Amethysts for February

I do love amethysts of all sorts: dark, light, dogtooth (white inclusions running throughout), Cape amethysts (very pale). Did you know that the word "amethyst" comes from the Greek language meaning "not drunken"? According to legend, the god of wine, Dionysus became angered at a young girl named Amethyst. She cried out for protection to Artemis (Diana) who turned her into a stone of pure quartz. When Dionysus saw her thus, he cried tears into his glass of red wine which then overturned onto the stone, colouring it a wonderful purple, creating the amethyst gemstone. So intertwined with Dionysus the amethyst became known for its ability to keep a drinker sober. Many believed that drinking from an amethyst goblet would render the alcohol incapable of causing intoxication in the drinker. Amethyst rings became popular for those who wished to keep a clear head during a night of revelry. 

   Above, a single stranded amethyst bracelet is accented by 14K goldfilled beads.  The cushion cut rectangles are especially pretty.  Three briolettes form a petal like design on one side of the bracelet.

Below, an amethyst bracelet has darker amethysts on one side, and three strands of lighter amethysts on the other.  On the single-stranded side, three nicely-sized amethyst nuggets lead to a lampwork bead by Robin Weber. Near the middle sterling silver rings dangle various charms including three small bezel-set amethyst ovals, a pendant charms with another faceted, bezel-set amethyst, and a sterling silver charm from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes.  The three strands of faceted oval amethysts provide a different look and texture to the other side of the bracelet.

Above, amethyst earrings feature nice chunky faceted nuggets of a medium colour, topped with spiral sterling beads and gem quality rondelles.  The earrings hang from sterling wires with spiral designs on the front. 

  It's not too late to order for Valentine's Day!

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Back from Africa!

Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa - it's been a real treat to go there again - and to wonderful Swaziland with its friendly people and beautiful land for the first time. I will have some pictures later.
But now it's time to get back to work!  I'm slow getting back to things - it must be the change of climate, going from 90 something degrees to snow (hurrah!) which is on the ground now. Just two garnet bracelets to celebrate the month of January.

Lovely large flat, faceted garnets are in both these sterling silver and garnet bracelets. The top garnet bracelet  with its beaded heart toggle would be a great Valentine's Day gift!
Below, a garnet bracelet with two strands of marquise, rondelles, nuggets and a charm and lampwork beads. Note the swirling flowered sterling toggle clasp.

And here's hoping for more beautiful snow!

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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Jewelry Trend: A Colourful Fall

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!

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The Jewelry Report: Sparkling Stones for Summer

Hurrah! I am one of the featured artists on Jewelry Report's Trend Watch! The trend is sparkly stones for summer. Also featured is a gorgeous necklace by Evette Rana from Rings and Things and a "juicy" bracelet by Anna Lee of Gahoole Tree Designs in Canada.
I'll be posting soon!

Colour: Monochromatic or Mixed! CONTEST

I love to read passages that start with "there are two kinds of people in the world..." because of course there never are. But I am still always interested in the way many would divide the world and feel that their choices often reveal a great deal about themselves. So...there are two types of people in the world: those who like great expanses of one colour, with maybe a touch or two of another, the monochromatics, and those who prefer colours many and mixed. Now to show you how ridiculous such a statement is, I will announce that I am both. Of course, to add an element of veracity to the statement, I will say that when I dress, I prefer the monochromatic to the many: no prints, good solid colours that make a statement whether the statement is gentle, muted, loud, or strong. In jewelry, however, I love to mix as you can see from the unusual bracelet below. While I personally prefer to wear the aquamarine bracelet that you see above, I delight in creating and looking at the bracelet below. Circus colours, brightly coloured and patterned lampwork beads, and just a hint of sterling silver - can you hear the colour? It is a cacaphony. The aquamarine bracelet is music, beautiful, but definitely not the 1812 Overture. Debussy?
The last two pictures are of the same ruby necklace. If it were music, what would it be? Send me the name of a piece of music that you think would make a good name for this necklace and win a pair of Swarovski earrings in the colour of your choice!



If you are interested, not just in jewelry but in all types of art, see Best of Artists, a great site that concentrates on art from painting, pottery, and photography to sculpture and jewelry. And yes, yours truly has been listed: see, Best of Artists: Cluny Grey.

Gemstones, Swarovski, and Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is always a whirl of last-minute gifts - people seeking presents for those they care for and want to remember on the holiday. In this business, I've been surprised, pleasantly, I must say, by how many men buy jewelry gifts or make arrangements for them well in advance of holidays whether Valentine's, Christmas, or a birthday. Strangely enough, it is often women who seem to wait until the last minute and decide that they want an extra stocking stuffer or that they want to get their daughters or daughters-in-law something for Valentine's Day. I'm surprised, I suppose, because my husband will wait until Christmas Eve to buy a Christmas present for me (but he always does a great job, so I'm not complaining!).
While we do have a special page with a few suggestions for Valentine's Day jewelry gifts, the best gifts are those that are meaningful to the recipient in some way. For instance, the amethyst bracelet makes an especially good gift if you know that she has a February birthday, since amethysts are the February birthstone. Or maybe you know that she is just crazy about amethysts - or even wears purple often. Some of the bracelets below are great for those women who take their faith seriously and wish to wear it. The gold-filled Salvation bracelet that you see below has a special meaning for Christians. The gemstones, or in some cases Swarovski crystals, each is a symbol of the progression of one's faith. The black bead represents being lost in sin; the red, the blood of Christ; the blue, faith; the clear bead (or in some cases a white bead) represents purity of heart or a clear heart; green, for growing in faith; and finally, the gold bead represent Heaven with streets paved with gold. I always try to add other Christian symbols as well, and most of my Salvation bracelets will have a sterling silver or goldfilled cross charm or a prayer box attached to them. The following 4 bracelets are each an interpretation in gemstones or Swarovskis of the Salvation bracelet:

Two more bracelets - just for fun. The fire agate and chalcedony bracelet, above, is an attempt to recreate a favorite bracelet - often very difficult to do because the special lampwork beads are so hard to come by. And, below, a sweet freshwater pearl bracelet with Swarovski crystal butterflies has a fresh, ingenue appeal.

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Into the Light!

Last night was absolutely wonderful! Why? Because at one point, while we were staying late at the office (I think it was about 10:00 or so) we checked the Entergy map that was online and saw that instead of red lines marking our street, we had green! We packed up quickly to go home, hoping all the way that the electricity was really in, that it wasn't some kind of cruel joke that the electric company had played on us.
At the back door we were greeted by the cats and warm air and a hall light that we didn't know that we had left on. What bliss!

Yes, Thank God, we now have electricity once again. The difference is amazing. It's not that we're warm, strangely, the cold didn't bother me that much, or rather, I managed to stay warm. What is wonderful is having light again - how I missed lamps! - and the Internet connection. And of course hot water. Night before last I took my first cold shower; I wanted a shower so much that I didn't even mind that the water was cold. Luckily it wasn't the ice cold of outside water, but the milder cold of water that had been in the hot water heater for 2 days - cold, but not icy.
I spent a lot of time at the office, so I do have some work to show, thank goodness, since Valentine's Day is coming soon.
I've been working with rubies so much lately (a commission for a client) that when I take a break, I've been mixing them with everything. As you can see in the top necklace, I've mixed some rather pink rubies with apatite; because of Suzette Celestin's wonderful lampwork beads, it's a winning combination.
Below that is a 14 karat goldfilled bracelet with pretty textured oval links and wirewrapped gemstones: ruby (of course), apatite, chalcedony, and aquamarine. I especially like this one - and almost wore it home (I always try on my bracelets and wear them for at least 30 minutes to make sure that there are no rough spots, that they are well-balanced, and that the clasps work well).
In following order, a lampwork pendant, a fire agate necklace, blue pearl necklace, and an amethyst bracelet.




I did adapt to the lack of electricity better than I thought I would have, but it really isn't an experience I want to repeat anytime soon!