The title of this post is somewhat misleading since I have pieces made from Swarovski, amethysts, aquamarine and lampwork along with the turquoise and chalcedony. I simply decided to have a post full of pictures, and to put some pieces here that haven't made it into some of my other posts. Above is my favorite piece this week: a handmade necklace with two strands of richly coloured gemstones including aquamarines, peridots, citrines, and rose quartz with a "watchchain" third strand with long charms featuring aquamarines, jade, peridot, rose quartz, and citrine. The aquamarine, citrine, peridot, and jade are colours that are "in" this Fall. Below, an amethyst necklace is made from rough, chunky amethyst points, refined sterling silver from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes, and artist's lampwork. I love the special Hill Tribe leaf beads which are a very shiny sterling silver with an interesting twist to them. The last necklace, a lariat, below, is made from Swarovski crystals, sterling silver, and artist's lampwork. The necklaces have been running a bit longer to look great with the new Fall fashions.
An aquamarine bracelet reflects a growing interest I've had lately in making my own chain and sterling silver elements, as does the lampwork bracelet with the twisted coil immediately below the aquamarine. The lampwork bracelet features a single disk of porcelain jasper with an intriguing swirling pattern.
The next three bracelets, above and below, feature turquoise. Above, a pretty large nugget of turquoise is complemented by orange carnelian and two special lampwork beads that pull the colours of the bracelet together. One of my favorite types of second strands is made of tiny beads from the Karen Hill Tribes and has charms hanging from it. The turquoise bracelet below is simpler, but full of sterling silver and amazing blue lampwork beads. The last turquoise bracelet has one of our favorite clasps, a sterling silver bird with an oval, one of our favorite chains, deep blue faceted turquoise rectangles, and an artist's lampwork bead with a desert scene (not painted on).
The last group of jewelry is all chalcedony in its many different colours. The gold colour in the earrings above is especially striking, while the earrings below, topped with sterling butterflies have faceted chalcedony rectangles in a delicate green (referred to as "endive" in the fashion mags). The two chalcedony bracelets following are perfect matches for the earrings. (All chalcedony jewelry can be found on our Chalcedony Jewelry page on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website.
The next two bracelets are in one of my favorite chalcedony colours, a pretty turquoise; the first features sterling silver accents, the second 14k goldfilled metal. Finally, a three strand charm bracelet showcases the many pretty colours of chalcedony in different shapes and sizes.
The high today was a wonderful 67 degrees! Lovely! I hope it's nice where you are, too!FREE SHIPPING WITH PURCHASE OVER 50; 1.95 WITH PURCHASE UNDER 50.
I love Fall and Winter colours, and this Fall/Winter is great for colour since brights are in! Of course, greys are big (see the rutilated quartz bracelet above), but some of the season's best colours are bright and bright darks as in the bracelet below. This handmade bracelet features mookite and artist's lampwork beads in two of the season's greats: deep gold and cocoa. The chain element is still big and you see it here (two lengths of the chain have been turned inward so that you can see the Karen Hill Tribes charms more easily in this shot). Although many of my clientele still seem to prefer sterling silver, gold metal is everywhere and dominated the September issues of Harper's Bazaar and Vogue. For those that are gold lovers, and I am, see the pietersite bracelet below with its gold charms and chains and marvelous pietersite beads with a dark brown base and, in this pietersite, a gold chatoyancy that gives even more gleam.
One of the biggest colours this Fall 2010 is red - bright, lipstick red! And our red carnelian is the perfect red. The carnelian bracelet below features the ever-present charms in sterling silver, a studded and intricate toggle clasp, and carnelian beads in a beautiful red that is translucent. Below are pairs of carnelian earrings and a fantastic double-stranded carnelian necklace.
Above, this handmade necklace is one unique to Cluny Grey, but you will see versions of it everywhere from David Yurman to John Hardy. The great bonus to the necklace is its versatility: in the bottom photo with white background, you see the long, long necklace with its cultured freshwater pearls (trefoil shaped) dangling at intervals the whole length of the necklace. Wear it this way with a plain turtleneck sweater dress for a dramatic statement. The picture above shows the necklace doubled - and because the closure is a large curved lobster clasp, it can even be worn as a lariat necklace.
I'm working and working every night to get the pieces on the website with the shopping cart. If you see a piece that you want here on the blog, e-mail me, and I'll make the shopping cart button for you right away. I've had customers e-mail me about pieces that they've seen on the blog, but can't seem to find on the website anywhere. That is usually because someone has sent me an e-mail requesting that piece before I can get it listed; the most popular pieces can sell out fast. By the way, you will eventually see more pieces of each kind on the website - we will have more than one carnelian bracelet, for example. Enjoy the Fall and I'll see you later this week with some chalcedony and turquoise that you won't want to miss!FREE SHIPPING WITH ANY PURCHASE OVER 50; 1.95 SHIPPING WITH ANY PURCHASE UNDER 50.
The First of the new Fall Collection. The jewelry trend is clear and chunky with chains. Yes, chains are still in, and are not about to go away anytime soon. The trend with chains is to wear them with gemstone or other jewelry. While there is a "minimal" side of jewelry (and you'll see some more of that later) most of what was on the Fall runways and in the fashion magazines is big and chunky, glittery and glitzy. Although not all of it looks wearable (especially for daytime wear), crystal quartz is a great exception. This natural stone is sparkly and looks great when cut into big chunks and sharply faceted as you see with the bracelets here (above and below). The quartz bracelet above is mixed with gold (high quality 14k goldfill - and gold is everywhere! Don't worry though, if you are a silver fan, it is still a staple in jewelry this Fall. Below is another quartz bracelet that combines faceted quartz crystal with sterling silver chains in three different sizes. It gives a wonderful edgy look to a business suit, and of course, it looks great for going out. We often think of the drama of quartz crystal against a black background, a black dress, a black cashmere sweater, but quartz also looks fantastic with white! And white is big this season. 
Below are two pieces of jewelry made with what looks like quartz but is actually a very high quality, beautiful resin; it's wonderfully sparkly! The earrings are accented with flower decorated earwires in white sterling silver. The good news is that while the earrings have lovely faceting and flash, they are actually much lighter than they would be if they were actual quartz crystal. The same is true of the handmade necklace below; although it looks just like inclusion-free quartz crystal, it is actually a lightweight resin (this resin jewelry showed up everywhere on the runways this year, Spring and Fall) making it much easier to wear for a longer length of time. The large olive shaped chunks hang from a sterling silver textured chain. It's a personal favorite!
Tomorrow: More from the new FALL COLLECTION 2010!
Not officially part of the Spring Collection, but still an integral part of the Cluny Grey Jewelry Collection are our Swarovski crystal pieces. Whether the crystals stand alone in a jewelry piece or are mixed with freshwater pearls, as we often do, or with gemstones, Swarovski crystals are classics and the jewelry pieces we make from them are classic also. Above, this Swarovski crystal handmade necklace is very special with its two circles of golden crystals defining the ends of the necklace and the special Swarovski crystal rings hanging from them. This is really a type of short lariat necklace. Below, Swarovski crystals in the silver shadow colour mix very well with silvery freshwater pearls and sterling silver in this freshwater pearl necklace. Large cosmic and graphic Swarovski crystals are at intervals throughout the necklace for discreet sparkle. Because the crystals do not have an AB coating, you could actually wear this to the office with a business suit.
Although not sold as a set, the Swarovski crystal bracelet below looks great with the first necklace, above, while the Swarovski crystal bracelet below it looks great with the silver shadow pearl necklace. The third Swarovski crystal bracelet is made of uncoated Swarovski crystals in large sizes for a sedate sparkle that is still full of WOW!
Of course, we always have gemstone bracelets, and the labradorite bracelets you see below are some of our favorite. The flashing gemstones with its blue, yellow, green and aqua fire is always beautiful!
Below the labradorite is a gemstone bracelet handcrafted of pretty tourmalinated quartz. The paler green is perfect for Spring, and the toggle clasp features a cabochon of green onyx set in it.
More favorites: a sapphire bracelet with a borosilicate artist's lampwork focal bead and some of our favorite sterling silver; a spectacular aquamarine bracelet that is surprisingly mixed with rubies and has an outstanding hexagonal thick opaque ruby for a focal. The second strand is a simple chain maille chain with a single charm boasting a cabochon ruby set in its middle. The aquamarine slabs are gorgeous, and the bracelet has a cabochon ruby bezel set into the toggle clasp as well.
The last two bracelets star smoky quartz; one smoky quartz bracelet rocks with pretty faceted and carved beads of rose quartz; the other has lovely lampwork beads and sterling silver spiral charms that add colour and texture to it.
Below are two more views of the necklaces featured today. Please give me some time to get these priced and on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website. I have so much new jewelry that I've made that I am really running behind!
Actually we've had rather a lot of snow here in the Washington, D.C., Arlington area! I am loving it! The federal government has been closed for the third day in a row, and will be closed tomorrow. For the first time today, I looked out and saw that the major streets I live on had not been cleared - still haven't. We're approaching the record of, I believe, 35 inches that was set in 1899 for D.C. The airports were completely closed today, and I'm wondering if my husband is going to be able to get in tomorrow on his afternoon flight.
Although I haven't been able to make jewelry as much as I'd like, I do have some new pieces that I haven't put on the blog before to show you. Because of the snow, I've been drawn to colour to counteract all the white and grey. The top bracelet is a medley of colours and gemstones: aqua, pink, and green chalcedony, peridot, amethyst, sterling silver, and a special sterling silver vintage clasp that has a pink tulip (probably glass) on it. The necklace features similar colours and gemstones to the bracelet although it wasn't meant to be an exact match. In keeping with the theme of bright colours, the necklace below has bright yellow citrines, carved and faceted, and bright blue chalcedony along with kyanite of a similar colour blue.
I love to work with aquamarines whether I am simply mixing them with a metal (as in the aquamarine bracelet above mixed with 14 karat goldfilled accents and bangles) or with golden freshwater Biwa pearls, below, or rose quartz. Aquamarines look good with almost everything!
I love the vermeil accents mixed with the golden Biwas, above. Below, a great butterfly bead adds interest as does the pretty rose quartz cabochon on the sterling box clasp.
Also, I haven't forgotten that the birthstone for February is amethyst, so the two bracelets directly above, one, amethyst bracelet with borosilicate artist's lampwork, and a multi=strand rainbow moonstone bracelet t
hat has a huge faceted amethyst nugget with white veins running through it.
Last is a necklace handmade, of course, with pink Botswana agates with the most interesting patterns on some of the nuggets, freshwater Biwa pearls, and freshwater "druzy" pearls.
Don't forget our free shipping or our special page of gemstone earrings all selling for only $20.10!
The title of this post is somewhat misleading since I have pieces made from Swarovski, amethysts, aquamarine and lampwork along with the turquoise and chalcedony. I simply decided to have a post full of pictures, and to put some pieces here that haven't made it into some of my other posts.
An aquamarine bracelet reflects a growing interest I've had lately in making my own chain and sterling silver elements, as does the lampwork bracelet with the twisted coil immediately below the aquamarine. The lampwork bracelet features a single disk of porcelain jasper with an intriguing swirling pattern.
