About Eric & Susan Youngman

Soul2Shine offers the highest quality in Crystals, Minerals, and Exquisite Gemstone Carvings. Our goal and greatest satisfaction comes in finding Crystal-Keepers and Light-Workers for the stones we offer. For more than 25 years Soul2Shine has specialized in unique hand carved items such as Crystal Skulls, Spheres, Angels, Goddesses, Goddess Beads, and Pendant Beads.

It is our sincere desire to provide beautiful products that inspire contemplative practice and appreciation of the sacredness of the world. Moreover, we are practitioners ourselves, so we know these stones and their intended uses, and aim to supply them to people who will use them in their spiritual practices.

Soul2Shine is your unique source! We've been working with carvers and miners alike from around the globe to produce truly one of a kind items not to be found anywhere else! Bringing forth the highest quality possible in all our stones and carvings; we pride ourselves in Quality over Quantity and strive for the Best in all things. We do our best to keep up with the growing demands for metaphysical stones and shapes of this nature.

We are inspired by the rare gems we import from many countries world-wide. Each is unique in its own way, whether for crystal clarity, intense color or pattern, or for dazzling optic effects. Each has its own special energy and sacred relationship with earth and humanity.

We feel deeply honored to present these special offerings to you! We know that you will share our enthusiasm when it comes to these beauties.

Soul2Shine's Unique Carving Process

As the proprietors of Soul2Shine, Eric and Susan are very hands on when it comes to the carvings they create. Nearly every piece that is offered for sale went through their unique carving process. Firstly, they source rare high energy gemstone rough for carving from mines and miners all over the world; continually updating their stockpiles, and spending long months waiting for multiple shipments to arrive before moving to the next step. When the time is finally right, usually once per year, they spend about 2 months selecting through each stone by hand, putting eyes on and feeling into each raw piece, deciding what it will ultimately yield. The process of creation for all of Soul2Shine's finished gemstone and crystal products is a long one! Sometimes it takes years before finally making a decision to carve certain stones at all, and at the minimum, it will be at least one complete year before a single rough stone makes its journey from raw unfinished stone to its finished carved state.

During Eric’s teenage years, he worked in his father's lapidary studio producing his own special creations. His favorite style of carving came from letting the stone take its own shape and form during the carving process. These creations were called free forms. He also made plenty of others carvings including spheres, designer cabochons, pendant beads and wands from all types of rough gemstone materials. His favorite two stones to work with were Sugilite and Gem Silica. During this time he learned a great deal about carving rock and how rough stone would react to the carving process. He then began working with carvers overseas and eventually found a family whom he began to work with exclusively. This enabled Eric to design and produce extremely high quality complex carvings from his own hand selected materials and designs.

In the early 90's Eric and Susan met and fell in love. Knowing that they each shared a deep passion for the natural world and the Mineral Kingdom alike, it seemed only appropriate that they would begin to work closely together in the gem and mineral business. This was also a time of exploration and discovery. In the spring of 1994 Eric introduced Susan to the idea of Crystal Skulls. Crystal Skulls were a new and unknown territory at that time, especially for Susan! Eric had been carving Contemporary Crystal Skulls with his father Raven since the mid 80’s, but the idea didn't really take off until around 1997, as more people were connecting online through the internet.

In 2017 Raven retired from the mineral business and asked Eric to take over the sales of his inventory. It was his desire for his legacy to continue by keeping his unique carvings available for all his loyal customers who frequented his shop over the many years of his long career. Please scroll to the footer of our website and click the link below to view Raven's Roost under the subheading "Brands" to view his current offerings.

This Highly Detailed 12" Sugilite carving of the Maya Stela H is a special order Eric & Susan are particularly proud of:

This gorgeous Mayan Stela was commissioned to be carved from this large single piece of Sugilite rough (pictured below) that Eric procured specifically for the project. With painstaking attention to detail Susan created the images that the carvers ultimately used as a reference for finishing this incredible piece. It is truly one of a kind!

Eric & Susan literally have TONS of rough material for carving stored in their stockpiles. In fact, it could be said that their favorite part of the gemstone business is buying raw materials like Crystals, Jaspers, Agates, and other rare, unusual, and hard to find high energy stones for the purpose of carving. It has become something of an obsession!

Thank you for visiting!

Eric & Susan Youngman
Soul2Shine