A Motley Crew of Bracelets

The days are growing longer; I locked the office this evening at 7:30 and it was not totally dark yet - and it was around 70 degrees! I love warm weather and the long, long days of summer - and especially summer nights when I feel totally energized and focused on whatever I'm doing whether it's reading a good book, making jewelry or cooking dinner.
The bracelet above reminds me of summer; turquoise and coral, the colours of swimming pools and summer dresses.
The lapis bracelet below also used coral for that hint of summer warmth. The pretty lampwork bead is by Lynn Nurge and is a beautiful colour also - the inspiration for the bracelet. The lapis bracelet is topped off with a toggle with lapis cabochons in each end.

Last is a bracelet with two strands of mixed gemstones: lapis, yellow calcite, carnelian, and turquoise, and yes, it too makes me think of the bright colours of summer - and for some reason, also Colorado. I don't know if it's the generous helping of sterling silver throughout the bracelet (I love the little twisted rings) or just the bright colours (don't ask me why), but it evokes memories of the summer when my son was finishing graduate school at the University of Denver and living in Fort Collins. I drove all the way from Arkansas to spend some times there - all through Missouri, turning left at Saint Louis, and then through Kansas - straight through the middle of Kansas which seemed to go on forever. Arriving there was worth the drive however - I would do it again tomorrow if I could. I had spent the previous 2 years visiting Denver, a city I liked, and I liked Fort Collins even more. By the way, yttrium fluorite comes from Fort Collins, the only place where it is found. It is a stone that is a pale lavender colour - quite pretty - and it keeps eluding me. I'm hoping I find some soon to make jewelry for my daughter-in-law and myself as a memento of that time in Colorado.


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Moonstone, Opal, Coral, and Snow?

I was working on this moonstone bracelet today when the secretary came in and announced a 100% chance of snow! Now, everyone else is probably sick of the stuff, but we really haven't had a snow this year here in Northeastern Arkansas, so I'm looking forward to having a few inches fall - yes, even though I'm also dreaming of spring. I really am tired of the one day it's 55 and the next day it's 35 weather, so snow or spring, warm or cold, one or the other!
The moonstone bracelet above is made of rainbow moonstone in different shapes and sizes - no lampwork, just the rainbow moonstone and sterling silver (some great sterling from Bali came in this week). I always think of rainbow moonstone as a "Spring" gemstone, maybe because of warm, moonlit nights that lead up to the hottest days of summer. Anyway, you can see my mood.



The next bracelet is made of blue Peruvian opal with sterling silver. Some nice deep blue colour comes through on some of these nuggets - very pretty. More of that Bali sterling is here, mixed with sterling charms from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes (I have got to go to Thailand).

The lampwork this week is in the two coral bracelets below: the first is created of peachy and reddish-orange coral with beautiful, beautiful lampwork glass beads from a new lampworker (new to me; as you can tell from looking at these beads, this artisan has been doing lampwork for quite a while). The two tones of the coral match the two tones of the beads.

The bottom bracelet is made of blue coral and features gorgeous matte beads by Robin Weber. These lampwork beads have a strange depth for beads that do not have a glassy polish and an unusual matte look. They're perfect with the blue sponge coral; the large oval bead is Montana agate with its dendrites against the creamy translucent white creating fern-like patterns.
Now keep your fingers crossed for about 4 inches of snow (at least) that will not be troublesome and look pretty for a couple of days. Then, Spring can come blowing in!


coral
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