Caribbean Blue Larimar is an eye-pleasing treat!

I think I fell in love with Larimar the first time that I saw it. My first experience with Larimar was a click on a new listing on Etsy's main page. The listing was for a Larimar and coin pearl necklace that had other beautiful elements, and I was entranced. Since I make jewelry (can you guess?) I didn't automatically purchase it, but I should have. After researching a little about this beautiful stone, I came to like it even more. Mined ONLY in the Dominican Republic, on ONE dormant volcano, Larimar's pure blue tones remind me of the beautiful waters of the Caribbean. I can't get enough of it!

Wikipedia describes Larimar as " rare blue variety of pectolite," which makes it related to other intriguing stones like prehite, serpentine, and calcite, as well as sugilite. They're crystalline, and the splinters of it are brittle. This makes me think that maybe it is also related to Kyanite. I have an intriguing specimin that I plan to use as a pendant very soon.

This two-strand necklace has a sterling silver wire-wrapped bail and mount, with silver spacer beads and smoky quartz to bring out the rich blue color. Matching earrings, as always, round out the set.

Owning a necklace set made with Larimar is like owning a part of the sky. It's easy to catch yourself staring at it, trying to absorb it's cool blue-ness. It's absolutely mesmerizing! See it in person and tell me you don't agree. Larimar just makes you want to drink it in, like a tall glass of ice water on a summer day in Florida. Spectacular!

If you want to read more about Larimar, there's an incredible article from the Lapidary Journal, here.

Here comes the bride....

My latest bridal collection was an alchemy bid that I won wayyyyy back in May. I'm so happy when brides plan ahead of time, because then I can make the most of my connections to get just the right materials. I probably went to 4 beads shows to get the elements that I used for this one, plus purchased supplies from Etsy sellers, too. To get closer-up photos of the whole set, you can click this link to go to the "sold" listing in my shop.

The bride was wearing a Maggie Sottero gown, here, in champagne or ecru satin, and was looking for "something like" the model's jewelry in the photo. I picked up some micro-faceted champagne-colored crystal globes, ecru and bronze glass pearls, and some other faceted czech glass beads in an iridescent, not quite AB, finish. Then I fashioned the Japanese lantern-style bead clusters with swarovski crystal, 4mm glass pearls, and AB delicas in addition to the bronze glass pearls. All of the metal, with the exception of the 26G wire used on the clasp and the lantern beads, is sterling silver. The set includes a two-strand necklace, a three-strand bracelet, and matching earrings. These photos are really bad. I had a friend lined up to take some in her studio, but I didn't have time for a break, since my customer was getting married Nov. 7, and I had to get them in the mail.

The flower girls have sets that are similar to the bride's, as they're wearing similar colors. I used the same glass pearls, crystals, and hand-wired segments. the pendant is a link with a perforated bead disc, like the bridesmaids' earrings, but with a flat back. The glass pearl teardrop adds a little drama and glamor. The earrings are teardrops on standard ear wires. Nice and simple, but really dainty and feminine. The clasps have chains that can adjust up to 15 inches or so as the girls grow. Hopefully they can continue to wear them for a long time. I think they'd make great First Communion or Confirmation jewelry, or jewelry for a christening, don't you think?

The attendants' ensembles were fun, too. I've posted previously about the copper-dipped Maple leaves, and here is the result. Aventurine in peach, yellow, red and white was mixed with goldstone and toffee-colored faceted crystal to reflect the glory of fall leaves and color.

The earrings were created with similar materials, in addition to a 6mm goldstone focal bead, and copper foil-lined "e" beads around the outside for sparkle. They're mounted on the same vintage-style elements as the flower girl pendants, this time with ear posts. There's also a tiny copper maple leaf peeking out from under the beads on the earrings. I'm hoping the bridesmaids will get wear out of these necklaces for many different occasions besides the wedding. The bride was careful to make sure that the design we settled on would last for all of her attendants.

There's always a bit of anxiety when your creation leaves your hands. Will the customer be pleased? Is it exactly what she was hoping? Will the item fit? Match? Get there in one piece? All of those questions swirl around in my head while I'm waiting for the customer's feedback. So, when she wrote a couple of days ago, my sigh of relief was heard all over the house. Here's what she wrote:

WOW words can't describe how perfect everything is! Sorry it took me a while to let you know I got them, things have been crazy. The bridal necklace is so perfect. I could never have imagined anything like that. The design and scale are perfect for the dress. The bridesmaids necklaces are so awesome in person! I know the girls will love them. The flower girl necklaces are adorable! They will be so excited to have something pretty like the big girls.

Laura I'm so happy. This is just the perfect touch. I'll have plenty of pictures for you, I know they will be gorgeous! Thank you so much!

I just had to crow about that. Custom work is very rewarding for me. I spend a WHOLE lot of time on it, and nromally for sweatshop-style wages, but it's fun, and I get to be a part of someone's special story. It's like writing a page or a chapter in a book. I like it very much.

And the feathers were flying....

Had some fun recently with some Pheasant feathers! A lovely Etsy customer contacted me to commission a necklace that featured these beautiful orange-tipped feathers. I was intrigued by the design, and set to work. She sent 9-10 feathers for me to work with, and they were all just gorgeous! I chose 7 of them to mount onto the necklace, and she'll have the rest to use as replacements if the original ones are damaged in any way. What a fun project!

The front part of the necklace has a chain that features antique gold finish leaves, and chain. a center piece of chain also runs across the front. The sides of the necklace are hand-wired with round onyx beads and matching chain links. The wire used for mounting the feathers is Artistic wire, in a bronze finish. I completed the set with earrings that are descending clusters of onyx, hung on short pieces of the leaf chain that stretches across the middle of the front of the necklace. Since the necklace is a long 32", I skipped the clasp.

Work in Progress....

I have to replace the previous tree necklace in my inventory, since it sold last weekend, so I've been working on a concept varying from the standard square or round tree of life pendant. This one started out as a long rectangle, and I raised the ceiling on the pendant , sort of like an umbrella, giving the idea of a sheltering tree. Really cool czech glass lentil beads coated with a metallic finish are the "leaves" for the tree, and the wire is bronze, copper and brass. The bails at the top will be attached to links or segments of stone beads wired together. The pendant still needs to be tweeked a little, but, a work in progress is just that. I've got my work cut out for me!

I think I'll find and use some of the newer frosted metallic czech glass beads, along with some vintaj brass findings. I thought I'd made a deal with myself to NOT buy any more beads for a while...

Can't get enough of those fall colors!

This was a really fun project. Carnelian beads in rounds and ovals accented with tiny Citrine rondelles and bronze seed beads. The frame is anti-tarnish brass, and the beads are wired on with anti-tarnish copper. With a warm metal palette and fiery orange palette, you can tel what's on my mind -- that's right, autumn!! Boy it's soooo good to have a cooling off here in Florida. It's been a scorching hot summer. This "Tree of Life" pendant, though it's done in Fall colors, and, yeah, I know the tree of life is always alive, never loses it's leaves, etc., but I just had to render this one in the beautiful fall colors that the mountains are bathed in this time of year.


When I lived in South Carolina, we would see the glorious changing of the leaves, and go for day trips into the mountains. I haven't done that in years! Sadly, my oldest has never seen the mountains. I'm going to remedy that, and hopefully soon. Meanwhile, I can make pretty "joolry" to make up for this loss.



This necklace set is gone....picked up first thing at the Mandarin United Methodist Church Fall Festival last weekend. I'll be re-visiting this topic again, as soon as I catch up on my custom work, and finish some sets for a model shoot this weekend here in Jacksonville. It's too hot a combo to let go, at least while I still have the beads!!

Cloisonne captures the imagination...

Two different strands of cloisonne beads just LEAPED into my hands during a recent trip to my favorite bead shop (River City Beads) here in Jacksonville. They have a whole wall full of them, and I need to go get more. I never stopped to consider the particular beauty that they possess. Sure I knew that wire is soldered onto a metal base, and that enamel is painted into the resulting voids and then fired in a kiln, but I had never really considered the jewelry possibilities beyond a couple pretty beads on a strand, accented by solid-colored beads that would complement their color. I have considered getting a nice selection of these to attach to bookmarks and hair sticks. But Jeude, the owner, had mocked up a few bracelets, and I was just captivated.

You can find these beauties in my shop right now. I'll be adding more in the future. They're just too pretty to not revisit in another color scheme, very soon!

New listings from a frenzied weekend!

I listed 5 items today on Etsy, no thanks to my Slllooowwwwww laptop. It took nearly all day (that, and taking care of my croup-y 3 year old). I'll post them little by little for the rest of the week. I hit a beading frenzy yesterday, and was like a woman on a mission! Now I'm back to custom work. Shows are coming up, so I should continue to create more to fill the new display busts I bought.

First up is a faceted Amazonite and lemon quartz necklace set with gold heishi spacers. I've had the Amazonite for a while, waiting for the right accent beads to come along. If these aren't the ones, I don't know what else! For more photos, check out the listing.

The Amazonite beads are a beautiful sea-foam-green-teal mixture that reminds me of the water in Key West when my husband and I went snorkeling on our honeymoon. The lemon quartz beads are hand-faceted in a free form sort of way, and look like tiny Jolly Ranchers or distilled sunlight. I can't get enough of looking at them! I paired them with Gold-plated heishi wafers, for added sparkle. I don't usually work with gold, so this is a welcome change of pace. I'm going to a show this weekend, so this one might be gone by Saturday evening. That is, of course, if I don't decide to keep it myself!

I'll be back with more tomorrow. Right now I have to cook dinner!

Tentative custom bridesmaid necklace

Well, the jury of one (my beautiful bridal customer) is out on this one, which is a mockup of a brdesmaids' set for her upcoming November wedding. I posted the materials previously, and here's the next step.

The glorious fall colors make a beautiful statement in white, yellow, peach and red aventurine with the Maple leaf; it's studded with carnelian, and highlighted with sparkly copper spacers and goldstone.

The earrings will be clusters of the aventurine, with tiny copper seed beads and copper maple leaf charms, woven onto perforated bead discs like the Scarlett earrings and the earrings that matched my tulle bridesmaids' sets.

Another custom work from my beading table...

A sweet customer commissioned a reproduction of this beautiful necklace from Gone with the Wind. I was able to locate vintage findings, and the perfect coral beads for the necklace. During the antebellum and civil war period, coral was used extensively for jewelry, so choosing it for this necklace, after studying the picture, was a natural thing. The chain is gold-plated. Vivien Leigh was a small lady, so the measurements had to be altered a little for fit, but on the whole it's a fairly faithful reproduction. I looked everywhere to try to find the designer and the possible location of the original necklace so that I could give credit to those who dreamed it up, but I haven't been able to find a clue. I can't even tell if Leigh kept the jewelry after the film, or if it was in her possession before the movie. I'd love it if someone had the information so that I could give credit where it is due.

I managed to get my hands on enough materials to make three more of these, and would love to talk to you if you're interested in acquiring one. I'll make the length to fit to your measurements.

Make a statement in turquoise...

Dyed Howlite and dyed magnesite are fantastic alternatives to expensive turquoise. The veining can be rich and varied, and the coloring almost exactly like it's rarer counterpart, turquoise. Sure, I'd like to own and design with the genuine stone, but when Howlite is as affordable as it is, why not own 3 or 4 pieces to one of genuine turquoise? More is, well, more. More or less. Less costs more, but is not more. Right?

This necklace was finished this evening, and is awaiting approval by my customer. She's looking for a turquoise and silver statement necklace that is elegant and not clunky, and that has a nice silver sparkle without having a chunky chain. I hope I've satisfied her criteria, because I have certainly enjoyed creating this necklace! I can see varying the metals and the gemstones (or their less expensive alternatives), can't you? Copper with Unakite, bronze with white turquoise (magnesite, actually), silver with red coral, lava rocks and any metal, the list goes on and one. Maybe even some labradorite? That would be interesting!

I really like the movement and texture in this piece. It was fun to create, and I'm hoping my customer enjoys wearing it. I love custom work. It's always such an adventure! Next up, a surprise in salmon coral and brass. (hint: it's a reproduction of a famous piece from a very old southern antebellum movie) Can't wait to get that one posted! I have a museum that wants to see it when it's done!

Pink Crazy Lace Agate and gifts from the sea

Here's my most recent custom set creation. My customer provided the shark's teeth, and specified the pink crazy lace agate, after looking through some of the items in my shop. The chain is sterling silver, and the pink crazy lace agate is wired on with sterling silver as well. The small agate pendants are wired on with fine silver headpins, balled with my torch. The oval agate bead is wirewrapped with tiny sterling silver beads, and the ring is adjustable.
The next couple necklaces carry one the sharks teeth theme, with the addition of coin pearls, and recycled glass beads that look like tumbled sea glass. The chains are also sterling silver.
I guess I should have checked that last necklace before I snapped the picture...the shell turned around backward! oops!

Mystery stone and the creative process

Wandering around a bead show recently, I happened upon my favorite vendors and their well-stocked booth. Rows upon rows of semi-precious and other beads beckoned me to browse. Just before I rounded the end of the table to pick through the bargain bin, I spied these treasures. First drawn by their high gloss, I stopped to examine their texture, and scan the tag. Finding none, I asked the owner what she thought they were. Surprisingly, she didn't know, either!

I had to have them. The beads were just too gorgeous to put back. I was already finished purchasing my finds, but the card came back out again, and I bought these, too.

My first opinion was that is was Crazy Horse Jasper. But I had never seen a high gloss like this on that kind of stone. All of mine were rather matte in finish. And there was an interesting mustard yellow that I was not familiar with in Crazy Horse Jasper. I decided to turn to trusted Etsy sellers in the Etsy forums for help.

Etsy is an amazing place. If you are a crafter of any kind, it is worth your while to investigate selling your goods there online. They require a minimal charge of 3.5% only on a sale, and each four-month listing costs $.20. That's twenty cents. Amazing!! Compare that to the big daddy auction house! Etsy is also a great place to meet other craftspeople, and, for the most part, is a very cooperative environment where mutual promotion and cooperation is the norm rather than the exception. I've been very happy as an Etsy buyer AND seller.

After posting a query about this "mystery stone," other bead-holics and lapidarists weighed in with their opinions. Crazy Horse Jasper seemed to be the consensus, with one particular jewelry artisan explaining her position that it is Apache Dendritic Jasper, which is mines not far from her house. After Google-searching both terms, I've decided that both are right. They seem to be the same kind of stone. Crazy Horse, the real-life man, was not an Apache. The Apache tribe originated in the area now known as New Mexico, where this stone is mined. Because of this, I'm calling it Apache Dendritic Jasper. Crazy Horse is secure in his place in history, and doesn't need this particular semi-precious stone to protect this legacy.

I paired these luscious beads with Rhodolite Garnet, a perfect match for the raspberry highlights, and tiny citrine button rondelles. The beauty of the mustard color in the beads was just too juicy to ignore. Fastening the back is a hand made copper S-clasp. Mexico is the largest producer of copper in the world, and the United States is second. Currently our most productive copper mining is done in Utah and Arizona. Copper was just perfect for this color combination. What do you think?

I might have to keep this necklace set. Rarely do I take one for myself, since I want to list everything that I make, "just in case." But these beads are just too beautiful to pass up. I'll use perforated beading discs to make some vintage-inspired earrings to complete this set. Encrusted with 8mm Apache Dendritic Jasper, and the rest of the Rhodolite garnet and citrine, along with copper beads and wire. Dangles of the last two beads from the jasper strand will finish the pair.