Happy Thanksgiving!

It is my favorite time of the year! I love the Thanksgiving holiday. Good food, good wine, and conversation with people we love. What could be better? I have much to be thankful for this year (as I have other years as well). We are all well, happy, I have a wonderful trip to Africa planned; I will see my son, daughter-in-law and grand-daughter and get to spend time with my husband. Work is good, family is good, and life is good. Thanksgiving is a time to remember that daily annoyances mean little; that people mean everything. That the worth of our lives cannot be counted like money. It is in the way we face each day and the people we meet.

   We always dress for Thanksgiving whether it is at my house or we are going out. Tomorrow we will be having Thanksgiving out, and that means a dress for me and wonderful jewelry!

     Today I am showing a citrine necklace with a pretty carved carnelian flower at its center. I love this necklace because of its simplicity and because of the large flat faceted nuggets. I have a similar necklace I will probably wear for Thanksgiving dinner (only in gold, of course!).

Below are three chunky bracelets that would make great Christmas presents or stocking stuffers. The first chunky bracelet is made of a pretty agate and has a carved elephant as its centerpiece. But each of the other beads is special, too, carved ovals with an Asian flair.

Above is a sunstone chunky bracelet. Huge sunstones have a faint glitter in them and are accented only by the smallest sterling silver spacers. A pretty filigree scalloped toggle is the closure.

Below is an aventurine bracelet in a golden yellow. The olive shaped beads are especially appealing with little translucent spots in them.  The colour is marvelous.  Once again, the sterling silver is minimal so that the gemstones steal the show.

Above and below are some of the pieces I showed on my blog a few months back.  These Victorian style jewelry and antique style jewelry pieces are made of plated materials and in some cases feature rhinestones and other glass stones as well as freshwater pearls and natural gemstones. Most of the rhinestones and colored glass stones are vintage stones from the '30s and '40s. The filigrees are usually silver plated or gold plated. The pendant necklace above, for example, features a gold-plated filigree with a rhinestone center and genuine freshwater pearl drops. The chain is also gold-plated.  I am now listing these pieces on two different pages on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website on the Victorian Style Jewelry page and the Antique Style Jewelry pages.

Above, the necklace features vintage rhinestones, gold-plated metal, vintage givre marquise glass stones.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

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The Different Faces of Jewelry

It is nearing the end of summer; there were so many things that I wanted to do while the summer sun shone brightly that I may not be able to accomplish in the few summer days left, but I relish the change of seasons, especially the change from summer to fall. I've been working on my Fall Collection of jewelry frantically incorporating the season's colours into new looks that will complement Fall clothing. I've also been working on my new line of cameo necklaces and antique style jewelry; this line is very time-consuming since glue is often involved and the curing time for the strong-holding (but non-toxic!) glue that I use can take several days.
Above is a simple antique style bracelet with an art-nouveau look; with its three strands of silver chain and heavy filigree, it also has a contemporary air as well and would look great with a grey blouse (and grey is one of the great colours for Fall 2010). Below is a year-round favorite; turquoise. This turquoise bracelet features a special lampwork bead with a desert landscape on it as well as one of our favorite sterling silver bird toggles. The heavy sterling chain, one of the three strands of the bracelet, is also a favorite.

It's still August and peridot is the August birthstone. In this peridot bracelet, the gemstone is mixed with pretty blue aquamarine for a different look and a mix of 2 of Fall's hottest colours. The next bracelet is made of genuine rough emeralds and features dolphin beads in sterling as well as a special clasp with a bezel-set faceted emerald.

An art nouveau looking piece, above, again in silver, with the addition of blue rhinestones and Czech fire-polished beads. The dangling chains are still a hot look for this Fall; here, little silver Czech beads dangle from them.
Below, a bracelet that is a combination of aqua quartz (the rectangular slab) brass oxidized filigree, and Preciosa crystal and Czech firepolished beads - a great statement bracelet! It's both sweet and showy at the same time.
Finally, a long agate necklace with very large oval links shows off slabs of purple agate with their beautiful patterns; the focal is a smooth teardrop of charoite.
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Jewelry and Cats!

The title reflects the state of my life at the moment: jewelry and cats! Cluny and Cuervo are adapting to life in the city; I had almost forgotten what high-maintenance cats they are! (I wouldn't have it any other way). Cuervo will come and sit on the floor and look up at me when I'm working; he can do this for 15 minutes without moving. If I talk to him briefly without getting up, he will start talking to me - and he's anything but brief. He doesn't need food or water or even a treat usually; he wants to play! He wants to run around in circles after a furry "mouse" that has been attached to a long rope, and no, he cannot play by himself, I must twirl it around or run with it. If I persist in working, he will walk away and then come back dragging the rope from his mouth and drop it at my feet. Cluny wants to be petted or brushed constantly or at least talked to; luckily both cats do love their naps!
I have been able to make jewelry though. Above is an aquamarine bracelet made from some great new aquamarines I've just gotten in. The aquamarines are a beautiful blue colour with almost no inclusions at all. The bracelet above also has some of Robin Weber's gorgeous lampwork beads. Below are some aquamarine earrings made with the same aquamarines!
Below the earrings are a lapis bracelet and an ankle bracelet made with sterling silver and iolites (also known as water sapphire). I'm trying to find all the pretty iolite that I can, but it is hard to come by.
On to the antique style jewelry: below, an art deco style pendant with rhinestones hangs from a crystal and gold necklace. The next necklace features a gold cameo studded with light aqua rhinestones.


Below is another gold cameo in an unusual shape surrounded by four vintage opal cabachons on gold filigree. The light pink and opal lined beads that make up the necklace are a perfect complement to the opals.



A necklace with two cupids and aqua rhinestones on some of my favorite antique gold filigree. The clasp is an old favorite: a crouching cat pawing a ball of yarn.




Above, a modified cross shape with clear and pink Swarovski stones dangles Swarovski beads with vermeil accents. Below, a vintage swirl has a vintage opal cabochon in the center and has little Swarovski dangles.

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The Long Road Home

It's been a very, very busy week, and I'm hoping to catch up on everything in all my lives, work, personal, domestic.... I drove over 800 miles to Arkansas without stopping for the night by myself and then back here to Virginia with my husband (who did the driving this time). If you look at the bottom of the page, you'll see my two reasons for that long drive - Cluny and Cuervo! I don't have a lot of jewelry to show today because of the trip, but I found time to make a turquoise bracelet with some wonderful Sleeping Beauty turquoise faceted nuggets that I just got in. I wanted to showcase the nuggets, so I only used 3 and accented only with sterling silver. The beautiful blue of the Sleeping Beauty is enough to hold its own! Below is a pair of amethyst earrings; they are gem-quality briolettes and hang from my favorite sterling earwires.

More of the antique jewelry line I've been working on is below. The first is an antique-style necklace with dark bronzey coloured filigree and a large peachy gold rhinestone backed by a dark circle of mother of pearl. The chain is a bar style that matches the filigree. The second necklace also makes use of the bronzey-coloured filigree. Here it is enlivened by crystal rhinestones and Swarovski crystals in Pacific opal; there's real sparkle, but it's sedate enough to wear during the day.


Finally here are my two travellers, who by the way, did exceedingly well on their first car trip ever (except for those short ones to the vet). They were absolutely wonderful, once we got them into their carriers. By the second day on the road, they had figured out that they weren't going to get shots at the vet, so the car ride was quite uneventful. They napped in the car and got back in their carriers whenever we stopped. Although only one of us got out at a time and we always left the car running, I was terrified that one of them would slip out the car door and run away into some field behind a service station. But they were perfect angels and now are trying to adjust to life on the sixth floor of an apartment building!

Above, Cluny with his tiger stripes on white fur and blue, blue eyes, and below, Cuervo, resting from the long car trip.
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Amethysts and Antiques

Hello from Arkansas! After a grueling drive here, I'm finally relaxed and rested and dreading the drive back. Of course, I drove so that my husband and I could drive our two cats, Cluny and Cuervo, back with us. Cluny does not really like to ride in the car - and I doubt that Cuervo is going to have a good time either, so I am looking forward to this drive with apprehension. And I can't wait to see how they adapt to a hi-rise!
The two bracelets you see above and below feature amethysts; the top bracelet gets an added zing from pretty aquamarines (I love the aquamarine and amethyst mixture!); the bracelet below has a pretty artist's lampwork bead for its focal and has accents in blue kyanite.
I'm still working on the antique style and cameo jewelry, too. My favorite piece, so far, is the double-strand cameo necklace below with Swarovski crystals and freshwater pearls. The gold cameo sits on layered filigree and has silvery grey freshwater pearls hanging from the bottom. The next necklace is a mixture of gold and silver with a pretty bright gold coin set in silver and hanging from a silver chain; it is a lariat that fastens in front.


The butterfly necklace below has a vintage givre stone and vintage pink rhinestone to brighten the aged looking metal. And finally, a large cross is decorated with pink and green stones and has a golden flower set in its middle.

I'll have the pages on the website with the antique style jewelry as soon as possible; meanwhile, if something strikes your fancy, e-mail me at clunygre @clunygreyjewelry.com . (Leave the space after clunygre out of course.
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Something Old, Something New

And in this case, the old is what's new! I'm starting a new, small line of antique-style jewelry that will include Victorian and Georgian styles along with the occasional Edwardian and Art Deco piece. Of course, I will continue with my main line of gemstone jewelry because it is the closest to my heart; I love gemstones and will always want to work with them. The new line represents my interest in history - both of jewelry and other cultures and will include jewelry styles from other countries as well as Europe and America. One caveat: most of this jewelry is made from vintage materials and components that have been plated or even painted or finished by me. For the most part, the pieces are not sterling silver and goldfilled although I will be incorporating those elements at times. So when they are on the website, read the descriptions carefully if you are a purist and want only precious metals.
Above, a filigree upon filigree gold cross that dangles genuine freshwater Baroque pearls. Below, a silver bracelet with a large blue Swarovski rhinestone in the center of the flower.




Above is a gold filigreed circle with a butterfly and Pacific opal rhinestones set into the wings. Below, a Victorian-style necklace that is a collage piece with some elements such as the green givre marquises which were not actually around in Victorian times. Below the necklace is a gold cameo-like bracelet with pink rhinestones.


In the Gemstone Jewelry category that you are accustomed to seeing here are a peridot bracelet and rainbow moonstone necklace. The peridot bracelet is 3 strands of peridot with one strand sporting a focal of genuine abalone whose shiny iridescence picks up the glow of the peridot and adds a rainbow flash of colours; there is also a small abalone charm that hangs from another strand near its middle. The rainbow moonstone necklace is full of flashing rainbow moonstone with a rainbow moonstone pendant set in sterling silver. The necklace is accented with Swarovski crystals in Azores, a very pale clear blue that picks up the flash of the rainbow moonstone. Gorgeous and such fun to wear!



I will be traveling to Arkansas in the next week or so and it will be interesting to see what gemstones and components I've got there to be creative with (I tend to forget when I've been gone). And big surprise!!! I'll be bringing my cats, Cluny and Cuervo, back here with me. I've missed them like crazy!

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