Monday 12 December 2011

Golden Trickles

The first earrings I made when I started working with semi-precious gemstones were something I called 'trickle' earrings, where gemstones trickle down a fine chain.
These extra long trickles feature faceted kite briolettes of beautiful Scapolite and tiny faceted seed beads of bronze-coloured Pyrite* on ultra-fine 14K Gold-fill chains suspended from 14K Gold-fill lever-back hooks.
Price: £84.
*Pyrite is also called 'fool's gold' - you may have picked some up in your childhood and marvelled at the colour. It's lovely, and frankly not easy to come by.

Saturday 10 December 2011

Three Colours Red

My favourite colours are raspberry red and fuchsia pink, and I love using them in my jewellery designs. Sadly, though, I have never really been able to capture the colours properly on film, they always seem to show up as an anonymous red. Not so today, the low mid-day winter sun gave exaxctly the cold light I needed, and I finally caught the colours perfectly.
These three bracelets are, from the center outwards:
1: Rectangular Garnet beads interspersed with tiny faceted Rhodolite Garnet round beads, finished with a Sterling Silver t-bar clasp. £26.
2: Oval faceted beads of hot-pink Rubies, finished with a 14k Gold-fill t-bar clasp. £78.
3: Smooth droplets of Garnet, interspersed with tiny Sterling Silver beads and finished with a Sterling Silver t-bar clasp. £22.

Friday 2 December 2011

The Outlook is Rosie

Something I personally like a lot is gold or silver with a hammered finish. I plan to make a series of earrings using hammered circles embellished with various stones.
My first pair is this one: Heart briolettes of palest Lavender Amethyst, swinging from hammered circles of 14K Rose Gold.
Rosie. £34.

Thank Goodness


After shivering at the office for weeks (it went so far that we came in to work dressed as if for a winter holiday on Monday mornings, knowing that the heating had been off all weekend), some benevolent soul decided to crank up the temperature this week. Thank goodness.
No longer swathed in layers of wool, I can wear more substantial ear wear again. To celebrate, here are a pair of slender hoops in Sterling Silver, adorned with large briolettes of cloudy Prehnite and smaller pear briolettes of Green Tourmaline.
I think they go really well with my green 'Brandon' dress by NW3 Hobbs, so let's call them Brandi, for reference. Price: £42.

Claude


Continuing my recent fascination with small earrings, I made a pair of mini-chandeliers in green - green has been my favourite colour this season, and there are so many beautiful green gemstones in my 'toybox'...
(I have called these Claude, as they are green like my mother's favourite plum, the Reine-Claude) They feature tiny briolettes of cool green Prasiolite* and tiny rondelles of vivid green Peridot.
Price: £36.
*Prasiolite is also called Green Amethyst.

Thursday 1 December 2011

Golden Brown


Another small pair of earrings that won't get caught in your hair or woolly jumpers..

These feature rondelles of Smoky Quartz, stacked with vermeil beads and topped off with tiny rondelles of golden-brown Andalusite.

They look like a pair of Diana to me. Price: £22.

Glistening Garnets


I've been wearing roll-neck sweaters quite a lot lately - to keep warm. And one thing I've realised is that my many & much-loved chandelier earrings can get a bit tangled in the knit... So I've been making small earrings, and they are pretty too - not just tanglefree!
Here is a pair featuring a set of beautiful cranberry-red Garnet rondelles that I have had for a long time without knowing what to make of them. I've stacked them with detailed gold-vermeil beads and topped them off with tiny rondelles of Rhodolite Garnets. I like Garnets, so I have a lot of them to play with.
I try to name jewellery, to help me remember each piece I make. These are called Marina. Price: £24.