Carnivale Necklace

No, I was not experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs the day I made this necklace.  I realize that the color combination is a bit wild for me, but I LOVE IT!

Hot pink chalcedony, golden honey colored chalcedony and bright orange carnelian.  It looks like candy at a carnival!  Click the photo to go directly to the listing in my etsy shop.

A Peek Into My Work Area

I spent all of yesterday morning making pairs of briolettes and beads in preparation for an earring making marathon.  I really enjoy the pair-making.  It lets me reacquaint myself with my beads (why, hello HUGE garnets!) and take stock of what's still left in my inventory.

Sometimes it can be frustrating as well.  Like when you have many (like 20+) large, beautiful iolite briolettes remaining, yet can't find a pair among them.  Makes me want to growl and say lots of bad words.  I think I did the last part ... a lot.

Close up of the right end.  And yes, those are some deliciously large marquis cut citrine briolettes.

And look!  There's another pair on the left side.   I never put pairs of the same stone next to each other, lest I get confused and pair up the wrong 2!

And lastly, this little baggie of multi colored tourmaline briolettes that I have yet to cut.  But I will.  Soon.  (They're not from Rio Grande -- that's the baggie of beadcaps behind them.)

In the Studio

I woke up with a new-ish idea for some necklaces.  What if I used some of my larger gemstone briolettes as  pendants and then instead of suspending them from chain like I usually do, did a little pearl linking, then finishing with chain?  While I recognize that this isn't an earth shatteringly new design idea, it is an interesting variation on two existing lines of mine.  I gave it a try today.

From left to right: labradorite with silvery and peacock pearls, green hydro quartz with pale pink pearls, pink opal with rose colored pearls.  The chain is beautiful oval rolo chain.  I got a smoking deal on that in Tucson.

I have not yet priced these necklaces, but I think they will be quite reasonable.

I have plans for a few more like these, with large briolettes.  Then I think I may do a few with smaller pink tourmaline briolettes with small white pearls.  That one will be very elegant!

The Deepest Red Garnets

And they're large too!  These garnet briolettes were so spectacular, I bought 3 strands of them.  I don't often do that, but I had never seen such large garnets.

The color is so hard to capture in a photograph.  Trust me, they're gorgeous!

Big Moonstone Briolette

When I bought this strand of really large white moonstone briolettes, I envisioned a series of necklaces.  Surely they were too large for earrings.  I was wrong.  Yes, they make a bold pair of earrings, but they're definitely NOT too big.

The stones have a nice blue flash to them, when viewed at certain angles, yet they are neutral enough to wear everyday.  They are for sale in my etsy shop.

Pietersite Earrings

Over the years, I've been intrigued by the stone Pietersite.  Most of the beads I've seen have been brown and black with lots of golden swirls.  This particular strand of briolettes I purchased this year in Tucson had no golden color at all.  As a matter of fact, they had an unusual wood-grain look to them, even though they are perfectly smooth.  They do have the chatoyance that is typical of Pietersite.

Needless to say, I love these earrings and will most likely make a pair for myself before all the beads are gone.

Click on the photo to go directly to the listing in my etsy shop.

Rose Quartz . Copper Circles . Earrings

I just listed these earrings in my etsy shop a couple of days ago.  You're already familiar with my large circles that I make in sterling, copper and brass.  I selected a pair of copper ones for these earrings and suspended the smooth rose quartz briolettes from the bottom.  They looked so lonely down there.  Their subtle coloration needed a little boost, so I wired on some rose quartz rondelles part of the way up the side.  That's better.

I really like the contrast between the copper, which has a certain rosiness to it, and the quartz.  The earwires are my hand formed sterling silver design.  These earrings are for sale in my etsy shop.

The Beauty of Spring

While spring is still a long time away for me, Artbeads has given me the opportunity to enjoy it a bit early.  I made some choices from their website that evoked feelings of spring.

I chose some old favorites, Swarovski Pendants, from the Swarovski Crystals section of the Artbeads website.  I adore the flat briolette shape and selected some in spring colors: ruby, light rose and olivine.  I had a friend in college named Jane.  Jane's mother shared this wisdom with her at an early age:  the color green goes with everything because it's the color of the stem of a flower.  You would never claim that a flower "clashed' with it's stem, would you?  I can find little to argue with here.

These earrings feature the briolettes in olivine and I've topped them with 2 other Swarovski beads: the lovely flower shaped margarita and a traditional bicone.

On a more traditional note, colorwise, these two additional pairs of earrings use those same briolettes.  I can't get enough of them.

 

 

Tune in tomorrow (or the next day!) to see what I've done with some lovely Hill Tribe silver floral beadcaps.

Disclosure: Artbeads invited me to join their blogging community. I receive these products free of charge in return for honest reviews. I have not been paid for doing this

Brand New Fluorite Earrings

I've been having more fun with my new beads.  I created these lovelies with the cardamom (?) cut fluorite briolettes.  I can't find any reference to this cut online, so I think that gem dealer may have made it up!  We're just going to call it a marquis cut, k?
 

Anyway, I wrapped them and suspended them from some of my fine silver fused circles.  After fusing the circles, I hammered them flat and patterned them with little circles.  I think it's kinda cute.

The only bad part about those fluorite briolettes is that those 2 pictured above is one of only 2 pairs I was able to get from that strand.  The rest don't seem to be close enough matches to make pairs.  The rest are destined to become necklaces.  Oh well.

Click on the photo to go directly to the listing!

New Whiskey Quartz Earrings

Warning -- these are huge!  Not only are they huge, but they're gorgeous too.  The faceting is amazing and the color is that of golden honey with a touch of olive green.

These earrings are for sale in my etsy shop.  Click on the photo to go directly to the listing.

Remember, my 20% off-everything-sale is still going on in my shop!

More Fun with Artbeads!

I decided to work with the rest of my Swarovski crystals from Artbeads today. I had 4 different colors of the 11mm flat briolettes to play with. While I stayed within a tight design scope, I let myself have some fun with color.

After wrapping each briolette with sterling silver wire, I chose a sterling bead with a fairly large hole to cover the wrap and topped it with a traditional Swarovski bicone.

Here are the olivine colored briolettes. I paired them with blue zircon colored bicones, for an ocean-y feel.


The ruby colored brios are topped with padparadscha colored bicone. Don't worry, I can't pronounce that color name either. This color combination reminds me of a tropical drink. The kind that comes with an umbrella.


The remaining two pairs are more traditional: crystal golden shadow with crystal copper and crystal silver shade with light sapphire.


Please be sure to visit Artbeads and take advantage of their excellent selection, prices and customer service.

Remember this previous post about Artbeads Swarovski crystals? Well, I sold both of those pairs of earrings at my last show. Yay me!

Crystal Quartz

There's something very clean about crystal quartz. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that it's well. crystal clear. At least these beads are. They are actually quite amazing. The uniformity in the strand was a welcome characteristic. Trying to make pairs from an inconsistent strand can be very frustrating. I digress.

Back to the earrings. I wrapped them with sterling silver wire and added a tiny drop of black spinel and more crystal quartz. Perfectly suited for a night on the town, a wedding or black jeans and a t-shirt.


Click the photo to go directly to the listing in my etsy shop.

Peridot - August Birthstone

In honor of all people born in August, I listed these brand new peridot earrings. I adore these small peridot briolettes, but they're a little too small to use alone. Three at a time is better than one.

I suspended them from circles that I fused from fine silver wire. I hammered and textured the circles before oxidizing all of the silver. I used my hand formed sterling silver earwires to complete the earrings.

Happy birthday, August babies!


These earrings are for sale in my etsy shop. You can click on the photo to go directly to the listing.

Hydro Quartz

You may remember this post, when I purchased these lovely emerald green briolettes in Tucson. At that time, I wasn't completely informed about Hydro Quartz. Now that I've done some research, I know that this *stone* is man-made, but beautiful nonetheless.

It was difficult to capture the remarkable green color in these briolettes, but trust me, they are deep emerald green. And because they are lab grown, they are perfectly clear.

They are for sale in my etsy shop, or click on the photo to go directly to the listing.

Rum Punch Necklace

I created this necklace the same day as the Fruit Punch Necklace. I was obviously in a mood some heat ... or at least some warmth!

This necklace features a large briolette of whiskey quartz. It's the color of warm honey, or rum if you prefer. It is joined by a flat teardrop of garnet and an opal in an unusual shade of pink ... like the flesh of a ripe papaya. Juicy.

The chain is 17" long and is finished with a lobster clasp. I purchase lots of different styles of chain in bulk, so I can make whatever lengths I need. This sort of versatility works for me because I don't know what design I'll be working on tomorrow!

Lemony Goodness

I've never been a big fan of the color yellow ... until recently. Now, it seems I can't get enough of it!

These citrine beads are cushion cut (at least I think that's what it's called) briolettes. The faceting is amazing and allows the light to reflect at every angle. Sometimes the beauty of the stone speaks for itself and needs very little adornment. These stones certainly fit that category.

These earrings are perfect for spring, summer ... oh, what the heck, wear them year round!

They are for sale in my etsy shop. Click on the photo to go directly to the listing.

Lemony Citrine

The color of these citrine marquis cut briolettes is astoundingly yellow. The faceting enhances that color by reflecting light at every angle. I've used oxidized silver with this stone, as the contrast between the yellow and the gray is just lovely.

I've used large link chain on the necklace. The earrings are on leverbacks, for maximum security.
If you love yellow, these items are for you. Click on the photos to go directly to the listings in my etsy shop.

Double Garnet Earrings

I love garnets. I mean who doesn't? They are my birthstone and I never realized how many shapes they could come in until I started creating jewelry 12 years ago.

These earrings feature small diamond shaped briolettes topped with a rondelle. The two faceted stones are separated by a sterling silver bead.

The red in these garnets is of the deepest burgundy with a hint of plum.

Simple and elegant. With just the right amount of sparkle.

They are for sale in my etsy shop. Click on the photo to go directly to the listing.

Pink Chalcedony . Earrings

I just listed these earrings in my etsy shop a couple of days ago. The pink of the chalcedony briolettes is bordering on lavender, but when I added the pink pearls, the stones appeared more pink. That's the nature of a translucent stone such as chalcedony.

The pearls are in a loose cluster atop the chalcedony and will swing freely. They hang on sterling silver leverback earwires for maximum security.

They are for sale in my etsy shop. Click on the photo to go directly to the listing.

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Lovely Labradorite

I finally found the long slim labradorite briolettes I've been searching for. These stones are just beautiful -- full of subtle color and lots of flash. I found these stones from JenniferLoveBeads on etsy. She has a wonderful selection of fine gemstones.

As many of you know, photography is not my forte and labradorite poses its own unique challenges. These photos are as good as I could get.

The sterling silver leverback earwires and wire for wrapping was oxidized, followed by a little hand sanding to highlight a small amount of the shiny silver.

These earrings are for sale in my etsy shop. Or, you can click on either of the photos to go directly to the listing.