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Monday, May 3, 2010
I love May, the month of my birthday, for its flowers, green leafy beginnings shooting from the ground, and for the life that suddenly moves from inside stuffy houses to the fresh and fragrant outdoors. I always think of it as the month of emeralds, and the emerald is truly an appropriate birthstone for May. I love working with emeralds and I especially like to combine them with other gemstones. Today, however, most of the jewelry pieces that you see here have emeralds mixed only with sterling silver and lampwork beads. The emerald bracelet above is an example since it features only emeralds and sterling silver in two strands. Little charms hang around the bracelet and give it the life that this May birthstone deserves while opaque and transparent emeralds in different shapes and sizes mingle with one another.
One of the things I love about making jewelry is that I can make it affordable. At one time, few people could ever afford an emerald bracelet or necklace or even earrings. But using emeralds of different quality that have been made into beads, I can make a piece of emerald jewelry that you can wear forever - and it is the real thing!
Above, is an emerald bracelet with one lampwork bead that gives it a lively touch, while the emerald bracelet below features three of our nicest lampwork beads as the focal for the bracelet.
And the last emerald bracelet is extremely simple: a sterling silver bangle with four light-coloured fluted emeralds set in sterling scallops.
The earrings that you see here are also genuine emeralds, again mixed with sterling silver. I love the dainty chandelier earrings with three little faceted emerald rondelles dangling from each earring.
Finally, a cultured freshwater pearl emerald necklace with genuine emeralds. Keishe pearls are my new favorite pearl; their iridescence is generally particularly strong and their uneven shapes make them shine all the more.
Don't forget Mother's Day this Sunday! We are offering FREE PRIORITY SHIPPING on anything you buy!
emerald necklace
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Hello, everyone.
I have been suffering from Internet withdrawal, lack of heat, hot food, and hot showers. Why? Tuesday evening when we arrived home, we had just walked in the door when the electricity went off. It has never come back on at home. We have an all-electric house, so that means we have no hot water, no heat source but our fireplace, and no light but candles. Did you know that you can read by candlelight?
Unfortunately, the electricity has been off at our offices also until this afternoon. When we found out that the electricity was back on at the office, you've never seen two people leave a house in such a whirlwind! The cats still had perplexed looks on their faces as we ran out the door!
We have had a huge ice storm; trees that I thought were so old and strong that they were untouchable have had limbs broken off from the top and sides so that they are only half as tall as they were. (I took a picture, then left my camera at home, but I will post). Everything outside is shining, beautiful like some kind of fairy land . Hans and Gerda may run through my back yard any minute! But the sounds Tuesday night and Wednesday night were horrible, the cracking sounds of branches breaking off trees - all night long.
I've never experienced a power outage this long before, and as soon as I got to the office, I tried to find out when it would end. It may be Sunday before we have power (and we live in town - and all of our power lines are underground!). It could be longer.
As long as I can get to the office and on the Internet, I may be able to keep my sanity (thank God, our offices are across from the police station and the county courthouse!).
PLEASE if you have any tips for living without electricity, share them with me!
Meanwhile, a bracelet and necklace that were made before this catastrophe:
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Summer is here and with summer comes coral! Of course, I wear coral in the winter also (after all, my favorite colors are peach and coral), but coral just sings summer. I prefer my coral with gold although it is beautiful with silver, especially the lighter peach colours. Above is the newest coral bracelet, and it's made with gold and black onyx. Coral just begs to go with certain other elements - such as pearls - and anything black. Here I've added lampwork beads as well from River Oaks Lampwork.
The coral bracelet below is an example of just how beautiful peachy-pink coloured coral can be with silver. The borosilicate lampwork beads have a gorgeous glow and great depth of colour. The filigree orchid is from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes. The last coral bracelet features red coral, again with gold and just one lentil lampwork bead. It's very simple, but like almost all coral, it really looks great against darker skin.
Also, I'd like to spread the word about a contest that the online jewelry store, JR Dunn , is having. Details are below:
JRDunn.com, the largest designer jewelery store on the web, has announced a chance for bloggers to win a Swiss timepiece for Father's Day. Simply by sharing how great their dad is, bloggers will be able to enter to win a unisex Michele Deco Classic watch ( http://store.jrdunn.com/product-p/mw00mw06a00a0025jrd.htm) with a black leather strap.
HOW TO ENTER:
Bloggers should write a post on their blog about why their dad is the most deserving of this great Swiss watch and either direct message @jrdunn on Twitter.com, or email dsnyder@jrdunn.com with the link to the blog entry. Mashups of video, images, and other media are encouraged as creativity always wins points with one of the most creative jewelry retailers in the world, JR Dunn.
Submissions will be accepted from now until June 11th at 7:00 pm EST. At that point in time, JRDunn.com will pick the top three entries, and post them at http://founder.jrdunnblog.com. The winner will be decided by Internet users as polling will take place on http://founder.jrdunnblog.com, as well as @jrdunn on Twitter.com. The final votes will be tallied on Friday June 13th at 3:00 pm EST, and the winner will be announce shortly thereafter, so the winner can announce the gift and share their blog with their Dad on Fathers Day. As an added bonus, any bloggers that enter will receive $25 off of a minimum $250 purchase at JRDunn.com.
Hmmm, and if your father doesn't really need a new watch, ladies notice that that is a Michelle unisex watch!! Sing Dad's praises - and do it now!
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Saturday, April 19, 2008
When I mix gemstones for bracelets, I mix because of a paradigm that I've adhered to for quite a while. I see many gemstones in terms of season. That may sound stupid, but I simply can't help it, and if you look at many of the jewelry pieces that I design, you can see this particular mind-set of mine at work. First, let me say that I wear all gemstones at almost any time of the year - this is something that happens when I'm creating. And, let me add that the precious gemstones that I use: ruby, sapphire, and emerald seem to me to be seasonless - that is, they can be for the hottest day of summer or the coldest of winter, but with certain other coloured stones, I have a definite prejudice!
Above you see one example: a citrine bracelet with two strands of citrine and silver; now, that is definitely a summer bracelet as is the aquamarine bracelet that you see below:
Of course, the link is easy, you think: sea and sun! But if you look at the rainbow moonstone bracelet below because of the white (beneath the blue flash) most people would think of summer. Not I! Rainbow moonstone is a winter stone; I have the same idea about labradorite jewelry. I attribute it to the blue flashes that they have that always remind me of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights and conjure up visions of snow, reindeer in Lapland, the icy lands of Norway and Finland.
Sunstone is one of those stones that reminds me of hot summers - and also, hot days of Autumn, before that first chill sets in. It truly is a warm stone. And as one might think, when I mix pastel colours largely for one of my unique bracelets, it usually turns out to be a summer bracelet.
So what season is the peacock blue apatite and sunstone bracelet? The addition of the dark peacock blue makes it seasonless, adding the cool tones of winter to that hot summer sun. I've also de-seasoned a bracelet with labradorite as well - adding some aquamarine for summer and balancing the two stones with amethyst (which I think of as Fall and Spring)and a couple of dichroic beads for extra sparkle. To make the top citrine bracelet Fall-worthy, I would probably add some ocean jasper to it.
I know that some designers prefer to consult a colour wheel, but we all design in our own way - and sometimes in a way that perhaps makes sense only to one person.
Above is a "seasonless" emerald bracelet.
