Raise the Red Lantern

Or perhaps it would be more apt to say, "Raise the red jade." I had a customer who was interested in red jade, so I made a bracelet using some of the scarce red jade I had. You know me, I had to make more red jade bracelets, and although I am running out of the pretty red jade, it has caught my imagination and instead of just jade, I'm seeing red. . . anything red!
The last bracelet, the bangle bracelet, is the one I made first. The red beads were so shiny that I wanted to work with them some more (just like a magpie, I cannot resist shiny things). So. . . the second bracelet with lots of sterling silver added and expanded to two strands instead of one. Finally, I did the top bracelet with these great lampwork beads from James Derrick Reeves (surprise!). You can see these on our Jade Bracelets page.

I found a great site for ceramic beads today: Earthenwood Studio. They have great handcrafted porcelain beads and a slew of other products, too. Check them out. I already have my eye on some great pendant beads.





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Seeing Smoky? It's a Good Thing!

Yesterday when I was driving home from the studio at about 6:15 my extremely accurate car thermometer said that the temperature was 101 degrees Fahrenheit. This is jewelry-making weather because the only thing that makes sense is to stay inside under an air-conditioner. It's even too hot to lie around in the pool since the water there is as hot as any bathwater!
Dreaming of water, however, I made the first aquamarine bracelet with some great new aquamarine nuggets that I just got in from Thailand. They are a lovely mostly opaque shade of blue with very little green to them. In one of those rare cased of serendipity, I'd just received some lampwork beads from bead artist Lynn Nurge in the same colour, but with a bit of an opal look to them (but not iridiscent). I love Lynn Nurge's beads for bracelets since she handmakes tiny little beads that are as perfect as anything handcrafted can be.

I've also been working with smoky (smokey) quartz this week since the colour brown is big this Fall, and I've gotten in some great cuts of smoky quartz. I still have a tendency to want to call it smoky topaz since that it the way that people I knew referred to it when I was growing up, but what I'm using is quartz.

Smoky quartz is a very sparkling stone when faceted because it is usually transparent and it really almost sparkles like Swarovski does. It is a surprisingly versatile gemstone which blends well with other gemstones and is at home with many different colours in one's wardrobe. I especially like to wear it with lighter colours, white, cream, pale blue, pale peach and pink.
The necklace that you see here is almost all faceted topaz stones with the addition of some great lampwork beads (from a favourite artist of mine) in the colours of brown cream and silver. I especially like the large briolettes such as the one in the pendant here.
The bracelet below has matching lampwork beads which are by Tennessee lampworker Teresa Turner.
Found on the Smoky Quartz Jewelry page.
Finally, I read a review that I didn't know had been done about my blog yesterday, and while the jewelry received good reviews and the writing, the reviewer said that the black background of my blog didn't work, that it drove her crazy as did the green print (I guess she just read one entry since I do change colours). I'm taking her advice and using white print this time, but I'm wondering: how many of you find that you don't like the black background? Should I change to another, lighter colour? I'll publish your comments although because of the inordinately large amount of spam I get I do look at them first, and if the black background is bad, I'll change it!
Thanks - and everyone stay cool!

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The Dog Days of Summer

It's that time of the summer when stagnation occurs as a natural event here in the South: the sultry heat drains every last ounce of energy even from the young children; the adults seek couches in air-conditioned rooms (in the old days, they sat on shady porches and fanned themselves while drinking ice tea, and at intervals, held the cold glass against their faces). The lassitude of the "dog days" is responsible (just my own theory) for the notion held by many Northerners that we in the South are "slow-moving," "laid-back", and in no hurry to finish the business at hand whatever it may be.
Of course, those of us who design and make jewelry do not feel the lassitude of the "dog-days" since we await the arrival of gemstones and are dreaming already of Christmas jewelry and sparkling holiday sets of jewels for those parties that will take place when the air is crisp and sharp as we breathe that first breath outdoors.
The top bracelet features apatite and some of my favourite Karen Hill Tribe dragonfly tube beads that make a bangle out of the apatite and lovely lampwork beads from Robin Weber. Find it on the Apatite Jewelry page.
The bracelet below opens the door to Fall with its smoky quartz faceted beads and special lampwork "bumpy" beads the same colour. It's mixed with vermeil and makes me think of falling leaves and sweater weather.

The peach/mauve/taupe moonstone below is complemented by etched lampwork beaded laced with silver. The second strand features moonstone and sterling charms (again from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes).
The earrings below are made of AAA grade labradorite, and have flash to spare. The large ovals hang from sterling earwires and have Bali silver decorations. All of the jewelry here can be found on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website.

Oh, and the "dog-days"? The term probably comes from the dog star, Sirius, (Canis Major) which in the summer rises and sets with the sun. (For a more detailed explanation, see Dog Days.
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