The Ancient Appeal of Coral

Summer means coral jewelry! Although beautiful coral can be worn any time of the year, it is very common in the USA to think of coral as being a "summer stone" (although it isn't really a stone, but the remains of a tiny marine animal). The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans utilized coral in their jewelry also, but first carved it into scarabs or intaglios or cameos. How insightful that first carver of coral must have been, for when coral is first taken from the sea, it is fairly ugly. It has to be cut, in some cases carved, and polished before it takes on the luminous quality we think of coral as having. The Medieval Era in Europe found coral being used for rosaries and as a decorative element in religious paraphernalia such as reliquaries and in churches. The Victorians used coral in broaches, often mixed it with diamonds, and gave coral rattles to their children. Coral is still used in Tibet and China in religious ceremonies (Tibetan Buddhists use coral rosaries).
The best coral today can be found in the waters of southern Ireland, in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, Mauritius, the Malay Archipelago, and in Japan, although in many places the harvesting of coral is banned as some species are becoming endangered. Most coral is treated in some way - especially inexpensive coral; it is often treated with resin because it is so porous and usually dyed to improve colour. Above, you see a coral bracelet with pinkish coral, lapis, and lampwork beads; second picture, an ankle bracelet, and below, a coral bracelet with blue coral.

Not in the coral family, but new this week is the chrysoprase bracelet that you see below with wonderfully chunky chrysoprase nuggets.I should be back to a more regular posting schedule as the studio move is about completed.

Summer in the Studio

Usually things slow down for jewelrymakers in the summer, but it hasn't for me yet. The pool beckons (boy, does that water look good), the house could use a lot of TLC (those things I always put off until summer because of years of teaching and usually opting not to have classes at that time), and I have new paints and a new easel that I'm dying to use. But I have many, many jewelry pieces that I have got to get listed on the website and other bits of paperwork/office work that I must get done. I also made the mistake of deleting a lot of photos that I had taken that now I will have to retake! C'est la vie.
Here are a few things that I've recently added to the website.
Above, a coral bracelet with lampwork beads by Suzette Celestin. Below, a cloisonne bracelet with cherry quartz and vermeil.

Above, a coral necklace , Song of the Tropics, with lampwork beads by Lynn Nurge. And finally, a unique bracelet with a mixture of turquoise, rhodonite, and lapis accented by vermeil and goldfill.

Another view of the coral necklace from above.


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Coral and a Contest!

Summer is here and with summer comes coral! Of course, I wear coral in the winter also (after all, my favorite colors are peach and coral), but coral just sings summer. I prefer my coral with gold although it is beautiful with silver, especially the lighter peach colours. Above is the newest coral bracelet, and it's made with gold and black onyx. Coral just begs to go with certain other elements - such as pearls - and anything black. Here I've added lampwork beads as well from River Oaks Lampwork.
The coral bracelet below is an example of just how beautiful peachy-pink coloured coral can be with silver. The borosilicate lampwork beads have a gorgeous glow and great depth of colour. The filigree orchid is from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes. The last coral bracelet features red coral, again with gold and just one lentil lampwork bead. It's very simple, but like almost all coral, it really looks great against darker skin.
Also, I'd like to spread the word about a contest that the online jewelry store, JR Dunn , is having. Details are below:

JRDunn.com, the largest designer jewelery store on the web, has announced a chance for bloggers to win a Swiss timepiece for Father's Day. Simply by sharing how great their dad is, bloggers will be able to enter to win a unisex Michele Deco Classic watch ( http://store.jrdunn.com/product-p/mw00mw06a00a0025jrd.htm) with a black leather strap.

HOW TO ENTER:
Bloggers should write a post on their blog about why their dad is the most deserving of this great Swiss watch and either direct message @jrdunn on Twitter.com, or email dsnyder@jrdunn.com with the link to the blog entry. Mashups of video, images, and other media are encouraged as creativity always wins points with one of the most creative jewelry retailers in the world, JR Dunn.

Submissions will be accepted from now until June 11^th at 7:00 pm EST. At that point in time, JRDunn.com will pick the top three entries, and post them at http://founder.jrdunnblog.com. The winner will be decided by Internet users as polling will take place on http://founder.jrdunnblog.com, as well as @jrdunn on Twitter.com. The final votes will be tallied on Friday June 13^th at 3:00 pm EST, and the winner will be announce shortly thereafter, so the winner can announce the gift and share their blog with their Dad on Fathers Day. As an added bonus, any bloggers that enter will receive $25 off of a minimum $250 purchase at JRDunn.com.

Hmmm, and if your father doesn't really need a new watch, ladies notice that that is a Michelle unisex watch!! Sing Dad's praises - and do it now!

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