How do you store your rocks and crystals?

I was wondering how you store you rock and crystal collections....

I would be very interested in seeing pictures.

I like to see all my rocks when picking out which to use for the day, without having to open a million boxes or baggies...and I do keep some in bowls, but have so many singles that I want to remember what they are that if I didn't keep them with a bit of paper with their name on it I would totally get them confused. So I keep them all out on a table top, but I don't like the cluttery look (with all the bits of paper with them.)

Do you keep them in display boxes, like shadow boxes? Or just laid out on a table or shelf? Or do you use jewelry organizers or craft organizers?

How do you keep their names straight?

Share your ideas and solutions!!!!

Oh my...i am being reminded of the need to do the same thing...

i have crystals and stones EVERYWHERE!!! On Dressers, multiple altars,
in windows, on desks, on tables, in baskets, in bowls....on book shelves...in bags and/or
boxes with decks...Oi! {{{{MoonGypsy Blushes}}} Oh...and a few in plants...

In the infamous words of Jack Sparrow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK2F39jtymA

Solutions would be good...

I've been thinking about the same thing. In the beginning it was just a cute little crystal bowl that belonged to my grandma that I was using for tumbled stones...and then a couple of clusters sitting off to the side. But my collection's grown and sadly I no longer have a hobby room all to myself as I let one of my boys have his own room now. So now I have to get creative. I've also been thinking about how so many people have altars. I have just the bedroom for that now (would feel weird putting it e.g. in our living room!). I never saw myself as an altar person but truth of the matter is that you're in it or you're not, you know? I have the tarot cards and the crystals and at moments at least, I take it seriously enough. I've basically turned a dresser top into an altar if sorts. Would be nice to make a more deliberate setup!

Anyway someone somewhere - I think on youtube? - inspired me to think about using some sort of large jewelry box! Might be a fun way to store them! Last night I was at my once-upon-a-time grandparents' house which is still largely untouched. I found a kinda cool old ('50s or '60s) jewelry mini bureau type thingie that I thought might be great! It was filled with silly costume jewlry. I brought it home! I'll put pics here (even has a key). Tell me what you think...

Ok never mind - why is there no way to post photos?!

Oooooh, I want to see....maybe it's because you aren't a subscriber that you can't post photos?

I think a jewelry box is definitely an option...I can picture one of the large ones with legs and lots of drawers...maybe I'll do a little internet search for "crystal storage jewelry chest" or something like that.

Mine sit on the mantle and on bookshelves mainly. A few live on my desk. If I had a bigger, more spectacular collection and the space for it, I'd love to have a vintage museum display case. Something with a hinged cover so I could easily get them out when I wanted, and nice lighting inside. I could write antique looking labels for identification, or type them on an old style typewriter.

A similar option would be a coffee table with a shallow compartment and a glass top. I've seen them made of repurposed window frames. Maybe install some LED lights inside. Or for small crystals and stones, you could use an old letterpress drawer - sometimes you can find them fairly inexpensive.

Laura Borealis said:

Mine sit on the mantle and on bookshelves mainly. A few live on my desk. If I had a bigger, more spectacular collection and the space for it, I'd love to have a vintage museum display case. Something with a hinged cover so I could easily get them out when I wanted, and nice lighting inside. I could write antique looking labels for identification, or type them on an old style typewriter.

A similar option would be a coffee table with a shallow compartment and a glass top. I've seen them made of repurposed window frames. Maybe install some LED lights inside. Or for small crystals and stones, you could use an old letterpress drawer - sometimes you can find them fairly inexpensive.

Click to expand...

Ahhh, letterpress drawer, yes!

and I just did a google search...found this...exactly (almost) as you described! https://www.pinterest.com/pin/545991154806732499/

Ok so I realized I can use Flickr, yes? Let's see how this goes... I was sharing above that it seems some larger jewelry boxes or mini dressers would work great. The picture of the dresser jewelry box that I recently found at my grandparents' house is second to the last, and the last pic is of it opened up with my great-aunt's many pieces of costume jewelry in there! You can see the tape on the box which she put on there decades ago to remind herself which type of her jewelry she kept in there...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/49559819@N00/albums/72157674218291185

I've got a set of drawers - like this one but the tall version (couldn't find a online shot) so with 15 drawers.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/25/bf/14/25bf145007e0b10e1021005315cdecf0.jpg
The drawers are filled by colour - so I know where to find something, and then each specimen is in a little open-top cardboard box with the name written on it.

Larger pieces are on shelves in my workroom or the office, or on the floor if they're really large

Ayram said:

Ok so I realized I can use Flickr, yes? Let's see how this goes... I was sharing above that it seems some larger jewelry boxes or mini dressers would work great. The picture of the dresser jewelry box that I recently found at my grandparents' house is second to the last, and the last pic is of it opened up with my great-aunt's many pieces of costume jewelry in there! You can see the tape on the box which she put on there decades ago to remind herself which type of her jewelry she kept in there...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/49559819@N00/albums/72157674218291185

Click to expand...

Wow, so many pretty crystals! And so many big ones! I do have a jewelry box kind of like that, but one drawback to it is that you can't store stuff on top of it without having to take everything off it when you open it, but it does have nice compartments about the right size.

PathWalker said:

I've got a set of drawers - like this one but the tall version (couldn't find a online shot) so with 15 drawers.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/25/bf/14/25bf145007e0b10e1021005315cdecf0.jpg
The drawers are filled by colour - so I know where to find something, and then each specimen is in a little open-top cardboard box with the name written on it.

Larger pieces are on shelves in my workroom or the office, or on the floor if they're really large

Click to expand...

I like the idea of organizing by color, and I think writing the name on the box is the best idea I hadn't thought of yet, so thank you for that! I actually have a 3 drawer organizer in my office that I could possibly use in that way, I hadn't thought of it until I saw your picture. Cheers!

So here's a couple of shots, and a link to folding the boxes in paper or very thin card. I've got lots done in paper - so very cheap, size can be varied

http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-box.html