Opulent Ruby

I love ancient 24K gold. I love archaeological treasures. I also love it with a modern twist. The gold in this collection is 22K-24K plated sterling, otherwise known as vermeil. Unless you want to pay for the actual thing this is a great way to have the look with out the cost. It's still a worthy piece of jewelry and you can own many. Just look at the saturated deep golden yellow of pure gold!

Opulent Collection

Here is finally a photo from the Opulent Collection. Just got the photos and this is the first one I edited so it's the first one posted. It's brushed vermeil C clasp and beads with Silver Rutilated Quartz. It sure looks gold to me so I will have to do research on it. I don't always trust what I hear even from the 'experts' till I can verify it myself.

This piece is representational of the Opulent Collection. I'm so excited the trend is back towards opulence and luxe. As we learned in design school, the cycle of recycle is about 25 years. That puts us back in the lap of the decadence and excess of the 80s. If you remember what was on Vogue back then then you know what is coming next. Speaking of which, Black is Back. There's your proof. Black has NOT been in since the 80s.

New Collection Coming Soon

I've been designing many new pieces, but wasn't planning on shooting a collection till later. It's just tons of work to get new pieces up on the site. The shoot, the edit, the pricing, the cataloging, the deleting of older styles, and the revamping of pages. By the time it's done they already look dated to my eye. I'm always a bit embarrassed of my previous collections even before I have a new collection completed. It's a little like looking back at your school pictures. A little immature or dorky. A little unsophisticated and dated. I almost don't want to own up to having anything to do with them. But I am always happy to see the growth and progress in my work. I always wonder where it will lead me as my designs keep evolving like they have a mind of their own. I'm just along for the ride, so I gave up trying to control it.

All this leads up to an unexpected photo shoot tomorrow! With one day's notice and no time to plan the collection. What will be will be. Amazingly, as I pull out all the pieces from the pile that I've been tossing all finished work into, they all look like a tightly planned collection. I guess my mind must have been in a particular mode, and without thinking all items produced with so many different materials are all as one style. I can't wait to have professional photos to use as all my bad photos are hurting my eyes.

Stayed tuned for a new look. It'll be a mini collection. Oh, I can barely stand the stuff that's there now!

As usual when there's no related image to post I'm including an unrelated image so there's eye candy for all. This is AAA grade setting gem quality Brazilian Amethyst with multi-faceted pointed underside for maximum sparkle. Truly beauteous.

Shows and Tell

Someone has to stop me. I'm only telling you about a very small percentage of my stone acquisitions like those women who hide their new clothes in the back of the closet only to bring one or two out in well paced increments. Most still have tags on them while they are out hunting for more! That's me. To support this mortgage consuming habit I've started doing shows to keep the world around me from crumbling. The good thing is I meet lots of people and sell a good amount of jewelry. The bad thing is now I can justify my hoarding even more. As it turns out, most of my great designs never make it to the website now. I love the immediacy of selling it and not making it again as production is not my forte. Making a design a second time just doesn't have that energy I crave. The downside of this is when I do want to, I will not be able to get into national boutiques operating this way. But hey, it sure suits my personality.

Speaking of bringing out one or two items at a time, here is my one item this time. These are the most transparent large aquamarine nuggets I've seen. Usually untreated aquamarine this size are heavily included and opaque. These are incredibly vibrant with superb clarity to match. I know I always make cocktail rings out of nice nuggets but they will really look fabulous and irresistible. Oh, of course lets not forget the chunky bracelets too.

Be sure to check my show schedule and catch them if you're in the area. You really get a good deal on everything when you catch me in person. Also see all the one of a kind items that never make it to the website. They are some of my best work.

Whiskey Quartz

I found a photo similar to the Whiskey Quartz I was drooling over at a trade show. Notice the sparkle on the facets. I love this checkerboard faceting. So sleek and modern.

Will the REAL Raspberry Quartz Please Stand Up

Isn't it silly that I won't write because I don't have a picture to go with the entry? I bought so many delicious new gemstones at the last trade show but have no photos to post. The photos I take don't accurately represent what I see in person so I will not use them.

I have a new stone called Raspberry Quartz and it's clear as rock quartz except it has these tiny red flakes caused by mica giving it its raspberry color. These red flakes gather only on one end of the stone leaving the rest clear. Sounds bizarre with looks to match. This is not the dyed opaque glass bead that's commonly referred to as raspberry quartz. I am sure this is not a new stone but just new on the gemstone bead market. Now, this is only one of the few new gems that I've seen at the trade shows and they are not common yet. Future entries I will talk about other new gemstones I purchased.

I think I should give photographing the gems another try. It's just not the same not having an image to show along side an entry. Especially an odd new gem.

Ok. Here are my unprofessional photos of Raspberry Quartz. They look pretty amazing made into earrings and rings. Will do bracelet when I get a chance. Will have to have an equally strong clasp to match these unique stones.

Also known as lepidocrocite.