New Stuff

These will go up in my Etsy shop soon...

Very large labradorite ring, recycled sterling silver

The same ring, from the back

Big round faceted labradorite ring, recycled sterling silver

Dark blue square cushion cut labradorite ring, recycled sterling silver

I got the bezel smoothed down better on the golden opal so I thought I'd re-photograph it. :-)

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

New Pendants

I've really been enjoying making pendants lately... here are a couple of new ones.

Bi-color California tourmaline pendant, sterling silver

October medley pendant, sterling silver
(Pink tourmaline and opal are October's birthstones; this necklace combines pink tourmaline with Mexican fire opal and golden opal.)

This and that

A few new necklaces...

Blue tourmaline solitaire necklace, sterling silver

Labradorite and prasiolite (green amethyst) necklace, sterling silver

Pink tourmaline and citrine necklace, sterling silver

Also, I have a couple of necklaces that have been around forever, but weren't listed in my shop...

Simply elegant Swarovski pearl and sterling silver necklace

Eni Oken style ornately wrapped cathedral agate pendant, sterling silver

I'll be listing all of these in my shop soon.

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.

A Birthstone Pendant for Me

For the last couple of months, I've been wanting to make a set of five stacking rings for myself to symbolize the connections that our family has with Carlos' birthmother and foster family. Well, I finally realized that five rings is more than my little sausage finger can support without looking pretty ridiculous, and decided to make a pendant instead.



Each stone symbolizes a member of our family of adoption; from top to bottom - aquamarine (Carlos' foster mother's birthstone), citrine (an alternate birthstone for November, for Carlos' birthmother's birthday), peridot (Matt's birthstone), and two shades of pink tourmaline (both mine and Carlos' birthstone).



I've ordered a thick snake chain to wear it on - I can't wait until it gets here. These colors are perfect for summer and I'm really looking forward to wearing this symbol of our family.

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!

Yummy Gumdrop Rings

This was a new one for me, and I'm excited about how it turned out. Don't they look like juicy little gumdrop candies?

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!

Big Honkin' Pink Tourmaline Ring

I finished this custom order today... it uses an enormous pink tourmaline cabochon (14mm x 16mm; 16.5 carats) - very bold!

A couple of custom order rings I finished today (finally)

Ruby & sterling silver

California pink tourmaline & sterling silver

Cabs, beautiful cabs...

New cabs! I went shoppin' yesterday and here's what I found... (all are available for custom order rings unless noted otherwise)

The biggest pink tourmaline cabochon I've ever seen
(14mm x 16mm, 16.5 carats, and tentatively spoken for)

{another view}

Aquamarine {these cabs are so luminous! very pretty...}

Triangular pink tourmaline

Brazilian blue-green tourmaline

Brazilian pink tourmaline

Peridot

Afghan tourmaline

New Rings

Well, my little time management experiment was mostly successful. I have a little over a dozen rings in the completed or nearly completed stage, and about eight more in the half-finished stage. I'm just about caught up on custom orders, which is a relief, but now I have to find time to fill all the new orders I got in the last few days - eek! Hopefully Carlos will nap today and I can at least get my bead orders shipped - jewelry orders may not go out until tomorrow.

Here are a few of the rings I've finished so far, to be listed in my Etsy shop whenever I can find the time...

Prehnite & sterling silver ring, size 9 (maybe spoken for already; I'm not sure though)

Faceted labradorite & sterling silver ring, size 9.25

Pink tourmaline & sterling silver ring, size 8.5

Another pink tourmaline & sterling silver ring, also size 8.5

Custom order cloudy aquamarine & sterling silver ring

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.

New Stuff

I finished some rings today... if you're waiting for a custom order and don't see it here, don't worry, I have a couple more that are almost done. I'll hopefully get these listed in my shop in the next day or two.

My signature big round labradorite ring

Caribbean blue moonstone ring
(rainbow moonstone with resin)

Dainty faceted labradorite ring

Turquoise & sterling silver ring

Caribbean blue moonstone ring
(rainbow moonstone with resin)

Special order cloudy moonstone ring

Another big round labradorite ring

Caribbean blue moonstone ring
(rainbow moonstone with resin)

Large faceted labradorite ring

California pink tourmaline 'dotty' ring

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

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.)

More cabs

My problem just got worse...

Assorted olive green tourmaline,
mined right here in California...
these are so clear and gemmy!

Peridot - I've never found it in cabochon form before!

By popular demand - more bubble gum pink tourmaline,
also mined here in California...

...and another view to see the shapes better.

Afghan tourmaline - can you believe that color?

My personal favorite - a HUGE (17+ carats) blue tourmaline cab.

Chrysoprase cabs

Green cat's eye tourmaline (from the same mine in Southern CA).

And one more green cat's eye tourmaline.

I also got some really pretty little round hessonite garnet cabochons but I can't find them at the moment. Grr.

More new rings

I'm really happy with these! What do you think?

Sweet little pink tourmaline surrounded by hand fabricated sterling silver dots. I love this one!

Special order for Denise; labradorite and sterling silver

Labradorite and sterling silver, size 6

Purple sapphire and sterling silver, size 7
I love this one so much, I think I may make one for myself as well!