... and I love to get the kids excited about rocks,” she said. “And we’re in an area where they can do a lot with that knowledge ... it’s just nature’s palette, you know?”

Jensen can be reached at Robynflewsouth@yahoo.com. Carnelian Moon can be found at The Dalles Farmers’ Market, Fifth and Union streets, every Saturday at 9 a.m.