Cloisonne, Et Al

I've been working with cloisonne a bit; it seems that when I get some cloisonne on the site, it sells (a good thing), but it does make keeping the cloisonne page full difficult. Cloisonne has been around for a long time - supposedly since the Yuan Dynasty in China (approximately 1279 A.D.) although some sources say that it originated in the Middle East and was perfected by the Chinese and the French (in fact, the term cloisonne is French). Little wire filaments (usually gold) are applied to metal then filled in with enamel. The cloisonne can be made with base metal, bronze, copper, brass, gold-plated, goldfilled, or genuine gold, or sterling silver. The cloisons are the spaces or sections within the wire that are filled with enamel, thus making the design. All of the Cluny Grey Cloisonne is on one page: the Cloisonne Jewelry page.For me the challenge is finding cloisonne with sterling silver filigree instead of gold since sterling silver is very popular now. I've been finding also that much of the silver cloisonne that I've come across tends to be very finely made - usually a bit superior to the gold cloisonne (which is usually gold-plated or goldfilled). The three bracelets that you see here are some of my favorite cloisonne colours mixed with, top, Swarovksi crystals in Dark Indigo AB, the red with a long cinnabar bead and tube "bangles" from Thailand in vermeil, and below with cherry quartz. I've used vermeil and goldfilled components with the cloisonne.
Below are a couple of other pieces I will also be posting soon: a Turquoise Bracelet with the addition of pink chalcedony and pretty lampwork beads of pink and turquoise; a double-stranded Garnet Necklace with a pretty cross pendant with garnets and green and black onyx.

Contest News: Leslie Turtle will be choosing the contest winner of the "Name the Necklace" contest. We've had quite a few entries (customers are sending their entries to the clunygre @ clunygreyjewelry.com address). I will post some of the finalists in the next day or so.

Blogs: Got an honourable mention in Marie Cramp's blog about beginning jewelry-making. She's located in Calgary (why does Canada so appeal to my imagination?) and you'll be hearing more from her, I'm sure. See her blog at: Skye Jewels.

A woman after my own heart: L.L. draws, loves animals (volunteers at her local nature center), has cats, and on top of that, loves Tiffany's and Louis Vuitton! See her blog at Tiaras and Talons.