Showing posts with label abalone jewelry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abalone jewelry. Show all posts

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Opal: One of the October Birthstones

October is one of those months that has two modern birthstones: the opal and the pink tourmaline. Opal jewelry seems to be more popular today, perhaps because jewelry made with pink tourmalines is harder to find. (We do have jewelry on the Cluny Grey site with pink tourmalines on our Tourmaline Bracelets page.) Today I have a few of the new opal bracelets and opal earrings I'm about to put on the site. I will also have a couple of pieces made with Australian opals, the opals that many people first think of when they think of opals. Australian opals with their pink or bluish fire are very difficult to get in bead form, probably because of the difficulty of drilling them. Most of our opals are pink Peruvian opals, blue Peruvian opals, and yellow opals.
Peruvian opals are quite versatile. The opal bracelet above has pink opals mingling with beautiful lampwork beads (some of our favorites) and green chalcedony. The opals here are highly polished, light pink nuggets. Below, the pink Peruvian opals are faceted ovals that are very pink with very few inclusions. These pink opals give a dressier look to the bracelet as does the tiny beaded second chain with three floating heart charms.The faceted nuggets in the opal bracelet (shown in pictures above and below) have many inclusions in both black and brown; the black inclusions in particular give them a distinctive look making them perfect for pairing with faceted black chalcedony nuggets. The inclusions also give the bracelet a more casual look that would be great with jeans as well as office attire.
I am an ardent admirer of gold which I paired with the very nice faceted ovals below for a classic, dressy looking bracelet. All the metal is 14k gf; two charms give it a fun touch. And below this bracelet is an opal bracelet made with Peruvian blue opals. Here are blue opals with inclusions that look great with black chalcedony. I do have some very blue, almost inclusion-free blue Peruvian opals, but I often like to use these that have a translucent look with black inclusions. Although many gemstones are truly flawed by inclusions, opals are often enhanced and more interesting with them.

The opal earrings above would look great with our opal bracelets.
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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Gemstones and Abalone with a Necklace or Two


March is almost over, and it's cherry blossom time. For me, this means several different things: my darling grand-daughter will be one year old, Washington will be inundated with tourists (and traffic) hoping to find the perfect confluence of blossoms, warm weather and sunlight to view what is truly one of Nature's lovely sights, and I am a month closer to a trip to Africa.
For jewelry, it means that I'll be working on items for Mother's Day, graduation, prom, June weddings, and summer beaches. Meanwhile, I have an odd assortment of jewelry pieces today!
First, above is a chrysoprase bracelet featuring really lovely chunky faceted chrysoprase nuggets that are a bit different from others that I've seen because of the brown that has been deliberately saved and made a part of the green chrysoprase nugget. Dynamite with the right outfit! And the star of the bracelet is a vintage sterling silver clasp with an inset flower cabochon (glass). A pretty lampwork bead with a shot of soft pink and perfect small green nuggets of chrysoprase finish the bracelet.
Below are two abalone bracelets that both get a kick from added gemstones; the first bracelet features faceted turquoise rectangles (some of my best) in a pretty blue; the second bracelet has faceted thick ovals of aqua chalcedony. Both have charms and toggle clasp closures in sterling.
Sometimes I seem to neglect using a certain gemstone and my supply of jewelry pieces gets low; I know it's because I'll often start using a certain gemstone and won't want to put it down, so that I don't rotate my time with different gemstones. I've neglected using jade lately, and will be making up for it, starting with the bracelet that you see above. Jade doesn't just come in green, but in a slew of beautiful colours. Here the bracelet has the traditional jade green along with a pink that picks up the pink in the gorgeous lampwork beads. A carved flower in pink jade repeats the flower theme of one of the lampwork beads. Two strands mean that this bracelet makes a definite statement.
Another two-strand bracelet below features calcite and jasper as well as another of those vintage clasps made of sterling silver. Such a beautiful clasp means that no matter which way the bracelet turns, there is something lovely to see. This bracelet has a generous helping of sterling silver beads from Bali as well.

I am making more necklaces than I did in the past (I am such a bracelet person!). I love the agate necklace above made with white agate, Swaraovski crystals, and a fantastic geode druzy agate pendant (very in style today). A special lily bead with a string of Swarovski bicones adds a touch of the unusual to this necklace.
Prayer box necklaces have been a staple on the Cluny Grey Jewelry site, but the one you see here is different because the prayer box is cylindrical instead of square. Sterling crosses from different regions hang on either side; a crystal clear Swarovski cross represents purity and virtue. Because coral was an ancient Christian symbol for protection, I added a coral charm to one side of the prayer box. The closure is a sterling lobster clasp.
Another staple on the website is Austrian Crystal Earrings, but I'm especially fond of these silver shadow Swarovski earrings made with Graphic beads, pretty Bali flower beads, and some of my favorite sterling earwires that have intricate roses on the front.
The chrysoprase earrings below are a perfect match for the bracelet at the top of this post.For a lot of fun, upload a picture of yourself with your hair pulled back to ivillage.com's makeover (http://www.ivillage.com/makeover) beauty page and try on different hairstyles and makeup.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

The Sparkle of Christmas


It is truly the Christmas season! Every year, it creeps up on me, it seems, earlier and earlier. NO, I don't have my Christmas shopping done; the tree is not yet up (it should arrive by Fedex on Thursday, a nice fresh Fraser fir) and I am as busy as I can be! And it's only the 7th of December - I can remember when that date would have meant ages and ages until Christmas, but not any more.
I do really love the Christmas season. Here in Arlington, we've already had our first snowfall, big, fluffy flakes that looked like feathers falling from a goosedown pillow. Lovely.
Today, just a small sampling of some of the new pieces going on the website. I can't seem to get them all on there and priced fast enough!
First, above is a labradorite bracelet that is a bit different from most of those I make. It's a smaller scale, and it has apatite in it to match the flash of the labradorite stones. Below, a sunstone bracelet features lots of sterling silver charms, a sterling Thai Karen Hill Tribes chain, a special lampwork bead, and pretty, flashing sunstone nuggets, rondelles, and triangles. Adding to the sparkle is a special marcasite toggle clasp. Sunstone looks great with many colours since its sparkle perks up black and other neutrals and it's a great complement to blue and green. If you like to wear coral jewelry in the summer, sunstone is the fall and winter equivalent.
The freshwater pearl bracelet also features chain from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes and charms and beads (sterling of course) in an ocean them. The lampwork bead that is the focal is one of master lampworker Robin Weber's special beads.
And in keeping with the idea of the ocean, next is an
abalone necklace with an unusual pendant. The abalone shimmers and shines; the pendant is reminiscent of seaweed waving in the ocean currents. The middle branch holds a large oval of abalone; one side has a faceted oval smoky quartz and a faceted marquise rhodonite garnet, the other, a round faceted peridot and an oval faceted blue topaz.


The bottom unique bracelet bracelet (2 views) features a large focal emerald nugget, faceted rondelle sapphires. faceted rondelle emeralds, large faceted ruby rondelles and faceted rectangle rubies. The sterling silver bracelet has a pendant with a cabochon ruby in a bezel setting.

If you are still Christmas shopping, we are starting to send everything by Priority mail (no charge to the customer) to make sure that it reaches you by Christmas. Give a unique gift to someone special! If we don't have something you like, please see our blog list for other "indie" jewelry dealers!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Gleam, Glimmer, Shimmer!


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!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Getting Ready for Fall


Women's Wear Daily is already showing the Spring 2010 fashions, but luckily here at Cluny Grey we don't have to get that far ahead! We are working feverishly on the Fall Collection which we will be posting soon. Meanwhile, custom orders are keeping us busy (as well as my new grand-daughter). And, as usual, it is just a challenge to keep our site pages filled with fresh jewelry as other jewelry sells. Today I have a few "odds and ends" - no special theme here!
First I have a couple of copper bracelets. Copper has been in fashion for a couple of seasons now and it is getting better and better! No more thinking that copper belongs to those medicinal bracelets; it is a chic accessory colour and copper jewelry looks great when you're wearing copper-coloured shoes and/or carrying a copper-coloured bag. An added plus is that it looks great on all skin types. And copper looks great with many of the new Fall colours. Above, a classic turquoise bracelet gets its extra punch from copper in the form of accents and a large linked copper chain. The copper bracelet below is a combination I love: copper Swarovski crystals and copper accents.

I'm very fond of blue Peruvian opal; here you see two opal bracelets, one with sterling silver and one with borosilicate lampwork beads and sterling silver. I'm especially fond of blue Peruvian opal when it has a whitish tint and black inclusions as in the bracelet below.

I can never keep enough ankle bracelets, whether gold or silver, on the site pages. The one above is made with sterling silver and abalone, a great summer combination. Finally, below a pair of dangle earrings made from pretty dark blue lampwork beads.
COMING IN SEPTEMBER, RIGHT AFTER LABOR DAY, THE CLUNY GREY FALL COLLECTION!!!!

Monday, October 29, 2007

Mother of Pearl, Labradorite, and Lampwork


It's a miracle I have any new pictures to post: besides doing custom work and packing like crazy, we have been remodeling our home (new floors in 3 downstairs rooms, a new upstairs bathroom, and downstairs bathroom as well as some cosmetic changes and painting the den). The workers are finally finished and my work has just begun. All the furniture in the rooms we changed had to be moved and while the workers moved the furniture back (my whole closet had to be emptied - shelving and all!) this is a wonderful opportunity to clean, clear out old clothes and all the junk we seem to have collected over the years. Of course, we still have to get a lot of decorating done. Fun, but whew! time-consuming and tiring!
A couple of nights I stayed very late at the studio, and the result is what you see on this post today.
When I started out, I didn't mean to work with mother-of-pearl, but like so many times, these funny silver mother of pearl pieces were on the workbench where I kept looking at them until I had to pick them up and play with them. The result: earrings and a bracelet made with silver mother-of-pearl with an Aurora Borealis coating added and Swarovski crystals in Silver Shadow.
Of course, I love labradorite and work with it any chance I get, so the natural thing to do when I realized I needed to replenish the abalone jewelry stock was to mix abalone and labradorite together with sterling silver and some of my favorite lampwork beads from Robin Weber. It's a combination that I've used before, but one I don't think that I will tire of anytime soon.
The last lampwork bracelet is one of the prettiest bracelets I've ever made. Unfortunately, the picture is one of the worst that I've ever taken. I think that the soft almost opalescent pink on the beads is so subtle that it just doesn't show up well. The lampwork beads are made by Lynn Nurge of Laffingull (she's the beadmaker who makes smaller scale beads that are perfect for bracelets). I've mixed the lampwork with good gem quality peridot and sterling silver. The second strand of the bracelet is a very large linked sterling chain with the tiniest little sterling daisy charms hanging from the links (these don't show up very well either).
To my readers in the Scandinavia and Estonia, I'm sure that you're beginning to snuggle in and get cozy while to those of you in Hawaii (you know who you are), once again, I am so jealous of your climate. Meanwhile, I can see that a fire in our fireplace is in the near future.