Sunday, March 18, 2007

Trying Ebay Again


I've had an ebay store, Studio G for about three years now, and much of the time I've run a few auctions since store items don't come up in the normal search results. However, I'm about to give up on Ebay. It's a grand idea, and works I suppose for many things, but Ebay continues to raise fees everytime you turn around, and changes things constantly it seems to make it more difficult to sell so that I don't think I've had anything up for auction for at least a month -maybe a bit more - and probably not the month before that. That said, I do have 5 bracelets up for auction this week although one does end tomorrow night I believe - the others on Wednesday. They all have starting bids substantially lower than what they would sell for in my store or on my Cluny Grey Jewelry website. So I'm going to see what happens.
The labradorite bracelet that you see above is up for auction. I love this bracelet and every gemstone was chosen for its flash. It also has some great beads in sterling silver. The bracelet below is all Swarovski crystals in the colours of silk and morion, an unbelievably great combination - I couldn't believe it (the bracelet is much prettier in person). I'm auctioning the earrings with the bracelet so that could sell for about half of what they would be on the website. I'm really taken with Swarovski lately because I love the new larger beads and the wonderful new colours (rose water opal -yum!).




Finally, a great blue chalcedony bracelet that has matching lampwork bead earrings to go with it; again, I'm auctioning both together. The great lampwork beads are a sort of periwinkle blue with a dash of metallic silver encased in clear -very pretty, very hard to describe. They are the work of lampwork artist Irene Collier.
So, if you get a chance and you're in the market for some graduation or Mother's Day gifts or maybe something to wear to the prom, check my Ebay auctions this week: my user id is: chloemarie99 or you can do a search for Cluny Grey - or simply click on the link in the first paragraph here. Hyvästi! Tchau!

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Fire and Ice, Sea and Sun

I like so many different gemstones and styles that if left to my own devices, in the course of a week I can come up with some very disparate looks. Fire agate is a current favorite of mine, and I like it so much that I've created a new page on the Cluny Grey website for Fire Agate Jewelry and I predict that it will be fairly full before long. I love large faceted nuggets, like those in this fire agate bracelet - and I love to mix a bit of sunstone with my fire agate creations, too. The other element (besides the lampwork beads I love) that I like to incorporate are Swarovski crystals. Talk about sparkle! The bracelet below has all three of my favorites.I am a bracelet person; I love bracelets, love to make them, love to wear them, oftentimes as many as I can get on at one time and still lift my arms (well, not quite). But I've been trying to make more necklaces since so many of my customers like matching sets - earrings, bracelets, necklaces, all that work together. I made the lariat necklace that you see below from grey Biwa pearls with an iridescent nacre and from faceted rock or quartz crystal that is huge and chunky. I really like lariat necklaces because they are very easy to wear and usually quite versatile.

The turquoise necklace that you see here is quite long and mixes lampwork beads by master lampworker James Derrick Reeves with turquoise and amethyst. I made matching earrings from the same turquoise and amethyst. I love those faceted amethyst nuggets. Below, I made a double strand necklace with some smooth amethyst nuggets, faceted peridot, garnet, and a lot of smokey quartz to show off a large drusy (druzy) pendant set in sterling silver with faceted gemstones in peridot, quartz, and garnet and an amethyst teardrop hanging from it. The clasp has a garnet cabochon set in it. When I make a necklace like this, I love to find gemstone clasps to use even though I know that it probably won't show most of the time. I still think it's a nice touch though. This necklace will be on the Drusy Jewelry page. This is also the first brown drusy that I've ever had.

Finally, another bracelet that I had to put on here today because I like it quite a bit. The huge faceted nugget is of amazonite and is slightly twisted. The lampwork beads are by James Derrick Reeves, and of course, the design is by me. I'm seriously thinking about keeping this one although I do have a couple of these huge nuggets still and I'm just wondering what I could do with them.



Friday, February 23, 2007

Aquamarine: The Sea Stone

Aquamarine is the birthstone for March, so I've been working with it quite a bit lately, getting ready for next month. It is a gemstone that I love to work with though since turquoise and aqua shades are just about my favorite colours. I cannot help myself when it comes to naming jewelry pieces containing aquamarine: the only thing I can think about is water, namely the ocean, the sea, the beach, mainly the colour of the water in the Bahamas.
It is rather hard to find aquamarine at a reasonable price usually. Much of the aquamarine out there is so pale as to be almost colourless. But I have been lucky to find some aquamarine with good colour that is natural - and what a stroke of luck! Good aquamarine is truly beautiful; I don't have aquamarine with deep, deep colour except in some opaque nuggets, but what I do have is clear and true and lovely even when it has inclusions.
The first aquamarine bracelet is one of the few that does not have a "sea-name" since I called it "Silent Singing;" however, I'll let you in on a secret; I was thinking of the singing of the sea sirens who lured sailors to their deaths with their beautiful songs, so it is sea-related after all.
I am very fond of the set I made with aquamarine and coin pearls: earrings, necklace, and bracelet. (The bracelet isn't shown here, but you can find it on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website on our page of Aquamarine Bracelets.)Click Aquamarine Earrings for the earrings, and Aquamarine Necklaces for the necklace. They are all quite simple, but integrate the geometric look that is so in style this season.
I have made some aquamarine bracelets without any lampwork beads (for a change), but of course, I made some like the two above as well. Directly above, borosilicate lampwork beads add to the watery look and mysterious feel, and the bracelet above it has lampwork beads from Blue Seraphim lampwork that look great with goldfilled elements with aquamarines.
We've added quite a few new pages of jewelry to the Cluny Grey Jewelry website. One features Apatite Jewelry, and another features our new Prayer Box Necklaces which feature sterling silver prayer boxes as an element in our jewelry. The apatite bracelet above is a favorite of mine (the colour of course!). Until next time, keep beading and making the world beautiful!


Sunday, February 11, 2007

Chatoyancy: Moonstone, Sunstone, and All Mixed Up

I am particularly fond of jewelry that glows or sparkles or glimmers or shimmers...you get the idea. That's why I love jewelry that has chatoyancy or the Schiller Effect (flash or iridescence). You expect flash from rainbow moonstone, but look at the glimmer in this peach moonstone bracelet. It's as though there's is a light sprinkling of glitter in these natural stones. I liked these moonstones so much that I decided to combines them only with one lampwork bead and sterly silver so I wouldn't overpower them. This is listed on the Moonstone Bracelets page on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website.Above you see what most people think of when moonstone springs to mind: rainbow moonstone, here in a double strand bracelet with lampwork by James Derrick Reeves and lots of sterling silver. A ton of flash glimmers in this rainbow moonstone bracelet, and even the little sterling silver bezel-set cabochon rainbow moonstone charms have flash. I love this one. You can find it on the Rainbow Moonstone Jewelry page.
Ooooooo, sunstone! And this is great sunstone with its wonderful flash and fire. I've also added fire agate nuggets to this triple strand bracelet, and Swarovski copper crystals AB including a large Cosmic Swarovski crystal. This is the bracelet that cannot be ignored! It's on our Sunstone Jewelry page.
I went crazy, picked out some of my favorite colours in gemstones and combined them all together for this Spring themed bracelet that is very colourful to say the least. It will go with about any outfit in your closet. Gemstones include: citrine, amethyst, rhodochrosite, apatite, smoky quartz, blue lace agate, and amazonite. I have a newer page on the website that I've called Unique Gemstone Jewelry because I like gemstone mixtures so much, and I am not always quite sure where to list them. You'll find this bracelet on that page.
I've been busy with commissions and haven't blogged enough, but I remember my New Year's Resolution about updating and will try to get back on track!