The First Day of Summer!

Finally, the first day of summer! It's a busy time of year especially at Cluny Grey. As I sit and make jewelry, I can't help but think how each piece will look with a sundress or tanned skin or a halter-top. Although jewelry really isn't "summer" or "winter" the way clothes are, certain materials, such as coral, lend themselves to a summery, even beachy feeling. For example, the top bracelet, above, is made with the new Swarovski colour (which I love) called cyclamen opal, but it evokes the beach with the swirling wave-like pattern of its lampwork beads. The next bracelet, made of rainbow moonstone and triangular-shaped freshwater pearls seems perfect for a white or patterned sundress. And, of course, the bracelet below, made of blue coral, would make anyone think of the beach because of its ocean-themed beads and charms: shells, dolphins, starfish.The two last bracelets feature cloisonne. The Swarovski bracelet with its sea-blue crystals (Capri blue) has cloisonne eggs with silver trim instead of the usual gold. The bottom bracelet has just one cloisonne bead, but it is gorgeous and looks terrific with Swarovski crystals in Pacific opal - all the elements of this bracelet are 14k GF.

Enjoy these summer days, and don't forget our FREE SHIPPING!!!!!

Summer and the Sea

I've had a short vacation which I thoroughly enjoyed. My family and I went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a few days. The waves were awesome and the weather hot, but agreeable nonetheless. It was a special thrill to see my grand-daughter view the ocean for her first time. The noise of the waves was so loud that I'm sure she felt rather daunted by the sea, but she adored the sandy beach. Outfitted with her bikini, a cover-up, sunscreen, a hat, and the new beach bag I bought her, she used her shovel and pail to play in the sand and spent her time digging holes and examining pieces of shells which she found immensely interesting.
Needless to say, I didn't make jewelry during this vacation. However, I have done a few custom pieces since I've been back and have barely been able to get a couple of pieces of jewelry made. Top, is a mother of pearl bracelet with a cloisonne butterfly accented by gold. And yes, that is orange mother of pearl!
Below is an agate bracelet with yellow calcite and a sharply faceted citrine nugget enhanced with a pretty little artist's lampwork bead covered with flowers.

The salvation bracelet above features black onyx, genuine ruby and sapphire, rock crystal, a genuine emerald, and citrine along with a freshwater pearl cross. This is a smaller scale bracelet than some of the salvation bracelets I make and is perfect for anyone, young or old.
Finally, the coral necklace features large sealife sterling silver beads from the Karen Hill Tribes and sealife charms, a turtle, a sand dollar, a shell. The blue coral is accented with some of my best artist's lampwork beads. The second strand, a sterling silver chain with charms, can be detached from the main part of the necklace and worn alone.

I'm trying a new template; drop me a line and let me know how you like it. I will probably be changing it more soon.
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How Does Your Garden Grow?

I haven't been to my house in Arkansas this May; instead, I've stayed in the city with my baby grand-daughter. I have missed the flowers of Arkansas although I really prefer the city. My yard in Arkansas, both front and back, is filled with my favorite peonies, a pale pink with a gorgeous smell. The flowering privet has a fragrance that I can lingers all over the property and the privet itself hums with the activity of harmless bees. A climbing rose covers two stories of the entire back of our garage - white roses with a pale pink tinge to them. Hydrangeas are in the front, the blue ones with their little clusters of petals and huge snowball like blooms. May truly blooms in Arkansas, and the "April showers bring May flowers" is an apt saying there.
Here my "flowers" are beads that I put together in jewelry. They do lack scent, but they make up for that by never fading and keeping their colour and shape forever. When I combine the beads and components into a piece of jewelry, it's as though I have a vase of fresh flowers that will last forever!
I'm working a lot with coral as the days get much, much longer. Above and below are two coral necklaces, one with dark coral "fingers" alternated with freshwater pearls and borosilicate lampwork beads and one with red coral and gold. Below that is a blue coral bracelet mixed with sterling silver sea charms and beads and Thai Karen Hill Tribes chain.



Above, a touch of coral enlivens a turquoise and coral bracelet with sterling silver and artist's lampwork. Turquoise and coral are a favorite combination of mine and warrants its own special page on the Cluny Grey website.
Other than coral, I've been working on briolette earrings, below are candy jade, but I have many more pairs on the briolette earrings page. I've recently found some interesting agate and you'll be seeing much more than just the 3 agate bracelets with crazy lace agate featured below.



It is also the season of graduations, proms, and weddings, hence the crystal jewelry below. The Swarovski crystal jewelry below can be found on our Swarovski Bridal Jewelry page. An especial favorite of mine are the large briolette earrings in Swarovski crystal below the Swarovski starfish.




Enjoy the longer May days! Don't forget that shipping is FREE!

The Emerald Days of May

I love May, the month of my birthday, for its flowers, green leafy beginnings shooting from the ground, and for the life that suddenly moves from inside stuffy houses to the fresh and fragrant outdoors. I always think of it as the month of emeralds, and the emerald is truly an appropriate birthstone for May. I love working with emeralds and I especially like to combine them with other gemstones. Today, however, most of the jewelry pieces that you see here have emeralds mixed only with sterling silver and lampwork beads. The emerald bracelet above is an example since it features only emeralds and sterling silver in two strands. Little charms hang around the bracelet and give it the life that this May birthstone deserves while opaque and transparent emeralds in different shapes and sizes mingle with one another.
One of the things I love about making jewelry is that I can make it affordable. At one time, few people could ever afford an emerald bracelet or necklace or even earrings. But using emeralds of different quality that have been made into beads, I can make a piece of emerald jewelry that you can wear forever - and it is the real thing!
Above, is an emerald bracelet with one lampwork bead that gives it a lively touch, while the emerald bracelet below features three of our nicest lampwork beads as the focal for the bracelet.
And the last emerald bracelet is extremely simple: a sterling silver bangle with four light-coloured fluted emeralds set in sterling scallops.

The earrings that you see here are also genuine emeralds, again mixed with sterling silver. I love the dainty chandelier earrings with three little faceted emerald rondelles dangling from each earring.
Finally, a cultured freshwater pearl emerald necklace with genuine emeralds. Keishe pearls are my new favorite pearl; their iridescence is generally particularly strong and their uneven shapes make them shine all the more.
Don't forget Mother's Day this Sunday! We are offering FREE PRIORITY SHIPPING on anything you buy!




emerald necklace

For Graduation: The Colours of Spring and Summer

More bracelets in the colours of Spring! The jade bracelet above celebrates the colour of the season - turquoise! Faceted rectangles of turquoise jade are complemented by purple and pink jade, including a carved pink jade tulip and also spring green carved flowers in jade. The second strand is a sterling silver chain with dangles of turquoise jade. It's the perfect Spring/Summer bracelet with all those colours that we traditionally associate with the two seasons.
At the end of this post, a second jade bracelet is the more traditional jade green with carved jade beads and special flat freshwater pearls in a creamy white.
Below, a celebration of femininity begins with rose quartz; in one rose quartz bracelet, blue agate and sterling silver flower charms and beads are anchored by a focal bead of pretty faceted rose quartz; in the second bracelet, some of our favorite lampwork beads by Suzette Celestin are added to the mix.
A Spring/Summer staple: the turquoise and coral bracelet gets oomph here from lampwork beads with a touch of coral as well as sea-themed charms. The second coral and turquoise bracelet features large red coral slices, sterling silver charms, and a very special "harmony ball" that discreetly chimes when shaken.
The aquamarine bracelet, above, is mixed with rainbow moonstone for a different look - very fresh, very springy/summery. A "watch chain" goes a little over half way around the bracelet for added texture and interest. The wonderful aquamarine nuggets are delightfully chunky.
Jewelry makes a great and lasting graduation present for your favorite graduate! Don't forget that we ship free of charge (over $50.00 purchase).

Gemstones and Abalone with a Necklace or Two

March is almost over, and it's cherry blossom time. For me, this means several different things: my darling grand-daughter will be one year old, Washington will be inundated with tourists (and traffic) hoping to find the perfect confluence of blossoms, warm weather and sunlight to view what is truly one of Nature's lovely sights, and I am a month closer to a trip to Africa.
For jewelry, it means that I'll be working on items for Mother's Day, graduation, prom, June weddings, and summer beaches. Meanwhile, I have an odd assortment of jewelry pieces today!
First, above is a chrysoprase bracelet featuring really lovely chunky faceted chrysoprase nuggets that are a bit different from others that I've seen because of the brown that has been deliberately saved and made a part of the green chrysoprase nugget. Dynamite with the right outfit! And the star of the bracelet is a vintage sterling silver clasp with an inset flower cabochon (glass). A pretty lampwork bead with a shot of soft pink and perfect small green nuggets of chrysoprase finish the bracelet.
Below are two abalone bracelets that both get a kick from added gemstones; the first bracelet features faceted turquoise rectangles (some of my best) in a pretty blue; the second bracelet has faceted thick ovals of aqua chalcedony. Both have charms and toggle clasp closures in sterling.
Sometimes I seem to neglect using a certain gemstone and my supply of jewelry pieces gets low; I know it's because I'll often start using a certain gemstone and won't want to put it down, so that I don't rotate my time with different gemstones. I've neglected using jade lately, and will be making up for it, starting with the bracelet that you see above. Jade doesn't just come in green, but in a slew of beautiful colours. Here the bracelet has the traditional jade green along with a pink that picks up the pink in the gorgeous lampwork beads. A carved flower in pink jade repeats the flower theme of one of the lampwork beads. Two strands mean that this bracelet makes a definite statement.
Another two-strand bracelet below features calcite and jasper as well as another of those vintage clasps made of sterling silver. Such a beautiful clasp means that no matter which way the bracelet turns, there is something lovely to see. This bracelet has a generous helping of sterling silver beads from Bali as well.

I am making more necklaces than I did in the past (I am such a bracelet person!). I love the agate necklace above made with white agate, Swaraovski crystals, and a fantastic geode druzy agate pendant (very in style today). A special lily bead with a string of Swarovski bicones adds a touch of the unusual to this necklace.
Prayer box necklaces have been a staple on the Cluny Grey Jewelry site, but the one you see here is different because the prayer box is cylindrical instead of square. Sterling crosses from different regions hang on either side; a crystal clear Swarovski cross represents purity and virtue. Because coral was an ancient Christian symbol for protection, I added a coral charm to one side of the prayer box. The closure is a sterling lobster clasp.
Another staple on the website is Austrian Crystal Earrings, but I'm especially fond of these silver shadow Swarovski earrings made with Graphic beads, pretty Bali flower beads, and some of my favorite sterling earwires that have intricate roses on the front.
The chrysoprase earrings below are a perfect match for the bracelet at the top of this post.For a lot of fun, upload a picture of yourself with your hair pulled back to ivillage.com's makeover (http://www.ivillage.com/makeover) beauty page and try on different hairstyles and makeup.

Cloisonne Bracelets and Pearl Necklaces

I have a terrible case of Spring Fever, made all the worse by allergies and being too busy to do almost anything other than work (and the allergies seem to make me sleepy - whatever I do I can't seem to get enough sleep lately!). So those are my excuses for not posting for such a long time and for the brief post today.
I've always liked cloisonne; I like to mix it with gemstones and with Swarovski crystals so the cloisonne becomes a focal point instead of the entire piece. The cloisonne bracelet that you see above features sterling silver (there is no gold on the cloisonne although that is usually the metal used) and red magma Swarovski crystals, a favorite new colour of mine. Below, white quartz and onyx complement white closionne beads decorated with pink flowers with darker pink centers. The pretty calla lily bead in white quartz has a string of red magma Swarovski crystals sprouting from its center. The metal is vermeil (sterling silver layered with 22karat gold.

The yellow opals in the cloisonne bracelet above picks up the golden yellow of the pretty cloisonne beads, and a vermeil flower charm from Bali continues the floral theme. I especially like the "dogbone" shaped cloisonne beads. Below, green reigns with cloisonne fans with a green background and a gorgeous lampwork flower bead. The gemstones here are prehnite and tourmalinated quartz (neither of which are showing up as green as they actually are).

Coin pearl necklaces are a favorite of mine and the one that you see above features the prettiest coin pearls accented with goldfilled chain and vermeil. The coin pearls themselves are a strange bronzey colour and quite irregular on the surface which gives them a big gleam factor. It gives the appearance of a lariat necklace although it fastens in back; the chain holding coin pearls and a dragonfly charm work as a pendant.
Running a close second to coin pearl necklaces are these pearls necklaces featuring freshwater Biwa pearls mixed with gemstones and/or Swarovski crystals. For those who like their colours discreet and feminine, the first pearl necklace has mauvey/peach Biwas mixed with pale porcelain jasper; the focal is a gorgeous jasper disk with lovely faint patterns and colorations on both sides. The accents are sterling silver.
The bottom pearl necklace is a luscious colour somewhere between deep pink and burgundy - once again I've used my favorite red magma Swarovski crystals, this time in large sizes, to add interest, texture, and sparkle to the necklace. Beautiful!


Give me time to get these posted on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website. Don't forget that we ship any purchase over $50.00 free!