Big, Bad Chalk Turquoise and Red Coral Necklace

My love of bold chalk turquoise continues! And yes, I'm still pairing it with red!


I think this is a great, fun necklace. It features 17-18mm (just shy of 2 cm) round green-blue chalk turquoise beads.



I separated the rounds with small free-form pieces of red coral, for pops of color.



Definitely big, bold and chunky...


...but I love it!




I especially like the matrix (the dark, fine lines) of the chalk turquoise.
The clasp is a fancy curlicue toggle of sterling silver. And finally, a poorly-lit shot (blame the fluorescent lighting in the basement pottery studio) of the necklace being worn.

My goal is to sell this piece in the upcoming University City Arts League Holiday Sale. I'm doing a whole line of coral and turquoise jewelry and plan to display the pieces in a group, for visual appeal.




Price: TBD!

Road Trip, Anyone?

This is a place I'd like to visit:












I assure you it no longer looks like that, though. It's the Crater of Diamonds State Park, in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. CofD is the only park in which visitors can mine for diamonds and keep what they find! On average, 2 diamonds are found per day at CoD.

Not every stone is a winner, but this description (taken from the State Park's website) makes me want to try to find one that is:

A notable diamond "from the Crater of Diamonds that has received much national attention is the 1.09-carat D-flawless Strawn-Wagner Diamond. Discovered in 1990 by Shirley Strawn of nearby Murfreesboro, this white gem weighed 3.03 carats in the rough before being cut to perfection in 1997 by the renowned diamond firm Lazare Kaplan International of New York. The gem is the most perfect diamond ever certified in the laboratory of the American Gem Society. The diamond is on permanent display in a special exhibit in the Crater of Diamonds State Park visitor center."

Tony? Is That You?

Normally, I blog about jewelry. In fact, I really only blog about jewelry...but I spent last Monday at the Philadelphia Zoo, and thought you might all like to see a photo of my new best friend, Mr. Tiger.

I took this shot through several layers of protective glass...if it had not been there, I might have tried giving this tiger kissies. Enjoy!

Don't Call Us, We Won't Call You

Do you remember this necklace? I submitted it for inclusion in a design magazine and didn't hear back. I finally heard back. And...well...the Jericas Jewelry blog is the only place you're going to be seeing this necklace in the near future. But, it was worth the effort, right? It takes a tremendous amount of work to not just design and make something, but to count each individual bead, make an inventory, do the measuring, write up procedures, and the like.

Luckily for me, someone saw this piece here at the blog, and ordered one as a gift, so who is the loser NOW, eh? Well, I don't really know, but it's not me, that's for sure.

96%

I PASSED!





Yes, that's right, I passed the second course of my three-course diploma from the Gemological Institute of America. I got a 96% on my final exam for course GEM 120: Colored Stone Essentials. I did much better than I thought I would, frankly. The science in this course was a little hard to grasp.

Anyway, that's 2 courses down, and 1 to go. Next up is GEM 130: Diamond Essentials. I'm going to have to sit on that one a bit, and wait. It takes more out of me than I think...

Yet Another New Venture

I've joined up with:



Philly Etsy is an in-the-flesh group of crafters who have shops over at Etsy.com. From glancing at its Google group and blog, I can tell they are a very motivated and organized group of people. I think I can learn a lot from them, share some crafting support, and maybe even make a few sales (they hold their own events as well as act as a clearinghouse for other local craft sales).

Sometimes, they even have wine and cheese. And who doesn't like wine and cheese? No one, that's who!

I have to say, it looks like it's going to take me quite some to get up to speed with them, so I hope they're patient, and kind. Yay Philly Etsy team!

A REAL Tannenbaum

Have we seen these before? And by we, I mean you.




Cute little Christmas tree earrings. I used lampworked beads and added ear wires so they could be worn. Very adorable, if you like that sort of thing. And around the holidays, a lot of people do!

I've added these earrings to my Etsy shop, so go take a look at the rest of the photos.

Minty Fresh!

I've added a new pair of Christmas-y earrings to my Etsy shop. Go and see them.

My New Tanzanite Earrings

My new tanzanite earrings







The earrings are 1 ctw, approximately 5mm round stones, set into 14k yellow gold.




Unfortunately, no matter what I did, I couldn't accurately capture the color of the stones. I'd say mine are more violet purple than blue, because I wasn't going to break the bank to buy them, but they are much richer in color than the first shot above, and a happier violet purple than the other photos here. Imagine a cross between the colors, in other words. And it's always possible that I'll take a better photo in future, or that you'll get to see them in person!

I may have been taken in by the 'get it before it's gone' tanzanite hype, I don't know, but I figure it's a better safe than sorry kind of situation. I want to have them appraised for insurance purposes before I wear them, so that's next on my list.

My New Pretties, As Promised

With all of the little presents I've been buying for myself lately, I think I've become America's best hope for an economic upturn! Talk about bailing out the economy, I've got your trickle down right here!


Have you seen U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's pearls? They're famous because she wears them all of the time. If you google Pelosi's pearls, you'll see what I'm talking about--she owns several strands of exquisite, beautifully matched, large Tahitian and South Seas pearls.

I read an interview with her jeweler, who mentioned that Nancy's husband does all of her clothes and accessory shopping--he's good at it, and she's too busy dealing with mavericks. Anyway, the jeweler didn't indicate prices, of course, but strands of pearls like Nancy's can go for as much as $80,000. Nancy Pelosi has made Blackwell's best-dressed list, and I had to get me some of that.

So I just bought myself this beautiful necklace:



It was significantly cheaper than $80,000 and came with a gold chain. And the pearl is a beautiful, natural Golden South Sea pearl. It comes out of the Pinctada Maxima oyster that way, that color...just beautiful. I've measured my pearl to be approximately 11mm in diameter which is average for Golden South Seas, but very substantial if you think about it for a moment.



The necklace goes beautifully with my *cough* new 6.5mm white Akoya pearl earrings. Look, everyone needs to have a reason to get up in the morning, AND I had a 20% off coupon!

Mothers' Bracelets

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog to announce that we've finally had a chance to assemble our thoughts on our line of Mother's Bracelets.



The cornerstone of my Mother's Bracelet is the pearl. 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. I also like getting the purchaser or wearer involved in the finished piece, because a Mother's Bracelet, by definition, is highly personal and unique. A one-of-a-kind for YOUR one-of-a-kind! So think of my Mother's Bracelets as a build-your-own-adventure.

Prices for the basic bracelet, consisting of Swarovski crystal beads (pearls and bicone-shaped beads), with sterling silver wire links and a beautiful sterling silver heart-shaped clasp, range from $16 to $20, depending on the overall size of the beads used. The photo above shows a piece I made for a wedding using 2 shades of purple. This is the basic look of the Mother's Bracelet, but your finished piece will depend on the choices, laid out below, that you make.


1.
First, pick the overall size of the bracelet: dainty (7mm pearls, $16 starting price) or more bold (10mm pearls, $20 starting price).


2.
Then, pick the color of the pearls (prices remain the same no matter the color you choose):


White Swarovski crystal pearl


Creamrose Light Swarovski crystal pearl


Light Blue Swarovski crystal pearl


Rosaline Swarovski crystal pearl


3.
Then decide what color crystals you want to add to the bracelet (prices remain the same no matter the color you choose):


Swarovski birthstone crystals. Also available in other colors (blue, pink, etc.). You can choose to represent a child's birth or adoption month (and/or other the birth months of other members of the family), the gender of the child, or simply a favorite color.


4.
Finally, choose the type and number of charms you would like to add to the bracelet. Charms may be added to the closure, or throughout the length of the bracelet. The charms listed below are grouped into 6 price categories: A, B, C, D, E and F.

Price A: Add $1.00 per charm:


Swarovski birthstone crystals. Also available in other colors (blue, pink, etc.). You can choose to represent a child's birth or adoption month (and/or other the birth months of other members of the family), the gender of the child, or simply a favorite color.


Price B: Add $2.00 per charm:


Mom heart charm, 12x10mm, lead-free pewter


Letter charm, 8x5mm, sterling silver


Script letter charm, 11x7mm, sterling silver


Heart-shaped letter charm, 7x6mm, sterling silver


Block letter charm, 6mm, sterling silver


Love you candy heart charm, sterling, 12x10mm, sterling silver


Small teddy bear charm, 9x7mm, sterling silver


Price C: Add $4.00 per charm:


Pacifier charm, 17x10mm, sterling silver


Baby booties charm, 18x11mm, sterling silver


Love charm, 11x8mm, sterling silver. Also available as: Always, Aunt, Balance, Believe, Bless, Celebrate, Cherish, Daughter, Dream, Faith, Family, Forever, Grandma, Heart, Hope, Imagine, Journey, Joy, Laugh, Mom, Sister and Thanks


Price E: Add $6.00 per charm:


Baby on board charm, 17x13mm, sterling silver


Silver baby cup charm, 10x15mm, sterling silver


Baby shoes charm, 13x10mm, sterling silver


Large teddy bear, 15x10mm, sterling silver


Price E: Add $9.00 per charm:


Baby blocks charm, 16x14mm, sterling silver


Large baby shoe charm, 22x15mm, sterling silver


Price F: Add $14.00 per charm:


Large crystal-studded baby shoe, 19x8mm, sterling silver. Also available in pink crystals



Mother's Bracelets can represent all of a woman's children or grandchildren, or every member of the family, and can be added to as your family changes. They are fun to design and I welcome your ideas!


Please note: Not all charms are available at all times, so order early and include an alternate choice.

O Tanzanite, O Tanzanite, How Lovely Are Your Facets...

I've been thinking a lot about tanzanite lately. It's been in the news a lot in recent years, because it's a one-source-only gemstone that will, most likely, be mined out in the not-so-distant future.



Tanzanite is the blue form of the mineral zoisite. It is found in only 1 place: the Merelani hills at the foot of the western face of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It was brought to the public by famed New York jewelers Tiffany & Co., and takes its name from its home country.

I'm very interested in the changes in how tanzanite has been mined over the years, who the siteholders for the mines are, whether tanzanite rough is allowed to be exported from the country of origin to cutting centers or whether it must be cut in country.



The hottest thing in this stone is color. Certainly, you want to wear an eye-clean stone, but real value in tanzanite comes through its color. If it's been cut well, the stone will be a rich blueberry blue with violet purple overtones and flashes of red. Tanzanite is highly pleochroic, displaying those 3 colors in its most finest form. The first photo above shows a Grade AAA tanzanite (or at least it does to MY eye). The red doesn't really come through, but you'd see if it you were moving the stone in your hand. The photo above shows a similar body color, albeit perhaps not such a high grade.



One nice thing about tanzanite is that even poorer quality stones can have a nice color that people like. Purple is very popular in jewelry, and some people prefer a purple tanzanite, like the one above. The stone below may be pretty and fit your taste and budget, but it doesn't rank high on the color scale for this stone. It's pale and washed out and while free of inclusions or blemishes, it's considered cheap goods. But I've seen women buy tanzanite like this just because they adore the color.

Either way, I do think that at some point, a buyer will be lucky to find tanzanite of any color saturation. This stone has been mined since its discovery in 1967, and the story is that several of the mines are no longer producing. A monopoly has sprung up, just like the one that controls diamonds, which is also bad for the consumer. Prices have skyrocketed thanks to rarity, changes in regulations, ownership of the mines and smart advertising campaigns.

And yes--I own a tanzanite; 2, in fact. And they're coming up next.

Oooh!

Momma bought herself a new pretty, yesterday! Stay tuned!