New Emerald & Tourmaline Earrings

I've had this graduated strand of chubby emerald rondelles since Tucson (last February) and finally started using them.  Does anyone else do that?  Save up your most special beads for several months before actually cutting  the strand?  And have I mentioned that I really, really dislike graduated strands of gemstones?  I use most of my gems for earrings, and matching up beads from graduated strands can be ridiculously time consuming.  But I digress.

I made a pair of these right before the Bad Girls of the North craft show in Fairbanks in September.  They sold pretty quickly, so I made another for the Anchorage show.  But they did not sell, so I listed them in my etsy shop.

I topped the emeralds with a tight cluster of earthy, multi- colored tiny tourmaline rondelles.  The combination is rich and warm.  If you feel you must have these, simply click on the photo to go directly to the listing.

Rutilated Quartz . Mixed Gemstones . Necklace

I listed a brand new and quite delicious necklace in my etsy shop recently. I'd like to share it with you here. You've seen the gorgeous rutilated quartz briolettes featured in these earrings and in this necklace. I do believe I have made all of the "pairs" I'm going to get from this particular strand of briolettes, so the remainder will become necklaces -- no more earrings. This makes me a little sad.

Sad, that is, until, I created this necklace. I topped the briolette with a collection of rondelles in a rainbow of colors. I gathered some citrine, pink tourmaline, aqua blue apatite, amethyst and bright green chrysoprase.

Now I'm happy.

This necklace is for sale in my etsy shop. Click on the photo to go directly to the listing.

Long and Slim . Labradorite . Necklace

I purchased these wonderful labradorite briolettes several months ago. I've made a few pairs of earrings with them, but today I'm featuring a brand new necklace. Alongside the labradorite, I've added a small bead of blue tourmaline and a small aqua blue cubic zirconia bead. The addition of those beads really brings out the blue flash found in the labradorite.

This necklace is available in my etsy shop.

Beautiful Blue Kyanite

I purchased a strand of these large, smooth kyanite nuggets a few years ago in Tucson. I've been using them very slowly, for fear of running out. You beaders out there know this ridiculous feeling. An idea came to me for this necklace and I finally decided to use my 4th kyanite nugget -- the original strand only had 21 stones, so panic is still a few stones away.

I wired some softly faceted garnets together, along with small kyanite beads that I think of as bean-shaped. This was then attached to sterling silver chain to finish off the necklace. Something was missing. I decided to add a small teardrop shaped bead of deep burgundy tourmaline to the same ring that was holding the kyanite. Perfect!



This necklace is for sale in my etsy shop.

Smooth Green Amethyst . Earrings

When I was bead shopping in Tucson last February, I was totally taken with the selection of smooth briolettes. In the past, I remember seeing mostly faceted brios, but this year, there was a profusion of the smooth ones. Naturally, I needed some of those.

This pair of earrings features some of those smooth stones in pale green amethyst, otherwise knows as prasiolite. I topped them with a loose cluster of pink tourmaline, the palest blue aquamarine and peridot.

This color combination is perfect for spring. They are for sale in my etsy shop.

Tropical Waters

I've had these London Blue Topaz teardrop beads in my stash for about 2 years. They were a real splurge for me and I've been using them very sparingly. The color and cut are both gorgeous.

For these earrings, I topped them with a tight cluster of blue apatite, greenish-blue apatite and golden green tourmaline. The entire collection is hanging from sterling silver leverback earwires.

This color combination reminds me of the tropics and the wonderful colors that can be seen while snorkeling or diving.

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

Blues Trio . Necklace

Here's a pretty simple necklace that I just listed in my etsy shop. It's an easy to wear, goes with everything sort of necklace. Its clasps in the front and it's several shades of blue. It would look great with jeans --I wear jeans nearly everyday, so I assume everyone else does too!

The blue trio is composed of a stick pearl, a pale blue faceted quartz briolette and a teardrop of indigo blue tourmaline. Yum.

Click the photo to go directly to the listing!