I love Thanksgiving; it is my favorite holiday of the year. This year was especially good because we had children at Thanksgiving - my new grand-daughter and a three-year-old guest. What was remarkable was that we managed to have Thanksgiving here in Arlington, in an ill-equipped apartment instead of at home where all the good china, crystal, and pots and pans are. I hope that we are better equipped next year!
Tomorrow is what is known as "cyber-Monday", supposedly the day people do online Christmas shopping. I'm not sure about that, but just in case, I've been trying to tidy the website and get things listed by tomorrow. There will be a few new jewelry pieces also.
Above, a labradorite bracelet flashes its iridiscent colours, while below, a unique bracelet has a favorite mix of mine: lapis, turquoise, and carnelian.
Below are salvation bracelets,
both made of genuine gemstones, that make marvelous Christmas gift for those who wish to show their faith. The second salvation bracelet features a large emerald nugget, a large ruby rondelle, and a large, smooth sapphire nugget as well as onyx, rock crystal, and citrine. It also has unusually elaborite sterling silver accents.
The bracelet that you see above is not rose quartz, but a very, very pretty pink chalcedony. Its matching chalcedony necklace also features a sterling silver chain with extra charms hanging from it.
Finally, a special piece: a smoky quartz bracelet has a special turtle clasp that features a golden Biwa pearl as well as a cabochon peridot set in its back.
I hope that you've recovered from your Thanksgiving feast and are getting ready to enjoy the holidays!
According to Vogue and other important fashion magazines, gold is back in fashion. Of course, I don't think that it was ever out! I love the gleam of gold, and while I will concede that there are certain gemstones that are best served by sterling silver or white gold, (think rose quartz) I generally prefer my own jewelry to be gold or a mixture of silver and gold.
One of my favorite combinations is lapis, carnelian, and turquoise; all of these gemstones look great with silver (although lapis always looks better with gold), but put them all together and you've just got to have yellow gold to match the richness of the colours! Above, a unique bracelet with lapis, carnelian, and turquoise accented with 14 karat goldfilled elements (with the exception of the toggle which is vermeil), and below, the matching necklace and
dangling earrings.
Above is a charm bracelet using vintage lucite flower beads and Swarovski crystals. I used to make different versions of these quite often, but they can take an extraordinary amount of time to make. They catch the light wonderfully.
Below is the shimmer of labradorite - a favorite stone. This bracelet has very good flash that is accentuated by, believe it or not, tanzanite Swarovski crystals. Although the mixture may sound unlikely, it is one that works.
And because it is November, below are two more citrine pieces: a citrine bracelet with the addition of apatite, and a pair of citrine earrings that hang from sterling earrings with citrine cabochons.
If you have a custom order, please start thinking about it now; things get very busy the closer Christmas gets!
I'm very fond of citrine, the gemstone ranging from a pale yellow to a dark orange. First, I just love the colour yellow; second, citrine is an extremely versatile gemstone that looks great with many different colours. I wear it often with black because I like the contrast of the yellow against dark colours. I like a neutral colour that I call champagne or sand - it's a version of khaki almost, but with golden tones instead of brown - Anne Klein calls it safari. A paler citrine is gorgeous with it. In the summer, nothing looks fresher than citrine bracelets and necklaces paired with white linen or cotton.
Citrine is a variety of quartz with a moh's hardness of 7, a relatively durable stone although it can be scratched, and prolonged exposure to heat and sunlight will change its colour .Citrine is believed to have many mystical qualities. It is known as the "money" stone or "merchant's" stone; some merchants will put a citrine in their cash registers to draw money to them. The ancients believed that putting a citrine on the forehead would increase psychic powers, and it supposedly will increase memory, aid in curing depression and diabetes, and foster creative expression, especially for writers.
The citrine's name comes from the French word for lemon, citron. The yellow colour is from the presence of iron. Ironically, if you own a citrine, you probably also own an amethyst! This is because the natural citrine is rather rare and most today are made by exposing an amethyst or smoky quartz to high heat to turn it into a citrine. 
You will be able to find the citrine bracelets on this page on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website at Citrine Bracelets.
Happy Birthday, November!
I love Thanksgiving; it is my favorite holiday of the year. This year was especially good because we had children at Thanksgiving - my new grand-daughter and a three-year-old guest. What was remarkable was that we managed to have Thanksgiving here in Arlington, in an ill-equipped apartment instead of at home where all the good china, crystal, and pots and pans are. I hope that we are better equipped next year!
Below are salvation bracelets, both made of genuine gemstones, that make marvelous Christmas gift for those who wish to show their faith. The second salvation bracelet features a large emerald nugget, a large ruby rondelle, and a large, smooth sapphire nugget as well as onyx, rock crystal, and citrine. It also has unusually elaborite sterling silver accents.
