Mother of Pearl, Mystic Topaz, and Fluorite

I was shocked to look at The Jewelry Blog and see how long it's been since I've posted anything. Christmas, all those packages, jewelry, jewelry, jewelry, a trip to Seattle, and my two new kitties have kept me very, very busy over the holidays so far.
So some things I've been working on: first, I added a couple of new pages to the Cluny Grey Jewelry website, including Mother of Pearl and Mystic Topaz (just click on the names to go there). I so often start working with one material and have to force myself to stop; I've been doing that with mother of pearl as you can see with the first and third bracelets here. I'm in love with the gold mother of pearl and vermeil bracelet, and I'm rather fond of the blue one also. In between the two is the mystic topaz; it's very expensive mystic topaz (and quite perfect) that I've mixed with Robin Weber's fantastic silver-laced beads and some of my favorite Karen Hill Tribes sterling silver decorated chain. Yum.
Of course, my tastes are quite eclectic, so when some great fluorite gemstone beads arrived one day, their wonderful colour made me stop everything else and sit down to make a bracelet (and earrings, too). The fluorite bracelet once again is just made by Robin's wonderful beads, quite different ones this time, with the greens and purples one finds in fluorite and little "bumps".



The fluorite bracelet is on the website's Fluorite Jewelry page along with earrings and necklaces.

A New Year's Resolution: (just one among many) Write in the blog more often!

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The December Birthstone? Turquoise (Among Others)

The December birthstone is difficult to decide upon. It seems there is no hard and fast birthstone for December the way there is for, say, May - the emerald, or January's garnet. Some sources will tell you that the birthstone for December is the Zircon, which is not the same as a cubic zirconia, but a real stone that is usually colourless and heat treated to turn it a beautiful blue colour. Some say the December birthstone is the Blue Topaz, probably because it became quite popular as a jewelry stone, and many people started viewing the Zircon as a synthetic, confusing it with the cubic zirconia. Other sources say turquoise which is what I am going with. So with turquoise in mind, I did the above bracelet with a mix of blues - blue turquoise and blue lapis - inspired once again by the great lampwork beads of James Derrick Reeves. Also, not only do I like lapis mixed with turquoise personally, but it has been mentioned as a traditional alternative to turquoise and blue topaz as the December birthstone. The smaller lapis pieces are good lapis from Afghanistan in a lovely dark royal blue. I have listed this bracelet on the Lapis Jewelry page on the Cluny Grey website, simply because there was more room on that page.
The turquoise bracelet above features borosilicate (boro) lampwork beads and blue ovals and rounds in turquoise. I think of this more as a birthstone bracelet than the others.
Turquoise gets its name from Turkey, and it has long been used in jewelry. A gift of turquoise is supposed to represent friendship and fidelity. In the ancient world, turquoise was considered to be a sacred stone.
The bottom turquoise bracelet is called "In the Time of Flowers" and has great turquoise nuggets with the wonderful spidering veins that makes it so pretty when it is this colour blue, and little charms at intervals throughout the whole bracelet. Everything is sterling silver, and the lampwork beads were chosen to complement the spidering as well as the turquoise. To see more turquoise bracelets, click here.
If you don't know what your birthstone is, or want to know your Hindu birthstone, see our Birthstone Chart.

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Swarovski Rocks!

I really stayed away from Swarovski crystals when I first began making jewelry, and what a mistake that was! I am trying now to make up for lost time. Working with the crystals is such a delight visually since the flawless crystals sparkle and flash so much that I find myself pushing them around on my workspace the way my cats push their toys around the floor, toying with them, holding them for a moment, then walking away from one only to pounce on it later as though I'd never seen it before.

The top bracelet is made with aquamarine crystals - huge ones, the new Swawrovski Cosmic crystals - and sterling silver Karen Hill Tribes dragonfly beads.
I love bangle bracelets, and I really, really like this one. The Hill Tribes silver of course, then some Bali silver and then the huge Cosmic crystals in the 12mm and 16mm sizes. I am thinking of keeping this one if I don't sell it this week.
Copper Cosmic crystals and copper coins pearls suit my monochromatic tendencies and although I made this bracelet with sterling silver, the next one in these colours will be with gold. See Swarovski and Pearl Bracelet.
Large round Swarovski crystals in a green colour go perfectly with this natural abalone that I just got in. This bracelet really should be seen live to get its full effect.
I'll be posting a few pieces of jewelry on Ebay this weekend if I have time (see user id: chloemarie99 or do a search for Cluny Grey); otherwise, I'm getting them on the Cluny Grey website as quickly as I can.

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Tourmaline, Lampwork, and a Drusy

I didn't used to work with tourmaline very often; it is a rather expensive stone if you are able to find stones that don't look like lumps of coal (and I really don't care to work with lumps of coal) but I finally have had some luck with getting some decent tourmaline. This tourmaline bracelet mixes different colours of toumaline, including pink tourmaline, with sterling silver and a couple of lampwork beads from two different lampwork artists. I love the faceted nuggets, a cut I haven't yet gotten tired of.

I decided that I needed to make a lampwork bracelet without gemstones, and that I needed to use some of my new Swarovski Cosmic crystals - these are in Lt. Colorado topaz, and I am very happy with the way this bracelet turned out. The very, very nice lampwork beads were some that I've had and that are so special (and expensive) that I'd put off using them. They are also a rather odd colour as well and weren't easily matched. I do love the new Cosmic crystals by Swarovski.
A drusy agate pendant got me started on this necklace, and it was serendipity that some whitish to bluish-grey agate nuggets, smooth, arrived in the studio, just waiting to be paired with this drusy pendant. I'm making earrings to match, of course.
I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ah, the beginning of the holidays. From now on, everything will be rush, rush, rush!
See the drusy agate pendant necklace at
Cluny Grey Drusy Jewelry, and don't forget what a wonderful gift our unique handcrafted jewelry is!

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Unconventional vs. Conventional?

The first bracelet was inspired once again by the marvelous lampwork beads by James Derrick Reeves and reminds me of something a friend once said,"Artists can get away with anything."
"Oh, you mean like staying drunk all the time and being unfaithful?"
"No, "she said, "you know, like wearing green and purple together."
The bracelet above is made of tourmalinated quartz, lampwork beads, and wonderful faceted amethyst nuggets along with sterling silver chain and tiny little charms.
Maybe not as daring as green and purple together, but I was in a mood, and I'd just gotten these luscious faceted citrine nuggets (very nice), and decided to mix them with some light aqua chalcedony I had as well as the lampwork beads. The sterling silver accents are from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes.
For the more conventional, a rainbow moonstone bracelet with lampwork beads in a light periwinkle blue. The lampwork is by Burt Gumeson. There are also chalcedony nuggets and faceted rondelles as well as some tiny little cabochon rainbow moonstone charms.
In the same vein, but a different temperature is the bottom bracelet: a sunstone and boro lampwork bead bracelet with vermeil and a huge very special crab fire agate faceted nugget. The vermeil elements in this bracelet are from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes also.

After being out of town for a while, nothing is as hectic as returning and trying to catch up on all the work - even though I took plenty of work with me! Does work multiply exponetially when we're away?
To see these bracelets, and many more, go to our Cluny Grey Jewelry website; the link will take you to the citrine bracelet first. (Don't forget that citrine is the November birthstone).

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Citrine, Kyanite, Pearls, and a Little Lampworking

I haven't posted for a while since I've been busy in Washington, D.C. taking a lampworking class among other things. I drove my daughter's-in-law 2 cats there (about 900 miles) so that they could all be together since they are back in the US for a while. I've been busy trying to find blue topaz that is a decent colour, but affordable, and trying to resize a bracelet with huge chrysocolla beads so that it retains its original look. But I did do a couple of things.
The first bracelet celebrates citrine since citrine is the birthstone for November. Aren't the dragonfly beads great?
The pearl necklace/torsade came from an idea I had when I was in Bailey, Banks, and Biddle in St. Louis buying a watch for my husband. (Thanks for the inspiration B,B, & B).

Finally, the earrings are the most marvelous sterling silver woven rectangles from the Karen Hill Tribes that have kyanite coins hanging in front of them. The basketweave in the silver is wonderful.
I will post again soon, I promise! I am also trying to get new pieces on the website as soon as possible - check Cluny Grey Jewelry.


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TOO MANY BRACELETS!!! Pulsera, Brăţară, Bracelete, Armbånd, Karperec....

I run the risk of looking like a photo blog this week, but I was looking at some of the pictures of bracelets I'm adding to my Cluny Grey Jewelry website this week as well as my Ebay store and realized I had quite an eclectic group here. First, a bracelet made with muscovite - a stone I love because it sparkles. Next, a bracelet made of some better quality prehnite that I happened to find; what's interesting about this prehnite bracelet is that the wonderful lampwork beads by Robin really are more green and while they have a tinge of pink to them that is almost all that shows up when I photograph them. This is a wonderful bracelet!
Blue lace agate is always pretty, but when mixed with blue chalcedony, lampwork, and glory be! white opal Swarovski crystals! it is really special! This is a combination that I think that I'll be using again. The earrings do seem to glow, not just in the sunlight.
I'm starting to mix more Swarovski crystals with gemstones - something that I never used to do - or only rarely did, but I've decided that I really like the look. Great lampwork beads here; tanzanite Swarovski is just to die for, and these great amethyst faceted nuggets I got in Spain are wow!
Labradorite (picture taken in the sunlight) will probably always be one of my favorites. I wear labradorite earrings all the time because I like the surprising flash of blue coming through my long hair. And labradorite looks great with boro lampwork, too. Oddly enough, those little smooth square beads that look almost brown aren't; they are some of the flashiest labradorite I have, but I can never get all the labradorite to flash at once in one picture. But that's one of the great things about wearing labradorite - no matter which way you turn, there's always some stone flashing its chatoyancy.
I made the labradorite bracelet below with some of Robin's great beads that won't show up the green (pale) that they really are. I took labradorite that was more of a grey colour than the dark green that we generally expect labradorite to be - but grey labradorite with plenty of flash! I'm rather happy with the result.


A couple of these bracelets are up for auction on Ebay this week (or will be starting tomorrow and/or Wednesday; they'll start at half the price or even less that they will sell for normally so do your Christmas shopping early!
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A Little of Everything! Litt av alt, Vähäinen määrä -lta Kaikki, Un Poco de Todo

This week I've done a bit of everything as the spirit (or my muse?) moves me. I still have some of that wonderful ruby crazy lace agate that I combined with lampwork beads and Swarovski crystals for a bracelet that is bright and cheerful. This time of the year I can use bright and cheerful!
Rainbow moonstone is still a favorite of mine to work with and lately I've gotten some very good quality rainbow moonstone with quite a bit of flash. The 3 strand bracelet here began because I had to paly with the rainbow moonstone, then I wanted to do something with the curved sterling silver Karen Hill Tribes beads (hard to see here, but the circle charms are hanging from them. I was very happy with the bracelet when I finished it, and I did put it on Ebay: see user id chloemarie99 or do a search for Cluny Grey.
I'm becoming more interested in tourmaline. It is a rather high priced gemstone (for good tourmaline anyway) and hard to find in the sizes and shapes I would like to work with. This 2 strand bracelet makes use of nuggets, coins, and some pink chips. A lampwork bead picks up the pink in the tourmaline.
To see these and other bracelets and more jewelry from the Cluny Grey Jewelry collection, go to Cluny Grey Jewelry.

If you haven't voted yet in the Ka-Gold Jewelry design contest, go by and see all the entries - or enter yourself!

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October Birthstone: Opals Are Okay

In the world of handcrafted beaded jewelry, we seldom see those wonderful flash and fire opals that come from Australia since most of them are set as gemstones, but we do have some opal beads that are beautiful. First are my favorite, yellow opals, and for the men out there who want to get their October sweetie a birthstone jewelry piece, remember that not all women like pink! Yellow opals with translucence are a wonderful colour, sometimes they look like liquid butter, but they are also opaque and can range from almost white to a deep yellow with hints of green as well as many shades between. The nuggets in the bracelet above,"Emily Morgan", are very rough, but they do have great translucence so I mixed them with a lot of sterling silver - and nothing else so that the earthy beauty of the stones shows through.

The other opals that we beaded jewelrymakers use often are called Peruvian opals, and yes, they come from Peru. Rumour has it that the mines are limited and these opals will soon be gone, but I'm not sure if that's hype or truth. While they last, I love to use pink Peruvian opals, and they too, come in varying stages of colour and even translucence ranging from almost white to opaque pink to very dark bright pink. Sometimes they have yellowish or brown to black inclusions. I love the perfect ones, of course, but I'm especially fond of those that are pink with black lines running throughout. The bracelet above, "Millicent", has "pebble" opals with less pink and also a pink scarab bead that is almost perfect in colour.
The next bracelet has the type of pink opal nuggets that are quite common to find on the market today: they are pink with some translucence, some whitish parts and some black inclusions. They are perfect to mix with garnets and black lampwork beads.

"My First Love" is the name of the bracelet above; it is very sweet although a nice chunky bracelet with lampwork beads by James Derrick Reeves, a Thai Karen Hill Tribes intricate rose charm and a second strand of sterling silver chain with more small Hill Tribes charms.
Opals are formed when water becomes trapped in layers of silica. There are many kinds of opals and not all have flash or fire. Mexican fire opals, the common opal, Australian fire opals, Peruvian blue opals, Boulder opals (from around Boulder, Colorado) are just a few.
You can see more opals on the Cluny Grey Website of Unique Handcrafted Jewelry by going to Opal Bracelets and Opal Necklaces.
We will also be auctioning some opal jewelry on Ebay under Cluny Grey or look for user id: chloemarie99.

Don't forget the JEWELRY DESIGN CONTEST GOING ON AT KA-GOLD JEWELRY!



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More For Fall

I felt Fall today. A breeze in the humidity, an undercurrent of something cool in the air, the trees dancing gracefully to that rushing sound - yes, it's Fall here. For those of you not in the South, I will point out that I have been known to come home from teaching a night class in October and was so hot that I jumped in the pool. So Fall seems a little early actually.
On to Fall jewelry: I have decided that the gemstone that with the most "Fall" feeling is jasper. The bracelet above features red picture jasper, ocean jasper, and a couple of pieces of agate (another great Fall stone). This is "Listen to the Leaves" and it will go up for auction on Ebay tomorrow (Wednesday) night (late).

The next bracelet is primarily leopardskin jasper and has matching earrings. Most of the leopardskin jasper beads - and especially the round ones are huge! I think that this is about as chunky a bracelet as you would want to wear. The carved bead is red aventurine as is the heart charm (really the aventurine is more of a peach colour - the peach colour in the jasper beads.

The blue lace agate bracelet I did simply because I was so attraceted to the faceted rectangular and diamond shaped beads. Although I did add charms, this is one of the few gemstone bracelets that I've made lately that doesn't have any lampwork beads.

These jewelry pieces will probably all be on Ebay auction tomorrow night: look for Cluny Grey or check for seller id: chloemarie99 .

Jewelry Designers: Don't forget the ongoing contest at Ka Gold Jewelry!!! See previous blog entry for details.

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Enter Your Jewelry Designs In Contest

Ka-Gold-Jewelry artist David Weitzman is holding an intriguing contest for all jewelry designers. Jewelry designers submit their designs and the winner receives a rendering of this design in 14 karat gold! (Or if he/she wishes, 5 implementations in sterling silver).
What I love about this contest is that the designer is urged to submit a symbol that is special to him or her in some way whether it is a religious or cultural symbol or one that is unique to your website or one that has a personal meaning known only to you! You can submit your special design, website logo or the custom jewel you have always dreamed of.
The winner is selected by user’s votes. So even if you don't submit a design yourself, you can participate in the contest by going to the Ka Gold Jewelry site and voting for one of the designs that you see. The contest is an ongoing contest and every two months a winner is declared.
To see the current entries and vote for your favorite, go to Ka Gold Jewelry ContestTo see the contest rules and enter the contest yourself, go to Ka Gold Jewelry Contest The model will also be sold at Ka Gold Jewelry(if the submit person agrees) and it will be said that it is his design - a great way for jewelry designers to receive publicity and get your designs and name before a larger audience.

And while you're there...Ka-Gold Jewelry is a site I love to browse because they have some of the best information about symbolic imagery that I have seen on any jewelry site on the net. Check their Articles for some facinating information about symbols used in different cultures and eras. But watch out! You could stay on this site for hours!
Don't forget to check Cluny's New Fall Collection!
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Cluny's New Fall Collection

Time for the new Fall Collection here at Cluny Grey Jewelry. I've chosen 3 different bracelets to illustrate the variety that you will find in this Fall Collection. The first bracelet is a simple one-strand ocean jasper and lampwork bracelet with sterling silver and gemstone charms. I love the large ocean jasper olive beads in distinctive and different colours. The pretty lampwork beads are by artist Irene Collier.Labradorite, I love labradorite! I've been lucky enough to acquire some great labradorite with lots of the characteristic blue flash. The good news is that I've got some pieces of spectrolite coming - the finest labradorite from Finland. This double strand bracelet has a beautiful borosilicate bead as its focal. The second strand is a charm bracelet with wire-wrapped gemstones on the ends, and the chain a wonderful large linked one from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes. Lots of sterling silver just makes this bracelet super-shiney.
Brown and tan punctuated by yellow - when I was growing up I always had an outfit for the Fall with these colours predominating. Great citrine nuggets pick up on the yellow in the floral lampwork beads by James Derrick Reeves. This is a simple bracelet again, but one with a lot of presence. The gemstone charm is a faceted citrine set in a filigree of sterling silver.

See these pieces and many more at Cluny Grey Jewelry

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Cluny's New Fall Collection

Time for the new Fall Collection here at Cluny Grey Jewelry. I've chosen 3 different bracelets to illustrate the variety that you will find in this Fall Collection. The first bracelet is a simple one-strand ocean jasper and lampwork bracelet with sterling silver and gemstone charms. I love the large ocean jasper olive beads in distinctive and different colours. The pretty lampwork beads are by artist Irene Collier.Labradorite, I love labradorite! I've been lucky enough to acquire some great labradorite with lots of the characteristic blue flash. The good news is that I've got some pieces of spectrolite coming - the finest labradorite from Finland. This double strand bracelet has a beautiful borosilicate bead as its focal. The second strand is a charm bracelet with wire-wrapped gemstones on the ends, and the chain a wonderful large linked one from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes. Lots of sterling silver just makes this bracelet super-shiney.
Brown and tan punctuated by yellow - when I was growing up I always had an outfit for the Fall with these colours predominating. Great citrine nuggets pick up on the yellow in the floral lampwork beads by James Derrick Reeves. This is a simple bracelet again, but one with a lot of presence. The gemstone charm is a faceted citrine set in a filigree of sterling silver.

See these pieces and many more at Cluny Grey Jewelry

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Renaissance Woman

Have you ever known anyone whose range of skills and knowledge is not only wide, but who is also kind and beautiful? Then meet jewelry designer, former ballerina, astronomer, philosopher, college professor, fashion lover and artist (I know I've left something out!) Patricia Vener. (Oh, she's also a writer!) If you're a keen follower of fashion and a lover of artisan jewelry, especially the intricate beaded kind created with a strong artistic sensibility, check out Patricia's article on colors for fall -" Fall Fashion Colors for 2006".
Be sure to follow her links in the articles to see some of her fantastic jewelry. The necklace above is just a preview of the many beautiful pieces she has for sale on her site. Here is the link for the home page of her site: The Silver Dragon's Beadwork and Fine Art Galleries.
Enjoy!

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But It's Still Summer!

And so it is - still summer that is. But for those of us who sell any fashion item, we have to be at least a season ahead; therefore, I have the first of my "Fall" bracelets. The first is a double-strand labradorite bracelet with a borosilicate bead and a wonderfully detailed lampwork bead and some of the best labradorite I have. There's a lot of flash in this bracelet.
More borosilicate beads in the next bracelet which also features some rutilated quartz that I recently obtained from one of my favorite sources. I loved it so much that I worked with it until it was almost all gone, and then I ordered some more. This is also a double-strand bracelet with a nice sterling silver Karen Hill Tribes linked chain attached (chain in jewelry is very big this year).
More of that wonderful rutilated quartz that I had, only this time I just used the ones that were primarily black and white. They have great depth and the hair-like inclusions (rutiles) that create this class of stone. A length of sterling silver chain joins the two points on the bracelet where a bevy of little rutilated quartz rounds cluster. Karen Hill Tribes charms hang from another point on the bracelet. The lampwork beads are from one of my favorite beadmakers; they are unusual - black with actual raised dots of sterling silver scattered over the surface.

Cluny Grey Jewelry

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