Blue in Green Glass Earrings

From the very beginning, these earrings have been very popular and sold extremely well, no matter the venue (in the park, at a gallery, in my living room).




They feature a square silver-foil-lined bead that is half blue and half green. I've placed the bead on the head pin with the blue half on the bottom and the green half on top, and then used a small blue round bead to pick up the blue in the bead.



The earrings feature a sterling silver head pins and ear wires and the drop is approximately 2 inches.





The beads are blue and green, but you'll notice the title of this entry reads blue IN green. That's because, from the first time I saw these beads, the name of the Bill Evans/Miles Davis composition Blue in Green (from the album Kind of Blue) popped into my head.





Price: $10.

PS: I think my favorite story about these earrings is how a friend who bought them was once hanging out in a bar and another woman kept complimenting her on these earrings and finally, my friend April took them off and said: Here, take 'em, they're yours! I think she came back to me to buy another pair after that night...

Black and White Coin Earrings

Recently, a friend asked me to make her a pair of earrings to match a dress she was wearing to a memorial service.



The dress was a black sundress with white floral embroidery so she knew she wanted a pair of black and white earrings.




My friend remembered that last Christmas, she'd bought a pair these earrings for a friend of hers as a gift, and so knew they'd be perfect to go with her new dress.

They're opaque Czech glass coin-shaped beads with a white round glass dangle, strung together with sterling silver and finished with sterling silver earwires.

These are part of my 3 Coins in the Fountain collection and they match the Mod color palette.They measure just under 2 inches in the drop, and have lots of swing.

Price: $10.

Prehnite Earrings

Last year, I was introduced to a stone called Prehnite. Prehnite was discovered by a Dutch Colonel, Hendrik von Prehn and brought to Europe from South Africa. Being Dutch myself, this stone appealed to me just because of the story. But the color and the glow, like a candle trapped behind wax paper, are the reason I bought some 8mm stones last week.

My stones are a soft seafoam green.

I paired the stones with some 8mm sterling silver snap castings and then set the stones myself. It's a lot of fun to go from loose stones to wearable jewelry in just a few minutes.

June's Birthstone

The birthstone for June is a pearl. Pearls can be both natural and cultured, and grow in fresh and salt water. They are soft and rank from a 2.5 to a 4.5 on the Mohs scale. Storing pearls in a soft bag is important, as is having them restrung periodically (body oils can damage the silk stringing material). Pearls come in colors ranging from white to black, but can also be dyed. I've recently been reading about dying pearls using clothing dye and I might give that a shot in the near future.

The Red Sea, The Gulf of Manaar and the Persian Gulf are all places to find natural perals, while the Australian and Polynesian coasts produce cultured pearls.

Folktore tells us that pearls are tears that fall from the sky. It's nice to think of someone's pain or sorrow at least ending up as an attractive fashion accessory but that might be a little too close to Project Runway to be believable.

Pearls are believed to offer love, wisdom and luck to the wearer and to strengthen engagments and romantic relationships. They are also believed to keep children safe, which is why I like the idea of using them in Mother's bracelets (bracelets created using pearls, crystal birthstone beads and a choice of charms at the clasp (a baby shoe, a heart, an alphabet letter for the baby's first name, etc.). I need to get started on one of those, for that matter. There's always more beading work to be done, folks. Good accessorizing waits for no man (or woman).

Everyone Loves a Party, People!

And everyone loves party people!


I saw this pendant in one of my vendor catalogs and had to have it. It's cloisonne and features profiles of people at what I imagine to be a cocktail party. Smokin' and drinkin'! I believe I even see a tuxedo.




The bead is actually a hollow 'flying saucer' shape, with the same image on both sides. It's almost 3 inches in diameter.






I knew I wanted to hang this pendant on a very simple cord and that the cord's color would be important.


The pendant itself has lots of rich warm brown tones, but there are a few pops of aqua that I think are not only beautiful, but also complement the earth tones in the rest of the piece.


The cord is a satin ribbon finished with a sterling silver clasp. I sold at least one of these at the UCAL Holiday Sale, but kept one for myself because I think it's a fun piece, and definitely unique. Its irreverance garners a lot of interest when I wear it.

Price: $28.

Green/Orange Aventurine and Jasper Necklace

I've dug up some older photos of a piece I made at the tail end of 2007.



I hadn't been sure what to do with these chunky slightly-faceted green aventurine beads even after having them for several years.

I had a strand of them on my work table and I later put down this jasper free-form pendant next to them and saw that the 2 might be an interesting match (in that they contrasted with one another).


I wanted to pick up the earthy orange of the jasper stone so I used chips of orange aventurine as spacers between the green aventurine stones.



Like several other of the chunky stone necklaces I made last year, I put the clasp of this piece in the front. It's a nice rustic-looking pewter toggle which fits in with the natural look of the necklace.



I will fully admit that this piece was not my favorite when I made it. I knew I wanted to finally use the beads I'd collected but I didn't know how much I liked the end result. But, I was doing so well at the University City Arts League Holiday Sale that I needed to refill my display case quickly, so in this necklace went. Any concerns I may have had about it were unfounded; it sold fairly quickly.

(and a shout out to my friend Kimberly: I know you can see the lamp reflected in the pendant. Mea culpa!)

Price: $40.

Iris Necklace

And, the necklace...


This is one of the few color palettes in the 3 Coins in the Fountain collection that doesn't include blue or green, but it's been popular and I've sold a variety of pieces of Iris jewelry.


Eventually, these designs will make their way to my Etsy shop.



Price $38.

(I will freely admit, however, that when I sell to people directly, and not via a store or show, I am sometimes comfortable making deals with people because there is no middleman. I like to make deals when someone is buying several pieces at the same time, especially. For a $10pair of earrings, I really can't alter the price, but for more expensive items, doing so is always an option. But there's also the other side of that coin--haha--when this collection was being sold at a prestigious craft gallery on Antiques Row here in Philadelphia, these necklaces sold for $60, and the bracelets for $45. The earrings went for between $25 and $35, depending on the style. The shorter earrings you've seen photos of sold for $25, for example. And when I say 'sold for,' I mean just that. People paid those prices. So when I took my work out of that craft gallery and re-priced them, I cut prices in half, on average. Some people still feel my work is too rich for their blood, and I fully understand that. But I think my pieces are unique, and beautiful and look smashing when they're worn, so I've grown comfortable with my pricing).

Iris Bracelet

We all remember the pink/purple coin earrings from last week, yes? Good, I thought we did. Here's the 3 Coins in the Fountain bracelet that coordinates with those earrings.



The color palette here is called Iris. When I saw the pink, purple and plum coin beads, I immediately saw Irises in my mind, so naming this color combination was simple. The beads are Czech glass and all metal is sterling silver.

I took these photos (and those in the blog entry to come) at my bedroom window, in an attempt to get some sunlight because the glass beads look wonderful in the light. You can see the shadow of the window screen, but I actually kind of like that.

Price: $22.

Another Etsy Listing

I've put my Bullseye necklace up for sale at my Etsy shop:


Check it out

Boxes...Pt. 4

Oh, for ME? Why, you shouldn't have!

Boxes...Pt. 3

These are the larger boxes that I have. They measure approximately 3 inches square.



For these, I used larger stamps, but still kept to the nature theme.



These boxes are a good fit for my necklaces, both small and large.