October Opals

October actually has 2 birthstones: opal and tourmaline. Lucky Octobers get to choose from quite a few different colours since opals commonly come in blue, yellow, pink, white, and of course, the fiery opals of Australian origin. If October prefers tourmalines, they too come in many colours, the most common being pink, green, and black.

Above is an opal bracelet made with some of the loveliest blue Peruvian opals I've ever had. They are quite translucent and boast a lovely turquoise colour.  For fun, I decided to use some artist's lampwork beads with them; the touch of orange in the lampwork sent me looking for some of my best carnelian. These orange faceted diamonds are gorgeous and really add a Fall vibe to the bracelet.  The dragonfly toggle clasp is very special.  All sterling silver.

Below, the same blue Peruvian opals star in this bracelet which has only one artist's lampwork bead for a focal so that the opals can shine! Two little Thai Karen Hill Tribes flower charms hang from one side of the bracelet.

Below is a tourmaline bracelet with three strands of multi-coloured tourmalines of different shapes and sizes. (There are two views of the same bracelet). Pinks and greens predominate, but there are even some yellows and pale aqua stones as well. The sterling double flower toggle is a favorite.

I always work with sunstone in the fall although I wear it all year round.  Sunstone just seems like a Fall stone with it's golden orange colours and the sparkles that are in so many of the stones.  Good sunstone also seems to glow - and that glow seems right for fall, too. Both sunstone bracelets here have two strands and beautiful sterling silver toggle clasps. I especially like the lizard one shown in the bottom 2 pictures above although the first sunstone bracelet has an especially feminine feel with its swirling toggle clasp.

Enjoy the crisp Fall weather!

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Cluny Grey Jewelry

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!

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Contest:  Dragonfly Beads is having a contest/drawing for some of her lovely lampwork beads.  Go to her blog at Dragonfly Lampworks to enter.

Happy New Year!!!

Yes, I am making New Year's Resolutions. No, I haven't finished them. I find that New Year's Resolutions are very important to me. They allow me to take stock really of the past year to determine what I want to improve upon for the coming year. I also take my time about writing them. I give myself all of January to make New Year's Resolutions since some of the most obvious don't always present themselves the first time I sit down to think about them. Some of my most important resolutions are those I think of while going about my routine, especially when I do something that makes me unhappy or ill-at-east. An ongoing one has been to be tolerant and easy-going about traffic situations. I've had it for a while now, and I have improved. Traffic doesn't phase me much; I don't curse other drivers or get jittery in a massive slowdown. Working on it has really helped!


One resolution is to write in this blog more often. I was horrified to see that I hadn't posted since early December. The Christmas season kept me very, very busy; this last week, the Wednesday before New Year's Eve, I had oral surgery (yuk!) and I'm just now starting to feel normal again.

The jewelry today: above, a ruby bracelet made with deep blue faceted turquoise, a new favorite combination for me; a sunstone bracelet with three ravishing strands of sparkling sunstone; below, two mother of pearl bracelets, the first with circles and squares and the addition of blue chalcedony in the squares and a mother of pearl clasp, the second, beautiful mother of pearl (my favorite mother of pearl that I have) with an iridiscent greyish cast and sterling silver.


Remember to make your New Year's Resolutions; it really can help!

The Sparkle of Christmas

It is truly the Christmas season! Every year, it creeps up on me, it seems, earlier and earlier. NO, I don't have my Christmas shopping done; the tree is not yet up (it should arrive by Fedex on Thursday, a nice fresh Fraser fir) and I am as busy as I can be! And it's only the 7th of December - I can remember when that date would have meant ages and ages until Christmas, but not any more.
I do really love the Christmas season. Here in Arlington, we've already had our first snowfall, big, fluffy flakes that looked like feathers falling from a goosedown pillow. Lovely.
Today, just a small sampling of some of the new pieces going on the website. I can't seem to get them all on there and priced fast enough!
First, above is a labradorite bracelet that is a bit different from most of those I make. It's a smaller scale, and it has apatite in it to match the flash of the labradorite stones. Below, a sunstone bracelet features lots of sterling silver charms, a sterling Thai Karen Hill Tribes chain, a special lampwork bead, and pretty, flashing sunstone nuggets, rondelles, and triangles. Adding to the sparkle is a special marcasite toggle clasp. Sunstone looks great with many colours since its sparkle perks up black and other neutrals and it's a great complement to blue and green. If you like to wear coral jewelry in the summer, sunstone is the fall and winter equivalent.
The freshwater pearl bracelet also features chain from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes and charms and beads (sterling of course) in an ocean them. The lampwork bead that is the focal is one of master lampworker Robin Weber's special beads.
And in keeping with the idea of the ocean, next is an abalone necklace with an unusual pendant. The abalone shimmers and shines; the pendant is reminiscent of seaweed waving in the ocean currents. The middle branch holds a large oval of abalone; one side has a faceted oval smoky quartz and a faceted marquise rhodonite garnet, the other, a round faceted peridot and an oval faceted blue topaz.


The bottom unique bracelet bracelet (2 views) features a large focal emerald nugget, faceted rondelle sapphires. faceted rondelle emeralds, large faceted ruby rondelles and faceted rectangle rubies. The sterling silver bracelet has a pendant with a cabochon ruby in a bezel setting.

If you are still Christmas shopping, we are starting to send everything by Priority mail (no charge to the customer) to make sure that it reaches you by Christmas. Give a unique gift to someone special! If we don't have something you like, please see our blog list for other "indie" jewelry dealers!

Back from Arkansas!

I just got back from Arkansas, and am I glad to be back! It took 2 days for the drive and it rained the entire two days, making the trip fairly miserable - sometimes parts of it can be pleasant. I had to drive because of all the beads/findings that I was bringing from the Arkansas office which is still full. I'm exhausted, so here are some more pieces from the Fall Collection. They will be on the website soon. Enjoy!

Sunstone bracelet, above; below, sunstone earrings.

Above, blue Peruvian opal bracelet and earrings and immediately above a tourmaline bangle bracelet. Below are tourmaline chandelier earrings, and another tourmaline bangle bracelet.
Above are smoky quartz earrings; below, rainbow moonstone earrings.

Below is a Swarovski bracelet in the season's great American Beauty red colour and below that a true red carnelian bracelet.

Fall Collection: Part V

No, I'm not finished posting the new Fall Collection - not by a long shot! Because I am doing the photos, pricing, and web myself without help since my move, it means that I am going much more slowly than I would prefer. However, if you like anticipation....
Today I have another mixture of bracelets beginning with the blue lace agate and amethyst bracelet that you see at the top. The focal is actually a blue chalcedony faceted nugget, the amethyst is transparent and the lampwork beads are some of the absolute best I've had (from an artist whose work sells at a premium). Below is an amethyst bracelet that is complimented by rutilated quartz, thus combining two of the season's hottest colours, purple and grey. I love the amethyst gemstone toggle clasp. The lampwork beads are the perfect purple and grey!

The tourmaline bracelet above features three strands of all shapes and sizes of tourmalines and includes little tourmaline charms hanging at intervals from the bracelet. There is only one lampwork bead, a green transparent lentil with mauvey purple swirls, but it is wonderful. Tourmaline is a great gemstone for this fall since it either has the most popular colours or accents those clothing colours wonderfully well.
The blue lace agate bracelet below is all about flowers: sterling silver flower beads, sterling flower charms, and a focal lentil lampwork bead that has the look of a flower also. Below the blue agate bracelet is one of my favorite combinations: sunstone and dark blue apatite that has the slightest hint of teal in it. Another favorite of mine is the little sterling bird charm that hangs near the center of the bracelet.There are just three pairs of earrings here, but many more will be appearing on the Cluny Grey Jewelrysite.

The Stones of Summer

I wrote a blog entry once about how some gemstones are seasonal; that is, they seem to belong to a certain season or seasons (the main division being, however, winter and summer). This really doesn't have anything to do with the Color Me Beautiful idea that women should wear certain colours based on their "season" (meaning the season they fall into determined by their complexions, eye colour and hair colour). This is simply a subjective feeling I have for probably very silly reasons. For instance, I think of rubies as summer gemstones because they are the July birthstone (although rubies do work well in the winter - probably because of the red we habitually see at Christmas?), sunstones are summery because they are reminiscent of the summer sun, bright, orange, glinting, aquamarines because they echo the colours of the ocean, and of course, corals because of the colours and the relationship to the sea (meaning the beach, of course). So some of the most recent bracelets here are summer bracelets from the ruby bracelet at the very top of the page to the last coral bracelet below.
But despite my designating these as "summer stones", they do work well at other times of the year, especially with the addition of a "wintry" stone such as the pietersite in the aquamarine bracelet above.
However, the ankle bracelets that you see below, one ankle bracelet of gold and sunstone and one with aquamarine and sterling silver both sing out summer loud and clear!



Above, coral bracelets page, and   the turquoise and coral bracelets page on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website.