Amethyst, Lepidolite and Rose Quartz Necklace

I'm a bit disappointed with my photos here, again, but I wanted to share this new necklace with you anyway.


I found this lepidolite pendant in a store in Illinois, and liked the striations of color (darker and lighter purples, mixed with some still lighter and darker tones).



I used amethyst beads to pick up the darker purples in the pendant, and combined smaller lepidolite and rose quartz beads in a second strand to lie above the larger, darker amethyst beads.




The clasp is antiqued pewter.


In person, this necklace is much more harmonious than the photos depict. Various shades of purple, lilac and lavender are represented. I hope to sell this at the holiday sale, so which me luck. I haven't set the price yet. Probably somewhere in the mid $30s. While lepidolite is very reasonably priced, amethyst commands a higher price than some stones I use.

Birthday Cake Earrings

Two perfect petits fours that coordinate with my Birthday Cake Necklace!







An Etsy shopper requested that I make these so that she could buy a complete set of jewelry for a gift. I need to tell her to take a look at the final product over at my Etsy shop!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JERICAS JEWELRY BLOG!

Yes, that's right, today, my little bloggie turns ONE YEAR OLD. It's actually very exciting to say that... Most blogs die out within weeks, and certainly months, of their inception. So I'm proud to say that I've kept blogging for you, my loyal reader. Err...readers? haha. But seriously, it's been great having a space devoted to my creative work, and I've made use of my own notes and designs and ideas and photos over the last year, so I'm glad I finally started writing things down. Taking things out of your head and putting them in a place where others can see them is sometimes a scary business, but I like hearing everyone's comments and I like talking. All about myself. All the time!


In honor of today, I've listed my Birthday Cake Necklace at Etsy! Have a piece of cake on me, everyone!

September's Birthstone

Sapphire, a variety of the mineral corundum, is the birthstone for the month of September. People associate sapphires with the color blue, but in truth, sapphires come in many colors (white, yellow, pink, etc.). And, as we all remember from an earlier Jericas Jewelry blog quiz, red sapphires are known as rubies. Sapphires rank a 9 on the Mohs scale.

Sapphire is mined in Australia, Sri Lanka and Thailand along with Burma, Tanzania and Kenya.

It is thought that blue sapphire brings mental clarity and tranquility because of its calm, healing color. It can also be used to cure a sore throat...or so they say. Either way, it's nice to think of treating yourself to a sapphire necklace during cold and flu season as a medically-advised move!

I have a small sapphire and diamond ring that I wear every day. It was one of the earliest pieces of good jewelry that I received as a gift, back in high school. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Pink and Purple Coin Earrings Up on Etsy

Finally, more of my 3 Coins in the Fountain collection is making its way to Etsy:




Check out the earrings!

Etsy Success!

One!

Two!

Three!

Well now, wasn't Wednesday a WONDERFUL day?

Thanks to the 2 women who bought my work off Etsy. I have said it before and I will say it again: you have no idea how happy this makes me!

Aqua Millefiore Glass and Sterling Silver Earrings

And, another custom order going up on Etsy.




My friend Kimberly was over at my place a few weeks ago. I had a bag of square millefiore glass beads sitting on the table (I'd been working up a design in front of the TV). "Ooh, let me look through these!" she cooed, so I let her. Her eyes immediately fell onto a strand of aqua and white flowers encased in clear glass.





She asked me to make her a pair of earrings using the beads and this is the design we came up with, based on her preferences and my eye.


Hopefully I'll be sending these out next week.

Check out the Etsy listing!

Bullseye Glass Bead and Sterling Silver Earrings

Remember the Bullseye Necklace I made last year?

Well, I made a matching pair of earrings to sell along with the necklace that's currently available at Etsy.




They're delightfully kooky, on account of the delightfully kooky woman who ordered them!



She wanted 4 beads in 3 different colors so that the earrings were unique. I was happy to oblige and paired the bright blue beads with 2 other primary colors: red and green.







Check out the Etsy listing!

Let Me Rock Ya!

I'm not just good at making jewelry, I'm good at stealing photos from other blogs! But I had to share these. On Labor Day, there was a big block party (as there always is) at 50th and Baltimore Streets. That happens to be right across the street from VIX Emporium, the consignment boutique where I sell some of my work.

The shop owner snapped some shots of this year's party (see the VIX sign in the background?):


and the musical headliner, Chaka Khan:



So apparently, I missed yet another brush with greatness (though I hear Chaka didn't quite make it into VIX, sadly). I swear, next year, I won't miss this party! (Last year's headliner was Mos Def! MOS DEF!)

Thanks to Emily at VIX for posting her photos so that I could steal them. I'm working on more things for her shop and should be bringing them in next week.

Peach and Champagne Freshwater Pearl Earrings

Speaking of pearls, allow me to share a really simple, sweet pair of pearl dangle earrings.








I've taken natural peach freshwater potato (i.e., round though not always perfectly spherical) pearls and paired them with slightly larger faceted champagne pearls. They measure about 3/4 in. in the drop.



Hopefully my camera has captured the facets cut into the champagne pearls (my battery was low). While the vendor calls this color champagne, I actually think it's more of a rich cognac. The color works well with the peach pearl and I love the idea of faceting a pearl. Doing so yields great texture and puts a new spin on an old classic.




I've added 2.5mm round beads and earwires, all in sterling silver. I made these earrings as a simple accompaniment to a larger, grander pearl necklace (consisting of potato, faceted and stick pearls).


Price: $8.

The Baroda Pearls

I'm very into pearls, lately.

You know who else is into pearls? The private Asian buyer who spent $7.096 million on the Baroda pearls, a double-stranded necklace made up of 68 natural pearls and a cushion-cut diamond Cartier clasp. These 68 pearls were originally part of a seven-stranded necklace owned by the Maharaja of Baroda. Pearls from the 4th through 7th strands (i.e., the largest) were taken to make the recently sold necklace.

Oh, and lest you think the buyer got a bad deal, don't worry: the pricetag included matching earrings, brooch and ring.

Now that it's gone (thanks, Christie's auction house!), I guess I'll be taking it off of my Christmas list.

Aurora Borealis Crystal Earrings

You have no idea how hard it is to capture the aurora borealis treatment on a piece of crystal with a camera!



I made this pair of earrings for my friend Angie, as a birthday gift this summer. She'd bought the same pair to give to her friend Emily as a Christmas gift, and was a bit sad to give them away, so I told her I'd keep that fact in mind when her July birthday rolled around.




I paired a round, faceted crystal bead with a 4mm crystal cube, both of which have an aurora borealis finish. All findings are sterling silver. They measure approximately an inch and a half in the drop.





These are the various colors that play across the facets of these beads. Everything from pink to blue to yellow to red.

Price: $10.

My Turquoise and Lapis Necklace

A quick note about the necklace I sent along to Italy with my Mom--there are no glass beads there, only sterling silver ones. Apparently, the photos make the beads look like clear glass...? I can't tell because *I* know what the beads are made of, but I wanted to clear that up.

AND a teaser: I just finished making a necklace using really cool faceted fluorite beads. Stay tuned for some photos!