Gemstone Bracelets Shine!

I've been working these crisp, cold days of Fall. And when it rains, I can work without ceasing! As a result, I have some new bracelets that are perfect for gifts - or for gifting yourself! Above and below, two views of the same bracelet (which will be placed in our Blue Topaz Jewelry category on the site). The bracelet combines Swiss blue topaz cubes, and boy do they sparkle!, with flashing labradorite. A bezel-set faceted labradorite gemstone is near the center of the bracelet. One side features Swiss Blue Topaz and tiny Thai Karen Hill Tribes beads: the other, different chains hold little charms of Swiss Blue Topaz briolettes and a single teardrop of labradorite.  The special clasp is a toggle with a faceted labradorite bezel-set on both sides. The Swiss Blue Topaz cubes are some of the most sparkling gemstones I've seen, and they are AAA gem quality.

Above and below, a different combination of gemstones makes this bracelet cheerful and unique.  Aquamarine, prehnite, and yellow opal make an interesting mix with plenty of Karen Hill Tribes sterling silver, including little flower charms. A scalloped toggle clasp is the closure. There are 4 strands in this bracelet so it is distinctive on the wrist.

These unique bracelets make great Christmas gifts for someone special!

This mother-of-pearl bracelet is one of my favorites. The large ovals that you see are faceted mother-of-pearl with a pinkish cast.  The smaller gemstones are moonstones. Three strands include one of mother-of-pearl, one of Karen Hill Tribes beads with moonstones, and one special chain made of interlocking hearts.  All sterling silver. Below the bottom bracelet is a pair of matching earrings.

Finally, a last gemstone bracelet boasts two strands: one is sterling silver with tiny little heart and arrow charms hanging from it; the other has a medley of gemstones with a genuine ruby at the center. The gemstones are Swiss and London Blue Topaz, amethyst, citrine, and labradorite. This charming bracelet is great for mixing with your favorite outfits. And what a perfect Christmas gift!

Don't forget that shipping is free for purchases over $50 and only $1.95 for purchases under $50!

More Blue Topaz and Consider Custom!

 The Christmas Season is hard upon us and everyone is scurrying around to find presents. If you haven't done so yet, consider a custom piece of jewelry for someone special - in many cases, there is still time to make a bracelet, necklace, or earrings depending on what you want!
   Today, just three pieces of pretty blue topaz jewelry: a bracelet, and two pairs of earrings.
    The bracelet, above, is made with London Blue faceted rondelles and goldfilled accents. It's a small bracelet with great presence.
    Below are two pairs of blue topaz earrings; both are Swiss blue topaz; one pair is made with goldfilled fluted beads and goldfilled accents. The second pair is made with sterling silver and features Thai Karen Hill Tribes heart beads above the blue topazes. The blue topazes in both pairs are faceted cubes.

These will be available for sale in the next hour or so.

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The Christmas Season Is Here!

When I was a little girl (in the late 'fifties and early'sixties), it seemed that Christmas didn't come until about 5 days before. In Hot Springs, Arkansas where I grew up, the yearly Christmas parade was on December 2nd - I remember because that was the birth date of my younger twin sisters. But between the 2nd and the day of Christmas, the time crawled unbelievably slowly, and it was only then that some stores began to put up Christmas decorations; most people got their Christmas trees the week or a few days before Christmas.
      However, while many people deplore the early start of Christmas nowadays, I love it! Christmas decorations take time to put up; it's good to leave them up for more than 5 days or so.
    I love the Christmas mood that many people seem to share this time of year, too (as long as they are not desperately shopping on Christmas Eve day!).
    I love Christmas songs which I've been singing to my grand-daughter before she takes her afternoon nap. "Christmas songs or regular songs?" I ask her as she lies on the bed, and she quickly answers, "Christmas songs!" She seems especially to like We Three Kings, O Holy Night, God Bless Ye Merry Gentlemen.
   Christmas is especially enjoyable if you do your Christmas shopping early and online.  At Cluny Grey Jewelry, I am already doing some custom pieces, and I can do them exactly as the client wants them since we have plenty of time to email back and forth and for mailing.
   The newest additions to the site are here:  above, a blue topaz bangle bracelet with gem quality London blue topazes and sterling silver Thai Karen Hill Tribes accents.
     Below, a favorite combination of mine is lapis and 14 karat goldfill.  I am very fond of chain bracelets; this lapis bracelet carries the lapis theme to the other side of the bracelet with coin lapis beads.  A hammered disk adds texture and interest so that whichever side of the bracelet shows, it looks beautiful.  The large focal lapis rectangle is wrapped with goldfill and has a goldfilled flower charm on it.  A gold sand dollar hangs beside the goldfilled toggle clasp. Gold and lapis is a jewelry trend that is here to stay!

Below, a rose quartz bangle bracelet with the prettiest pinkest faceted squares and rectangles of rose quartz with sterling silver.  Pink and sterling silver are so very pretty together.  The toggle clasp has a flower on it.

Below, I love drusies, simply because I love sparkle! This blue chalcedony drusy is complemented by Montana agate ovals in black and grey tinged with blue.  Intricate sterling silver  and a blue topaz charm add to its charm.

This simple necklace is really a knockout because of the three wonderful carved genuine aquamarine leaves. The leaves are a gorgeous shade of aquamarine blue and rather thick (so many carved gemstones are very thin) and rich.  The leaves hang from a goldfilled chain.

Enjoy this Christmas season, and if I can help you with a gift for someone very special, please let me know.



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Jewelry Is Magical

Jewelry is magical; I don't really mean that in the sense that many people do who believe that certain gemstones can imbue them with positive qualities or cure their ills. Jewelry is magical to me because it can cheer me up, make my day brighter - and make me look better. The right jewelry makes my blue eyes more noticeable, complements my complexion (which I'm a bit vain about), and can bring an outfit together (which is why I love gemstone jewelry containing more than one coloured gemstone). I'm lucky; because I make jewelry, I get to look at it all the time. And just looking at it makes me happy. I've been known to take a collection of bracelets and arrange them on my nightstand so that they are the last thing I see before I go to sleep and their colours are the first things I see when I awake.

I have a "happy-making" collection of jewelry today beginning with the top bracelet of blue topaz and citrine. Gem quality London Blue topaz and gem quality citrine in an imaginative rectangular cut are spectacular together. The citrine gemstones have pointed backs the way gemstones set in rings do, so they are interesting on both sides. I've added 14 karat goldfilled accents to the gemstones, but I like this combination so much that you can expect one soon with sterling silver.

  Below is a rainbow moonstone bracelet with gold vermeil and 14 karat goldfill.  The blue flash of these sharply faceted moonstones looks great with the gold.  Robin Weber's truly excellent ancient gold lampwork lentil beads add more colour and even more gold. I got lucky with the photo of this bracelet since not every single inch of each moonstone gemstone has flash.

Above is a turquoise bracelet made with Sleeping Beauty turquoise in a light blue.  Dark blue and the lighter blue rectangles echo the colours of the square lampwork beads which have a side of light blue and a side of transparent darker (aqua) blue divided by a swirl of silver.  Sterling silver accents include the second strand chain that dangles a turquoise charm with a bezel-set cabochon turquoise in its center.

   Below - more moonstone! These moonstones are a peachy-mauve colour (put them with a peach outfit and the peach comes out, with pink or mauve and they pick up that shade) with little sparkles and a wonderful sheen to them.  The second strand is one of our favorite sterling chains, rather sturdy with charms from the Karen Hill Tribes dangling. A pretty flower-decorated sterling clasp finishes the moonstone bracelet.

   Below the moonstone bracelet is a hefty fire agate necklace that just glows! I love the colours here and I've added a few Swarovski crystals in the crystal copper colour to really make it sparkle. Doesn't it look fantastic with black?

Finally,two bracelets have a winning combination of gemstones that have been quite popular! For a long time, I couldn't find any of the faceted coins of apatite to use, but the moment I did, I grabbed them! The combination of smoky quartz, apatite, and sunstone has proven to be very pretty and versatile. I've got one bracelet with sterling silver accents, and the other with vermeil.

Enjoy the spring weather and don't forget about FREE SHIPPING!!!

Aquamarines, Blue Topaz, and Other Delights!

March is the month of aquamarines, and aquamarine is truly one of the most popular gemstones that I sell. It's probably because they are not just beautiful whether they are a greenish colour, dark or light blue, or filled with inclusions, but because they mix so well with so many other gemstones. The first offerings here are aquamarines of varying colours and quality.

   Above is an aquamarine bracelet made with faceted slabs of blue aquamarine with 14 karat goldfilled accents and artist's lampwork beads. Below is an  aquamarine necklace made with large faceted rondelles in graduated size.  These aquamarines have a greenish colour and even a yellowish tint occasionally. They have a high polish and really shine; small accents are of sterling silver.

The following three aquamarine bracelets illustrate just how different aquamarine jewelry can look. The first bracelet has light blue aquamarines with gold vermeil accents, the second mixes sterling silver with fiery sunstone. And finally, the last aquamarine bracelet is one of my favorite combinations: rubies and aquamarines with sterling silver. The second strand is a sterling chain dangling a few rubies.

The two bracelets below are a kyanite bracelet with sterling and artist's lampwork, and a turquoise bracelet with vermeil.

The last three bracelets are made of blue topaz. It is difficult for me to keep blue topaz jewelry on my website; it generally sells very quickly. The blue topaz that I use, whether it is the lighter Swiss Blue Topaz or the darker London Blue is always gem quality, and such fun to create with! The middle bracelet features Swiss Blue topaz while the top and bottom bracelets feature gorgeous tiny (3mm) faceted London Blue topaz in sterling silver and 14 karat goldfill respectively.

NOTE:  My clunygre @clunygreyjewelry.com e-mail has been down and while the hosting service said that they have resolved the problem, there is at least one week of emails that I apparently will never get back.  If you sent an email and didn't receive an answer, please email again!

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Countdown!

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I can remember a time when I was quite small when the month of December was one of the longest in the calendar.  Those days are long gone!  Time is flying quickly toward Christmas Day and even faster to the day I leave for Africa.  I have been busy with custom orders and all sorts of preparations, so I have only three bracelets today.  The first is a Swarovski bracelet with five strands of Swarovski bicone crystals in Pacific opal, white opal, white opal starshine, white opal sky blue, violet opal, peach, tanzanite, and Montana blue. It features a sterling silver toggle clasp.

   The next jewelry piece is a garnet bracelet with a very special large clasp with seven cabochon garnets bezel-set into the top.  A few rose quartz gemstones are scattered throughout the five strands for a difference in colour and texture.

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The last piece is a blue topaz bracelet that is made as a bangle with sterling silver hand-decorated tubes from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes.  I usually make blue topaz pieces using London blue topaz, a darker blue, but I fell in love with these Swiss blue topazes because of their intense blue colour .  They are faceted rounds set off by all Hill Tribes elements reminiscent of flowers and vines with a toggle that is made of leaves. All sterling silver.

Shipping is free with any purchase over 50.00; a low 1.95 with any purchase under 50.00

Five Easy Pieces

 

These are easy pieces to wear, especially the bangle bracelets!  They are classic pieces with classic gemstones: above, gorgeous faceted rock crystal oval nuggets have a dash of colour added by the genuine ruby rondelles places between them and then again at the very ends of the bracelet's sterling silver sides (from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes). Below is a sterling silver bangle that is made with one of the favorite gemstones of customers, London Blue topazes.  These are gem-quality blue topazes that are finely faceted and complemented by Thai Karen Hill Tribes sterling silver.

Below are bracelets for fire-lovers!The first is a fire agate bracelet and has a gorgeous focal stone with a beautiful pattern and faceting juxtaposed against exquisite lampwork beads in tan colours with turquoise flowers (2) and swirls of darker brown (1). The sterling includes a beaded toggle clasp, a swirled round, a reticulated round, a folded bead and sterling silver flower charm.  The bracelet below is a classic combination of sunstone, lapis and golden vermeil that gives a nod to the ancient while appearing very contemporary. Bali vermeil has the strength to stand with these two dominant gemstones.

Last, a purple and silver lampwork bracelet made with lampwork beads from a favorite lampwork bead artist.  Silver gleams in the lampwork and is picked up by two sizes of little flower charms that hang around the bracelet. It's a fun bracelet that can go casual or extremely dressy!

FREE SHIPPING WITH PURCHASES OVER 50.00; 1.95 UNDER 50.00 
Contest:  Dragonfly Beads is having a contest/drawing for some of her lovely lampwork beads.  Go to her blog at Dragonfly Lampworks to enter.

An Odd Assortment

Ah... the air is getting colder. . . I love this time of Autumn when the leaves are changing everywhere and the air is nippy in the morning. I'm looking forward to next weekend when we "fall back" and set our clocks back an hour since when I leave at 6:45 in the morning it is as dark as can be. I actually like the feeling that I am getting a jump on the day, but it does make the day seem especially long.
The jewelry pieces here are a motley group, no real theme, just pieces made because the gemstones intrigued me usually.
Above, you see an iolite bracelet (iolites are also known as the "water sapphire") with 5 strands of iolites and one silver-laced lentil bead that has a hint of purple along with the blue. The clasp is a large oval box clasp set with a cabochon rainbow moonstone that has a beautiful blue glow almost every way that you look. These multi-strand bracelets look especially good with blouses and sweaters with 3/4 length sleeves since every strand will show.
Below, a prehnite and tourmalinated quartz bracelet has three large, gorgeous lampwork beads as focals. They glitter and shine in the light and make a huge statement. All accents are sterling silver.
Below is a bracelet of London blue topaz; I dearly love London blue topazes and have quite a few pieces featuring these lovely dark blue topazes. They are rather hard to come by - the deeply coloured gem-quality ones, that is. And those are the only ones that I really care for. This blue topaz bangle also has Karen Hill Tribes beads from Thailand and a sterling toggle clasp.
Next, a necklace made with some unusual gemstones; they are amethysts, but they are large roughly hewn amethysts nuggets that have been sanded to give them an earthy look, sometimes almost a frosty look. Not only is purple one of Fall's most "in" colours this year, but huge chunky necklaces were worn by a majority of the models on the runways during New York Fashion Week.
Finally, the last two pieces are a bracelet and a pair of earrings, both featuring rose quartz. The bracelet has lovely artist's lampwork beads that pick up the pink beautifully; the earrings are made from some of my favorite rectangular faceted rose quartz beads.

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