The Finished Carnelian/Turquoise/Turquoise Jasper Necklace

And, finally, the finished product!




This necklace sold to a Board Member on the first night of the UCAL '07 sale. The woman who bought it told me that I was seriously underpricing my work. She was wearing, at the time, a big bold beautiful necklace of her own, and I flat out asked her if she was willing to tell me what she'd paid for it. She said she got it at a jewelry fair at the campus museum the week before and that prices for the necklaces sold there started at $[REDACTED]. I won't claim that my work is as good as that sold at a museum gift shop, but in retrospect, based on the price I paid for the raw materials and the idea of what the market will bear, I think I should have charged a bit more for the finished piece. Then again, I think of it this way: someone got a bargain, and that always feels good, even to me as a seller, oddly enough.

Price: $[REDACTED]

N.B. Last night at my pottery studio, I had a conversation with a woman who is taking a marketing class. She told me that one of the ways you determine the price an item should sell for is to survey people and ask a range, in dollars, that they feel the item is worth and/or a range that they'd pay if they wanted to buy it. I'm curious if that will work, here and if readers will leave a comment and give me that range. And don't be shy. If your range starts at $5, then that's where it starts!

Thanks!

Choosing a Focal Piece

So, I had the basic necklace down (tumbled carnelian and turquoise rounds)and it was time to add a focal piece, in the form of a big, bold pendant. I wanted something that would work with the color palette I was already using, but a big piece of turquoise would have been out of my price range. But I had this great round stone made out of turquoise jasper in my collection.




I particularly like this photo because you can really see the blue green and aqua swirls of color present in the pendant. The coloration reminds me of those famous wave drawings from the Edo period in Japan.




The pendant measures about 2 inches from top to bottom and is solid and substantial.



Finally, the clasp is made of lead-free pewter and has a Southwestern feel to it, which complements the carnelian and turquoise beads. The metal is antiqued and decorated and makes me think a little of spurs and all of that cowboy stuff! Click on the photo for a larger view of the clasp.




The decision to use the clasp in the front of the necklace, and not the back, is new for me, though I can't claim to be the originator of that style. Not only is it easier to clasp a toggle in the front, I think it also adds something to the look of this piece. A necklace like this is not meant to be dainty or streamlined--you're going for the wow! factor when you're designing with rocks. And I think having the clasp in front, with the antique design and that pop of silver, really adds some visual interest to this necklace.

We'll continue the trip down carnelian-turquoise memory lane in the next Jericas Designs jewelry blog update.

From "Raw" Carnelian to the Beginnings of a Carnelian Necklace

So, in the last entry, I showed you the tumbled carnelian beads I had and wanted to make into a necklace. I really like the combination of coral/orange-y red/brown and bright aqua blue and what's better at being bright aqua blue than turquoise? Nothing. So I took small 4mm in diameter round beads of genuine turquoise and strung them together with the carnelian stones.



In my mind, these 2 stones are related in a way. They can both be ...rough and rustic, if that makes sense. Sometimes, harmony is achieved by putting similar things together. Like goes with like. That principal guided my thinking, here. I really like the pop of color that the cool blue gives off, interspersed with the warm reddish brown. And because turquoise is so expensive, a little pop of color (i.e, a small bead) is all you can really afford!




The photo above hints at the clasp of the necklace, but we'll take a closer look at how I finished this necklace in the next blog entry.

Natural Carnelian in Natural Light

A Jericas Designs blog reader recently asked me if I ever photograph using natural light. Yes, and no.

Mostly no.

I keep meaning to go outside with a handful of baubles and snap some shots, but I live 9 flights up from the ground and I somehow never seem to get around to doing that. Not that I don't want to, of course.





But I did snap a few shots of some rough tumbled carnelian stones before Christmas of last year. They were temporarily strung on plastic cord, and before I took them apart, I put them over a small basket and set them in the windowsill near my craft table on a very sunny winter day. The beads range from an orangey-red to a red-brown and are an average of 3/4 of an inch long.

Carnelian is a type of chalcedony (a milky quartz) and takes its color from iron oxide. As you can see, with natural stones, not every one is a 'winner,' as they say. They're still fine tumbled stones, but because I was going for that rich spicy brown-red, I weeded out the lightest (sometimes white or clear) material. Luckily, I had 2 16-inch strands to work with, so I was still able to make an entire set of jewelry.

Below you see the last photo of the carnelian beads in natural light--behind them, you see a view of Philadelphia, along with one of the brick walls of my building, to the right. You can see rooftops and some still-green trees, even in winter.



Next up, some shots of how I started to work with the tumbled carnelian beads.

GIA Accreditation, Here I Come!

A few weeks ago, I sent off my application to the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) for their AJP (Accredited Jewelry Professional) diploma. I mentioned my plan here in the Jericas Designs Jewelry blog last year, but was too busy to really get started on it 'til now. I'm in the mood to try something new. The courses in this 3-step program are available through distance learning, and the first one is titled: GEM 110 JEWELRY ESSENTIALS. This is what the course covers, according to the GIA website:

...the major features of jewelry and [it] explains how those features combine to give jewelry its unique value. Understand the special qualities of precious metals and be able to compare the advantages of each with your customer. Identify jewelry types and styles, and become comfortable with the industry terms used to discuss them. Learn about different jewelry manufacturing methods and how each one can affect style, appearance, and durability. Learn how precious metals are regulated, marketed, and tested.

Look how happy the women in the photo look! I want to be happy like that. Happy and knowledgeable. I received my materials in the mail recently, and I'll let you all know what the materials look like once I've opened them and started poking around.

Black Lip Shell Necklace

Black Lip Mother-of-Pearl shell ranges from light grey to black and has an iridescent, and in this case peacock silver-green, sheen. I picked up these beads in a local craft store and knew I wanted to do something with them, but I wasn't sure what. Here's a shot of 3 of the beads before I'd made them into jewelry. They measure 25mm/1 inch in diameter.


I thought a necklace made from the beads would be striking, and as luck would have it, one store-bought strand was exactly enough to make a short, neck hugging (but not choker) length necklace.

Jewelers have lots of ways of assembling a necklace--you can string beads together with no spaces in between, or you can have visible metal or wire connecting the beads together.



It's hard to articulate the decision-making process at times. For this necklace, I thought the beads would look best with some distance between them--using just the sterling silver wire allows the piece more movement than using more beads would, and it also sets the beads off to their best advantage.


When there's movement and flexibility in a necklace, the beads lie against the neck (or wrist) more comfortably. In this case, with flat discs, you want them to lie flat. There's nothing worse than tugging at jewelry all day to make it 'hang right.'







I love this little orange starfish! I bought it in Holland this summer (but it's from Indonesia).


Here's the sterling silver lobsterclaw clasp (and the sea-life leitmotif my photos seem to have!)

And finally, a shot of the entire necklace. As I recall, it was 16 or 17 inches long. I'd wanted to make earrings, but there were no Black Lip Shell beads leftover. I think this necklace sold at the very end of the sale. Apparently someone who is affiliated with UCAL was waiting to see if it sold or not; when it didn't sell, he bought it for his girlfriend.



If I'd photographed this on a darker background, it would have made for a much nicer shot. As always, thanks for looking. In the future, I'll show you a similar necklace in Brown Lip Shell (which is actually very white). And, I hope to start taking pictures of items ON people, for scale, but when you take shots late at night and then you sell things before you have the chance, it doesn't happen. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

Price: $32.

Happy Birthday, Kitty!

A little break in the non-stop jewelry action: a shout out to my kittycat, as she turns 1 year older today! A friend stopped by on Tuesday and took this shot. Mommy's coming home soon and then we'll have a cake with tuna frosting! There is absolutely nothing I like more than a kitten in a basket.

Happy Valentine's Day

Have I shared this goofy shot with you all yet? I honestly don't recall, sorry! I do recall that it was taken with my old camera, though. Direct your attention to the bracelet on the right, please: red millefiore heart beads and sterling silver. Just right as a Valentine's Day gift, don't you think? And you don't even have to travel to Italy to buy one.

Price: $22.

Bridesmaid Necklace in Context!

Finally, a photo to show off the scale of the jewelry I did for Heather's lovely wedding. Now you can see the shade of purple I was trying to describe when I mentioned the dress fabric.

Bridesmaid's Necklaces: More Purple!

I wanted to share a few photos of the bridesmaid's necklaces that I made for my friend Heather's wedding, this past autumn.






Heather asked me to make all of the jewelry and so I outfitted the 6 bridesmaids as well as the bride (and those of you who have read from the beginning have already seen those photos, and trust me, they are much better than these! Go back and look, please, if you haven't already).


Our dresses were "Victorian Lilac," a kind of dusty dark lilac. We decided to use a combination of crystal and sterling silver--a delicate 2-tone design with some texture, provided by slight differences in bead size and variations on the color of the dress.

All beads are Swarovski crystal.


I used Swarovski crystal pearls in white, and Swarovski crystal bicones in tanzanite (larger beads) and amethyst (smaller beads).


The necklaces are strung together with thick sterling silver wire and finished with lobsterclaw clasps.


I added dangles to the clasps, but took these photos before I got around to that final step.




The luster of a crystal pearl is quite beautiful, and because they are less fragile than natural pearls, their drill holes can be made wider in order to accomodate thicker wire.



The necklaces were short and the color of the crystals were a shade above and a shade below the dusty lilac material of our dresses, so each highlighted the other.


I also made 6 pairs of matching earrigs, but you'll have to imagine those in your mind's eye!

Price: $24 (necklace); $8 (earrings)--with a discount for items ordered in bulk. I really enjoyed the jewelry-making assignment and hope I can do more wedding jewelry in the future. Though not for the same customers, of course!

February's Birthstone

The purple variety of the mineral quartz is February's birthstone: amethyst. It takes its name from the Greek word for 'sober/not drunk,' in part due to its relationship to the color of wine. It is reported to be a healing stone, helpful to those attempting to overcome addiction problems. It supposedly also protects the wearer against sorcery, in case you feel a case of that coming on. Amethyst is found all over the world, with main sources being found in Zambia and Brazil. It scores a 7on the Mohs scale. Being the color of royalty, it has often been used in royal jewelry and expensive rosaries.

For those blog readers who remember our discussion of the stone ametrine, amethyst and citrine are the same mineral and share the same composition, with the difference being the oxidation state of the iron impurities present in the quartz. When you heat the quartz, it reduces these iron impurities and the amethyst's purple color fades and becomes yellow citrine. A double oxidation of quartz creates ametrine, though I am still waiting for someone science-y to help us all better understand this phenomenon.

Amethyst is easy to find and very affordable, with darker material being more sought after than lighter material.

Almost Famous

I want to send a big thank you to my friend Angie for dropping off a Christmas photo card last night. The card came to her, not me, but she was kind enough to let me have it. The photo on the card features that same Philadelphia celebrity referenced in the Jericas Designs Jewelry blog back in the early days, and she's wearing my necklace (the 3 Coins in the Fountain, in Ocean)! The colors above are pretty true to life, though the medium blue is a bit richer in person. I really do feel honored, as well as excited, that she liked the necklace I sent her. Maybe I can get Angie to bring her some earrings next time.

Where the Magic Happens

Here's a photo of my work table. These are in-process earrings from the 3 Coins in the Fountain collection. Nice. Clean. Simple.





But take a look at the bigger picture--literally. This shot shows you what my work table looks like most of the time. I snapped this photo during the lead up to the UCAL 2007 Holiday Sale, and I wish I could say it was messy like this because I was under a time constraint, but that's not true. It almost always looks like this.




You can see that I have bead containers, a bead board (a surface with channels for laying out ideas), and all of my tools spread around. I have yet to figure out just what those baskets are doing there. They don't really have anything in them.






Here are some better shots with natural lighting. Same table, more mess.






On the right, you see my THINK GLOBALLY ACT LOCALLY Eco Cup. I got that in college *mumble* years ago, and have used it ever since. I generally only drink my patented iced tea out of it and as a result, the inside is a dark brown color. Someone once suggested that I could fill it with water alone and the cup itself would produce tea, but I would argue that's overstating things.


See the rectangular note that's resting on my grey bead board? It was 2 notes in 1. Imagine my surprise when I saw I was using a hastily written recipe card to make earrings at 2 am. Cheddar cheese, indeed. Let this be a cautionary tale for you all.




So, where does YOUR magic happen, crafters? Leave me a note and tell me where you do your work or, better yet, post a photo on YOUR blog! February January Project participants, chime in!

Creative Groundhogs Just Like Crafty Beavers?

No, I won't be descibing every day's progress, but I did want to thank those of you who have left comments about your projects and how they're (already!) coming along.

Last night, I got home late, and almost forgot to start a sketch! Imagine my embarrasment, since this whole thing was my idea in the first place. But I got out my colored pencils and put down an idea I've had in my head for a few weeks. The difficulty came in finding pencils that mimicked the beads I already have--you can't match a color to another color if you don't have the right pencil. But I found something close and just accepted that it was good enough. The point here isn't to paint the Mona Lisa, it's to put down something to represent where my creative head was at, last night.

And actually, once I started, once I cracked out the pencils and put the date on my piece of paper and started to sketch, I got into it and it wasn't a chore anymore. If nothing else, it felt good to take something from inside my head and get it out, which freed up a space for a new idea.

Today, I think I'm going to work on another variation of the same color scheme and same beads, but a different shape of the necklace.


And no, I didn't make that sketch. Mine is in color. And doesn't feature anything with hair.

Here Beginneth the Project!

So, today is the day! I'm looking forward to the February January Project, but I'm also apprehensive. I've never tried to be creative in the same way every day for a whole month. I've heard from a few people that they they think the project will get them more creative overall, even if they only do a few things during the month--everyone has to do as she sees fit, but I really hope that we all do something every single day. Every day. That's the point of a project like this because otherwise, you're not taking it for what it is--something that, at the end, will represent every single day of the month. And if you think I think that's easy and I'm chastizing anyone, you're wrong. I think I'm mostly worried about myself!

To that end, I'm going to keep my tasks small, and I think you should, too. One sentence, like one of our writers said she'd pledge to do. For me, I'll be sketching jewelry ideas with my sassy new colored pencils and there may be days where I re-work the same design, to incorporate a better color choice, or something similar. Keep all of your 'stuff' together if you can so, at the end of the month, you can see it all at a glance.

And I have an idea, for anyone interested. A few of you have blogs, I think, and if not, you can always feel free to send me photos or snippets of your progress. In the next few days, I'm going to blog about my workspace. For jewelry, that's a fairly contained area...for writers, or sketchers, I realize you take your work area with you, but I'm going to write an entry with some pictures, which will frighten and amaze you all!

Sink or swim! Good luck.