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.

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!

Interview and Perspective by Youniquely Chic...

Recently I won a contest for Valentine's Day by Youniquely Chic, an Etsy seller specializing in uniquely-designed Swarovski crystal jewelry. I was impressed by the quality of the necklace set, and after browsing her shop, I struck up a conversation with her about her jewelry. The jewelry market is slow right now, with so many people cautious about the economy, and reluctant to buy jewelry for themselves. Mother's Day is coming up, so I thought I'd do a feature on her jewelry, which is very different from my personal style, and though I didn't think I was really into crystal myself, I'm finding it's growing on me! Check out her shop. You'll love what you find!

Youniquely Chic is having a giveaway in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Check it out! not much time left! You could win the Emerald green set below, if you visit her blog and follow the instructions.

1. How when and where did you "get into" jewelry? About a year and a 1/2 ago a friend of mine decided to make jewelry and try to sell it, and she would come to my house to hang out and make it. Well it wasn't long before I couldn't stand it and decided to give it a try myself, I started out making items for myself, because I am a person that believes you can NEVER have too much jewelry! Then I started giving it as gifts and had a pretty favorable reception, but it all changed when I went to a family reunion last summer and everyone in my family was going nuts over my stuff, I made just about everyone there earrings or necklaces... for FREE! They kept telling me I was crazy to just give it away and I should sell it (they would say this as they were taking the set I made for them for free!! lol) When I got home I started doing some research, and decided yeah, I should give it a try. I signed up for an EBay store, then Etsy and now Artfire as well.

2. Do you have any other hobbies or interests? I love to read and watch movies but my business has pretty much become a full time thing so finding time to do anything other than make jewelry or promote my jewelry is pretty hard... I do try though!

3. How are your designs inspired? That is a tough question! I'll admit it I am inspired by other jewelry designers, of course I would never steal someone else's design but sometimes looking at the overall layout of a design will inspire me to make something... I think mostly my inspiration comes from my own imagination... I can sit for hours with a bunch of findings and crystals spread out in front of me and just stare at them, building different designs in my head until I come up with something I love.. And I only make jewelry that I love; I simply cannot make myself create jewelry that I would not be happy wearing myself.

4. Do you have any advice for other crafters, jewelery or not, for selling "in these difficult times?" any success tips? Promote yourself everywhere! That is the single best tip I can give, I am far from an expert in the subject but my sales have greatly increased since I joined social networks... As far as jewelry designers go, we are all very small fish in a very very large pond and if we aren't constantly getting our name and brand out there for people to see it doesn't take long for us to be lost.

5. What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first got started? That Sterling Silver wasn't as expensive as I thought it was... also that it is a LOT easier to work with then the cheaper stuff.

6. What's on your horizon -- what skills would you like to acquire, goals that you'd like to accomplish? I plan to take some metal smith classes. I would also love to make the front page on Etsy! My main goal is to just continue to push myself to learn new things!

7. Do you sell to boutiques? Craft fairs? Online Exclusively? Where do you get most of your sales? Yes I do, I sell at just about any craft fair that I can afford to get into and there are a couple of stores here locally that sell my items. Just recently I was put in touch with a great Etsy seller who is opening a boutique at the end of March in downtown Colorado Springs and she has graciously allowed me to sell my items there, it is a great gig because she just charges a monthly space fee for a certain number of items and then when things sell she will send me the money and she takes zero out of sells, can't get any better than that! I'm not sure if she is accepting any more people or not but if anyone is interested you can find her on Etsy at http://kabibimei.etsy.com/

8. Tell me about your giveaway... I am giving away an emerald Swarovski necklace and earring set on my blog.. All you have to do to enter is post a story of good luck in your life. The contest runs until midnight March 9th and I will choose the winner the morning of the 10th and I will ship the item to the winner at no cost.. Everyone is welcome to enter, even those won don't live in the U.S., and I ship worldwide!http://youniquelychic.blogspot.com/

Sea Glass Necklace set just finished!!

It's done! I can't believe it's finally done!

This necklace set took 4 months and 2 days to create. You got it. Four months to gather just the "right" materials, starting with 3 pieces of Genuine Sea Glass gathered on a beach in Scotland. I wire-wrapped the sea glass, then added fluorite, silver, glass, amethyst and light green aventurine.

This necklace gives you a feeling of the ocean. The combination of colors was encouraged by the natural colors in the fluorite and inspired by the wildness and beauty of the sea.

I make earrings for every set I create. This earring set features lever-back findings, aventurine, fluorite and silver rondelle spacer beads. The bottom bead is hanging on it's own head pin, so it will sway back and forth independently of the top segment. I'm going to make a set with two more pieces of sea glass, but they will be listed seperately. All earrings can be converted to clip-in or post with no extra charge.

The clasp is a handmade S-style clasp made with Anti-tarnish silver, and stiffened with my rawhide mallet. I enjoy making clasps like this because they add a special touch to the piece that it adorns. The sea glass is also hand wired. I'll be listing this set on Etsy this weekend.

Through October 10, I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop. When you purchase any item from my shop, if you tell me where you heard about my shop I'll send you a free pair of earrings in addition to your purchase!