Hats off to our newly elected officers, chairs, and coordinators of the Sun Lakes Rock Club!

While there are many clubs for you to join here in Sun Lakes, one of the largest and very best clubs is affectionately known as the “Rock Club” (that’s short for the Sun Lakes Rock, Gem, Silver & Creative Crafts Club).

What do we do? First, we gather once a month at our general meetings where our instructors offer signups for their 24 individual classes, which take place in our three separate Crafts Shops located in Oakwood, Cottonwood, and Sun Lakes Country Club. Rather than limit our club solely to the study of rocks, we have five major divisions: First is Lapidary, which is the cutting and polishing of semi-precious rocks and gems; second is Silver, which entails creation of jewelry out of sterling silver; third is Lost Wax, which is creating a red wax design and turning it into a finished metal artifact; fourth is Glass, including stained glass, dichroic glass, and fused glass; and fifth is Creative Crafts, which includes gourds, Ming trees, beading, and wire wrap/woven bracelets.

Just go to our website slrgs.com and click on “Membership” to see all 24 classes. Each one provides a creative outlet for Sun Lakes folks who enjoy meeting others and who are gifted with the love of making things with their hands. Want to explore your own creative expression? For a small, $25 fee, you can join for the balance of our fiscal year, October 2021 through September 2022.

It’s a real bargain when you consider all that you get for joining, e.g., after you take the class of your choice (and graduate), then you have earned the privilege of working on your own projects in any one of the three Crafts Shops. It doesn’t matter where you live in Sun Lakes; as a paid-up, current member, you may work in whichever open shop you prefer. Instructors and monitors are always on hand to help guide you on the equipment and tools available.

So, here’s the deal: 1) Join the “Rock Club” at the general meeting on the third Monday of months October through April at 10 a.m. in the Navajo Room of the Sun Lakes Country Club; 2) take any one of 24 classes; 3) graduate after four to six sessions, and you’re on your own to work in the open shops, and then you’ll probably want to tell others about your happy, creative experience, or maybe you’ll be the next instructor of whatever craft specialty where you have become a “pro.” See? That’s how easy it is to make new friends in creative crafts! (And we are always looking for volunteers to help out.)