Showing posts with label Swarovski crystals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Swarovski crystals. Show all posts

Monday, August 18, 2008

Lariats: Pearls and Gemstones, Gold and Silver


I like lariats, but like some other things I forget, I sometimes forget to make them until I realize that the Lariat Necklace page has only a few necklaces on it, or I put one of my own around my neck and think how much I like fastening a necklace in the front. I always have to take a break at some point during the day when working on custom pieces, especially when I am trying to think how I want the finished result to look (when someone has simply said, "Make a necklace for me" when its design is left up to me. Working on a lariat takes me away from the task at hand and refreshes me, and usually it doesn't take me that long to make one.
Here are a few lariats I've made over the past couple of weeks at odd times.
Above, getting ready for September and its sapphire birthstone is a sapphire lariat necklace with sterling silver. And yes, those yellow gemstones forming the stamen of the flower are sapphires also.
Below is a lariat necklace featuring freshwater pearls, Biwa and coin, with mother of pearl and flashing rainbow moonstone. Hanging at the end is a special Karen Hill Tribes sterling silver dragonfly pendant and a carved mother of pearl flower and leaf.


Below is a lariat necklace made with a 14k goldfilled textured oval link chain, a Swarovski crystal copper butterfly, 14k goldfilled pansy, and a 14k goldfilled dragonfly and disk.
Finally, the last lariat is one that I put on and reluctantly took off when it was time to go home (I try on almost all my jewelry pieces, especially bracelets, to make sure that they hang correctly and are well-balanced). It's a sterling silver chain with a double toggle and one of my favorite colour combinations from Swarovski: morion and silk Swarovski crystals. It also features a little sterling shell charm and a butterfly charm from the Hill Tribes. (There are two pictures of it: one on a white background, and one on a black background - getting the subtle silk colour to show up is especially difficult - it's a pale peach).
I'll be posting these on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website the next two nights (days are for making jewelry; nights at home are when I do the online postings usually).


Monday, May 12, 2008

Shades of Blue

I just spent the last week in Florida! How wonderful is that? It was business as usual with the work laptop and almost the entire jewelry inventory along for the ride, but somehow business is quite different with waves frothing on white sand and people you love all around you.
It's funny that I made so much blue-toned jewelry before going to Florida - I'm sure it was my subconscious anticipating the sea. The top lapis bracelet with two strands of lapis is a blue that mimics the dark blue of the ocean close to the horizon; the necklace (of Swarovski crystals entirely) has that clear turquoise that you see closer to the shore as does the bottom bracelet made of Peruvian blue opals. The two Swarovski starfish are just a nice bonus! The lampwork bracelet that you see immediately below is a bit of an anomaly, but still somehow seemed to fit into the sea/beach theme.