Tucson Gem Show Purchases . Part III

The saga continues with more gemmy photos.  Are you drooling yet?  I know that I am indeed drooling and I can't wait to actually start working with some of these gorgeous gems.

Here are some tiny peridot brios, long marquis shaped smoky quartz (I have a serious weakness for this shape), chubby marquis shaped whisky quartz and rose quartz.

Now for some cardamom cut (at least that's what he called it!) fluorite, big fat deep blue sapphire brios and more cardamom cut green amethysts.

Last one for today: rose quartz and amethyst chubby, but shorter marquis cut brios.

I think I have one more day of photos.  I hope I haven't bored you!

Cascading Lilac Quartz

My new line of oxidized and mostly asymmetrical necklaces is providing me with plenty of opportunity to use some of my lovely finds from the Tucson gem shows. Here, I feature lilac quartz in 2 shapes -- flat faceted rectangles and faceted briolettes. Accompanying them are some freshwater pearls in a complementary shade of lavender.

Available for sale in my etsy shop.

Clusters!

I recently created a series of pendants using some of my larger beads. Finding new ways to use these larger components has been a challenge for me. Here are the latest creations in this voyage of discovery.

I love the minty blue-green of amazonite. This large bead is top-drilled and is softly faceted. The cluster above is made up of freshwater pearls, Peruvian opals, apatite rounds and white cupped keshi pearls.
The deep pink stone is a sapphire --- yes, they come in many colors besides blue. I have topped it with golden freshwater pearls, garnets, smooth ruby rondelles and citrine rondelles. The red and gold color combination has a regal feel.

Tucson -- Part II

As promised, here's another batch of pictures from my bead buying trip to Tucson. The first photo contains my most extravagant purchase: faceted cubes of London Blue Topaz. There are also some beautiful gray quartz, garnet and pink amethyst briolettes.

The next two photos show a portion of my freshwater pearl purchases. I love coin shaped pearls and faceted pearls. Look at those lovely deep burgundy faceted pearls. They look like ripe berries. I can envision them with some garnets and lots of silver beads. Tomorrow I'll post a few more pictures -- chains and some silver. Stay tuned!

Back From Tucson!

We just returned from a 5 day whirlwind visit to the annual gem shows in Tucson. I spent most of the day yesterday sorting and cataloging my purchases. I managed to get through the gemstones and some of the silver. Today I will tackle the pearls -- my most serious weakness.

These photos are just the tip of the iceberg! Check out the gorgeous plump labradorite briolettes and the faceted cubes of pink amethyst, champagne quartz, garnets, green amethyst (prasiolite) and deep purple amethyst.

The last photo is a collection of different shapes of smoky quartz that I found on our last day in Tucson. I can't wait to play with those!

While in Tucson I ran into (almost literally!) to one of my etsyBEAD friends, Donna. What a thrill to meet an online buddy in person. I also got together with another etsyBEAD friend, Jenni. It was great to meet these talented jewelry designers in person.