New Beadies

Fire opal briolettes

Faceted red spinel rondelles

Sunstone button beads

Big ametrine briolette drops

Aquamarine briolettes

Faceted garnet rondelles

Iolite button beads

Rainbow moonstone heishi beads

A few new cabs

Here are a few new cabs I found the other day.
All are available for custom order rings or pendants.

I forgot to write down what this is... some kind of agate, I suppose.

Opal (yum!)

Charoite

New Cabs

I went shopping today! Here are some new cabs, most of which are available for custom orders.

Afghan blue tourmaline cabs

Hessonite garnet cab

Peridot cab
(I love this pale version of peridot!)

Peruvian blue opal cab

Large California pink tourmaline cabs

Blue-green tourmaline cab

Golden opal cabs from Nevada

Cat's eye blue tourmaline cabs

Mexican fire opal cabs

The same cabs from another angle - check out those swirls in front! Reminds me of an orange creamsicle...

Large trillion cut blue-green tourmaline cab

A few tourmaline pendant beads; these are something new - they are drilled for stringing. I should have fun making some cool necklaces with these!

Gem Show, Part 3

Last but not least, here are the beads I bought at the gem show that I'm planning to use in some of my own creations. I am on a pink and green kick, apparently.

Shaded pink tourmaline rondelles
(These are fairly large by pink tourmaline standards; probably around 6mm.)

Large polished prasiolite (green amethyst) nuggets

Shaded ruby rondelles

Faceted pastel tourmaline beads

These are my favorites so I'll show them twice. :-)

Gem Show, Part 2

Okay, this post will show the beads I bought at this weekend's gem show that will be listed in my Etsy bead shop soon...

Moss aquamarine briolettes, 6-8mm

Tourmaline heart briolettes, 7-8mm

Swiss blue topaz briolettes, 6-8mm

Tumbled citrine nuggets, 10-13mm

Chunky garnet nuggets, 9-14mm

Awesome kyanite barrel beads, 10-12mm

Big, flashy labradorite briolettes, 12-14mm

Pink amethyst cubes, 7-8mm

Gorgeous, gemmy andalusite, 7-8mm

Apatite pear briolettes, 8-10mm

Aquamarine cubes, 6-7mm

Polished aquamarine nuggets, 15-25mm

I'm Home (Gem Show, Part 1)

I'm back from a quick trip down to the bay area. I was only gone for one night (Friday), but it was the first time I'd been away from Carlos overnight, which was a little rough. On the upside, I got to relax in a lovely, comfortable hotel room with a big old bed all to myself. I ate dinner in bed and watched TV all evening, which is something I never do at home. It was nice and relaxing.

The main purpose of my little outing was to go to a gem show and do some shopping. I met up with my Etsy friend, Roni (DaisyWares) and we shopped 'til we dropped. I learned an important gem show lesson though - four hours is not enough time to shop the whole show. Duh. I don't know why I thought it would be. I think we probably only ended up being able to shop about one third of the booths that we would have liked to see. Next time I'll plan on being there a lot longer.

Despite my limited time frame, I was able to pick up some really gorgeous things. I'll be splitting the trip up into a few separate blog posts, and will start with cabochons. The following cabs are available for custom order rings, pendants, etc. Let me know if you're interested in any of them. :-)

5mm x 7mm (1.5 carat) rectangular sapphire cab

13mm x 18mm (8.5 carat) bi-color tourmaline cab
(mostly green with a little purplish-pink)

Pink tourmaline cabs
(just a bit darker than the bubblegum pink ones I usually have)
top left: 8mm square (3.5 carat)
top right: 7mm x 9mm (2.5 carat)
bottom: 10mm triangle (4.0 carat)

6mm x 8mm (2.5 carat) sapphire cab

BIG rainbow moonstone cab - 18mm x 41mm; 9.5mm tall (56.5 carat)

11mm x 12.5mm (12 carat) ruby cab

10.5-11mm (6 carat on average) rutilated quartz cabs
(I bought enough of these to list some in my bead shop as well.)

8mm x 11.5mm (5.5 carat) faceted kyanite

23.5mm x 36.5mm (53.0 carat) carved labradorite cab

28mm x 39mm (73.5 carat) carved labradorite cab
(Aren't these amazing?)

Assorted pietersite cabs

Assorted blue-green and pink tourmaline cabs

14mm x 17mm (20.0 carat) faceted amethyst (ooh, ahh...)

8.5mm x 11mm (4.5 carat) Swiss blue topaz cab

Mexican fire opal cabs
bottom left: 9.5mm x 11.5mm (3.0 carat)
top right: 8mm x 10mm (2.5 carat)

Faceted grey moonstone cabs
bottom left: 15mm (11.5 carat)
top right: 14mm (9.5 carat)

8.5mm x 12.5mm (5.0 carat) faceted kyanite

Coming soon... new beads and new furry family members!!! Stay tuned.

When it rains, it pours

Well, my new blogging pattern seems to be a week of silence followed by a half dozen posts in one day. Sorry about that. The mailman delivered some beads today from a new wholesale supplier I just discovered. It's always risky ordering beads online (believe me, I feel your pain, and appreciate the trust you all place with me when you order from my little bead shop), and I was a little concerned when I opened the first little baggie -

Meh. They're supposed to be rainbow moonstone but there's very little flash at all. On the positive side, they were really inexpensive. How is it that after 30+ years on this planet, I still haven't grasped the concept of 'you get what you pay for'?

Fortunately, things got better. A lot better...

Multi stones, faceted rondelles

Peach moonstone marquis briolettes

Rose chalcedony briolettes

Gorgeous and LARGE (13-15mm) prasiolite (green amethyst) briolettes

Chunky faceted pink opal nuggets

Ametrine drop briolettes

Tiny little faceted blue-green tourmaline rondelles

Chrysoprase briolettes

Twister cut iolite briolettes

Bi-color (lemon/smoky) quartz briolettes

YUM! Intensely pink ruby briolettes

Blue shaded sapphire rondelles

Awesome (and big) multicolored tourmaline drop briolettes

Multicolored sapphire rondelles

I also got a package from my new favorite eBay seller today, including these...

Incredible smooth ruby nuggets

Teeny, tiny sapphire cabochons

Tourmaline cabs, assorted colors, 6mm

New Beads

Large faceted carnelian marquis briolettes
{ not sure yet if these are for sale or for me }

10mm square cushion cut rutilated quartz cabs
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy bead shop }

Round kyanite cabs, assorted sizes
{ available for custom ring orders }

5mm x 7mm kyanite cabs
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy bead shop; also available for custom ring orders }

8mm square cushion cut labradorite cabs
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy bead shop; also available for custom ring orders }

6mm round rainbow moonstone cabs
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy bead shop; also available for custom ring orders }

8mm x 10mm golden rutilated quartz cabs
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy bead shop; also available for custom ring orders }

More Loot...

From my favorite local stone cutters... (Can you tell I had a fun/successful shopping trip this morning?)

I couldn't resist buying more of this incredible rhodolite garnet, even though I haven't yet used what I bought the last time around.

Tsavorite garnet - the first time I've ever bought any!

California green tourmaline

Mexican fire opal

California pink tourmaline

More California pink tourmaline

Brazilian pink tourmaline

Afghan blue tourmaline

More Afghan blue tourmaline

Afghan pink tourmaline

Aquamarine cabs, assorted shapes

Best quality aquamarine of the bunch

Holey moley... 12.77 carat California pink tourmaline...

... and more of the same ...

... and still more.

All of these stones are available for custom order jewelry pieces. If you see something you love, please email me for more information!

Beads, Glorious Beads...

I'm going to have to split this into a couple of posts because I have so much to share! First, here's what arrived today from my supplier in India... all will be listed in my Etsy bead shop as time permits.

Aqua chalcedony briolettes

Carnelian rondelles

Labradorite briolettes

Tiny rhodolite garnet rondelles

Smoky quartz rondelles

Now on to the cabs, which will also go up in my bead shop soon (except for the kyanite), and are also available for custom ring orders.

Amethyst cabochons

Carnelian cabochons

Kyanite cabochons

Labradorite cabochons

Lemon quartz cabochons

Faceted melanite garnet cabs

Ode to Tourmaline

I was scrolling back through some of my older posts and I realized that I used to write about a much wider variety of things. Lately it seems like all I have time to do is post my latest designs, and I miss my old posts full of Etsy goodness and other rants and raves. I thought I'd try to get back into the swing of it by putting together a little tribute to tourmaline, which you may have noticed is one of my very favorite stones!

First let's start with some tourmaline creations by other Etsy artists that I really admire...

'Watermelon' by anneliese

'A Little Slice of Heaven' by beaucoupdebijoux

Cuff bracelet by enso

l'Arc-en-ciel bracelet by JLeeOhioDesigns

Tourmaline necklace by sannadesigns

Next, here are some of the tourmaline creations from my own Etsy shop (click on the photos to go to the listings) -







And of course I have tons of tourmaline beads for sale in my Etsy bead shop! (again, click on the pics for details)








Don't you just love tourmaline??? :-)

I love FedEx

It's so fun to get packages of sparkly, beautiful beads! Here's what came today... I'll start with the beads -

Faceted citrine ovals

Mmm... faceted kyanite marquis briolettes

Just look at that color!!!

Prehnite briolettes

Sunstone briolettes

I also got a few new types of cabs -

6mm square cushion cut peridot

8mm x 12mm faceted pink amethyst teardrops

8mm x 12mm faceted prasiolite (green amethyst) teardrops

12mm faceted square cushion cut rose quartz

I also branched out this time and bought some simple faceted stones -

8mm round amethyst

8mm round citrine

8mm round white topaz

Finally (and most exciting), I discovered a whole new section on one of my favorite supplier's websites that I had never explored before!!! They sell these amazing hand carved fancy stones and I just couldn't resist buying some, especially since there were several tourmalines available, which as you've probably noticed is a favorite of mine.

Green tourmaline flower tiles - these will make lovely pendants or earrings, or nice large rings.

Pink tourmaline carved teardrop - perfect for either a ring or a pendant.

Green tourmaline art deco-ish leaf-like something-or-others

Pink tourmaline flowers

Wouldn't these be cute all used together to make a pendant or a pin, with some silver stems and leaves to tie it all together?

These carved watermelon tourmaline slices are to die for. They are quite large and will make stunning rings.

And what can I say about these? Bi-color tourmaline, amazing hand carved detail, and huge size - I think I'll use these as centerpieces for two amazing necklaces.

I mean really, what can you say but WOW?!?!!!!

I'm going to hang on to some of these fancy carved pieces until after I take my stone setting class at the Mendocino Art Center in July because some of them (the ones with irregularly shaped edges) won't lend themselves well to bezel setting, and are probably more suited to prong settings or some other type of setting I don't even know about yet. :-) But others, like the watermelon tourmaline slices, the green tourmaline flower tiles, and the pink teardrop, are available now for custom orders, so if you see something you need, let me know!

SALE!!!

I decided I need to get rid of some of my older beads to make room for the new, so I've just marked down a bunch of stuff in my bead shop. Clicking on the photos will take you directly to my 'sale' section.

Gem Show, Part 2

New beads from the gem show...

Multicolored sapphire pear briolettes, 6-7.5mm

Iolite onion briolettes, 5-6mm

Labradorite round briolettes, 9mm

Moonstone briolettes, 13-17mm

Iolite pear briolettes, 10-11mm

Moss aquamarine pear briolettes, 7-11mm

Pink amethyst onion briolettes, 7-8mm

Aquamarine marquis briolettes, 15-19mm

Ametrine oval briolettes, 7-9mm

Hessonitne garnet briolettes, 6-7.5mm

Aquamarine pear briolettes, 9-14mm

Gem Show, Part 1

I went to a local gem show yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the quality and selection I found at several booths. I'm going to separate my findings into a couple of posts; first, I'm going to show off the gorgeous cabs I bought, most of which are available for custom orders.

Rhodolite garnet cabs
Top: 6.5mm x 8.5mm; 2.27 carats
Bottom: 9mm x 13mm; 5.72 carats

California green tourmaline cabs
Upper left: 9mm x 16mm
Right: 8mm x 10mm
Lower left: 10mm; 3.83 carats

Labradorite cab, 19mm x 30mm

Labradorite cab, 14mm x 22mm

Labradorite cab, 10mm x 18mm