Karleine Zack is one of the first people to greet out-of-towners visiting the coal region. As manager and tour guide at the Mauch Chunk Museum in Jim Thorpe, part of her job is to know all about the history of coal mining.
Many times, she says, people would ask her if they sold anything made of anthracite coal. She looked online and saw jewelry made with coal, and decided to give it a try.
“I got myself a Dremel with some diamond tip bits and just started experimenting," she said.
Pieces of coal, referred to by some as black diamonds, serve as the centerpiece for the necklaces, rings, and other items Zack makes by hand.
Zack also likes to sculpt larger pieces of coal.
“This is a Wild Irish Rose, it is an homage to the Irish that came here and worked in the mines.”
The petals are painted pink with acrylic paint. She also sculpted an incredibly detailed butterfly that sits on a lump of coal.
“With the wings, I couldn't use the Dremel to make the wings then like that, because the vibration kept breaking the wings. So I just thought, well, why don't I try sandpaper," she said.
She has a setup in her basement where she tinkers, sculpts, and assembles pieces with coal she buys from the No. 9 Coal Mine Museum in Lansford.
"My basement and my sinuses are a testimony to the fact that there is no such thing as clean coal," she laughed.
Zack has to be careful not to inhale coal dust - the cause of black lung disease.
“I have a box that I work in. It's a plexiglass box my husband got me. It has two arm holes in the front with like fake sleeves,” she said. “And it has a lid that you can lift up and has a light in there. And it has a little exhaust fan with the thing that looks almost like a wind sock on the back. So that helps a little bit. But it's still very messy.”
She uses the Dremel power tool to shape pieces of coal to fit into the jewelry setting, and then uses sandpaper to smooth out the edges.
“I don't polish them. Because I liked that they have, each individual one has a different surface. You see that, how they shine,” she said. “And every one is unique, of course.”
Her work is sold at the Mauch Chunk Museum in Jim Thorpe and at the National Canal Museum in Easton.
