Week 25-Sunstone, Garnet and Citrine Earrings

A bit Emily Gray inspired, these earrings have sunstone, citrine and garnet briolettes as well as sunstone and mandarin garnet rondelles. And lots of coils!

Week 19-So I Made Another One

I felt the need to make another citrine bracelet after last week's didn't turn out as expected. I bought these citrines from Beadifferent in Oxford, MI, and I ran them through the tumbler for a long time and they came out perfectly. These were too dark to use with the pale aquamarine beads so I paired them with sunny yellow 14mm shell pearls.

Week 18-Aquamarine and Citrine??? Bracelet

This bracelet turned into a disappointment. I thought it was really pretty when I made it. I used big round aquamarine beads and soft yellow faceted citrines along with the spiral links that I hand forged and soldered. The colors were summery and reminded me of sun and sky. Then I put it in the tumbler. When it came out I dismayed to find that the citrines had lost all their color. They were dyed! I wrote to the supplier and he confirmed that the citrines were very pale so they lightly dyed them. I told him that citrines listed as AA+ quality would be heat treated, but they shouldn't be dyed. So now I don't know if I should remake this with natural clear quartz, or just tell people that the beads are very, very pale quartz since citrine is a form of quartz. Or tell them it's citrine with no color. GRRR.

Week 47-Gemstone Owl Pendant

Something just for fun this week. He's supposed to be an owl but he reminds me a little of a kitty too. I actually alternated rows of garnets and madeira citrines but they turned out to look so close in color you can't really tell. The eyes are green onyx so the color combo isn't something found in nature but that's okay - he was meant to be fanciful. The owl himself is 1 3/8" tall. Should I LOS him or not?

Week 2-Stone Age

The theme for this weeks Year of Jewelry was Stone Age. I doubt anyone wore jewelry during the stone age-they were probably too busy trying to survive-but this bracelet does have a stone and I aged it. It's a big giant chunk of citrine and the smaller stones are pale faceted smoky quartz. See all the gorgeous work here