Today's Custom Order Rings

Prairie ring trio - olive tourmaline, blue tourmaline, lemon quartz, and recycled sterling silver

Big round labradorite ring, recycled sterling silver

Temptation ring trio #3 - pink tourmaline, green tourmaline, and recycled sterling silver

Blue-green tourmaline and recycled sterling silver
(I really like this one)

Simple oxidized comfort fit band, recycled sterling silver

Pendant Update

Well, your comments overwhelmingly suggested that I string those new pendants on chain, not beads. So I listened!

New Pendants

Two pendants completed today... not sure if I should try to sell them as pendants alone, string them on chain, or on beaded gemstone necklaces. What do you think?

Green tourmaline with oxidized sterling silver (recycled, except for bail)

This stone is much livelier and more sparkly in real life...

Kind of a cruddy picture, but I wanted to show how the light shines through the open back (forgot to take a picture of the back; I should do that).

Pink tourmaline with oxidized sterling silver (recycled, except for bail)

This is one of the nicest, clearest, largest pink tourmalines I've had the great fortune of finding from my local supplier. The stone was mined in Southern California.

Another blah-ish picture, with the same goal of showing the light shining through.

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!

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

Aquamarine cabs, 8mm

Bi-color California tourmaline cab, 10mm x 14mm; 8.23 carats

Afghan blue tourmaline cab, 11mm x 13mm, 8.7 carats

Charoite cabs
Upper left:11mm x 14mm
Right: 9.5mm x 13.5mm
Lower left: 10mm x 16.5mm

Afghan blue tourmaline cab, 8mm x 10mm, 3.55 carats

California pink tourmaline cab, 7mm x 9mm; 2.75 carats

California pink tourmaline cabs
Left: 6mm
Right: 8mm x 10mm

California pink tourmaline cabs
Upper left: 8mm x 10mm
Upper right: 10mm
Lower right: 7mm x 9mm
Lower left: 8mm x 10mm

Amazing Oregon sunstone cabs
Upper left: 8mm
Upper right: 7mm
Lower right: 7mm x 9mm
Lower left: 7mm

These labradorite cabs didn't actually come from the gem show, but they arrived in the mail yesterday and they are fabulous!

More...

The dust has settled (buffing compound dust, that is) and here's what I came up with today...

Just like the original, but with a different/wider band

Four-leaf clover ring (rainbow moonstone over green resin)

Cloudy aquamarine & sterling silver ring

Blue-green Afghan tourmaline & sterling silver ring

Pink tourmaline & sterling silver ring

'Dewdrop' ring - rainbow moonstone over blue resin, sterling silver

Rainbow moonstone over purple resin, sterling silver

I have several more pieces that still need a bit more finish work so hopefully I'll post more in another day or two.

Eye candy

I bought some more beautiful cabochons yesterday... they are all available for custom orders so email me if you see something you must have!

Triangular Afghan tourmaline cab, 7mm

Brazillian rubellite tourmaline cabs, 5mm x 7mm

Pink tourmaline cab, 6x8mm

Chrysoprase (I think!?) cabs, 6mm x 8mm

More Afghan tourmaline cabs

some delicate little 5mm pink tourmaline cabs

Aquamarine from Madagascar - WOW!!!

Soft pink tourmaline cabs, cat's eye, 5mm

Triangular pink tourmaline cabs

Now THAT'S dedication...

I braved the weather from hell today* to take these pictures, just for you. It is beautifully stormy here, and we had the most delightful thunder and lightning in the middle of the night last night...

* actually that makes no sense; Hell would be hot and it was definitely not hot outside today.

But back to jewelry. I am really excited about these rings and that's why I froze my butt off to photograph them today.

First we have an amazing green cat's eye tourmaline high-domed cab, mined right here in California, in a simple hand fabricated sterling silver setting. (The silver components are all from recycled sources.) This is the most expensive stone I've ever set in a ring and I was nervous throughout the process for fear of somehow damaging the stone. Thankfully, that didn't happen!

I used an open-backed setting for this stone, to let the light really stream through it and show off its chatoyancy. In order to provide support for the stone and improve the ring's comfort and wearability, there is a thin layer of clear resin on the back of the stone. You can see this piece in my Etsy shop here.


Next up is a little experiment I've been dying to try for months and months...

It's a rainbow moonstone cabochon set on top of a thin layer of blue resin. I love the way the blue looks through the moonstone... it's a very fun effect. I have lots of other colors (plus endless mixing possibilities, of course) so it will be fun to try this with other colors too.

Finally some more new rings

I have been waiting ever-so-impatiently for my new buffing wheels to arrive so I could finish a few rings that have been almost-done for a long time. Here are a few of my favorites...

I love this one - the stone is SO amazing. It's an Afghan blue tourmaline cab set on a wide, dotty band. I'm definitely planning to go get more stones like this. All of the silver is recycled (yay!)... This is a tiny ring - only a size 4.5 (and the wide band makes it fit even smaller, probably more like a 4) - I hope someone out there with tiny fingers (or perhaps an affinity for pinky rings?) will find this ring and give it a home!

Lemon quartz and sterling silver ring, size 6.5, and another view...

...to show the back side of this ring - it's all wide open, pretty cool, huh?

A custom order olive green tourmaline ring - this is going to be a wedding ring, how exciting!

Faceted prasiolite (green amethyst) and sterling silver (all silver is recycled!); I made two of these, one is a size 5.75 and the other is a size 8.75.

Prehnite and sterling silver ring (again, all recycled silver), size 7

New Rings

Green tourmaline and sterling silver ring, size 7.5
(The dots are fabricated and applied by hand and they go all the way around the band; I should have photographed the back too but I didn't.)

Pink tourmaline & sterling silver ring {sold}

Peridot & sterling silver ring, size 6.5

Purple sapphire & sterling silver ring {sold}

Enormous blue tourmaline & sterling silver ring
(I think this one might be mine.)