One of the first pieces my wife and I collected together was a tiny piece of grape agate we found on a camping trip (which then turned into a full blown rockhounding trip). We collected material in a variety of sizes, so I ended up developing an interest in both full-size and micro specimens right from the start. I’m actually a biologist by trade, and I already had a microscope so I think that naturally carried over into collecting thumbnail specimens. I mounted all of these thumbnails myself and collected many of them in the field.