Wired Agate Pendant Sets

Pendants are again coming back into style this season, many like either just the single pendant to wear with their own earrings and accessories; while others prefer to have a complete set with pendant and matching earrings. We've done just that, some of pendants have now been matched up with different earring designs, mostly in long dangle styles featuring tiny hoops and glass seed beads & pendants. Here's a look at just a few of our pendant sets.....

  

Autumn Wonder in Brazilian Agate slice hand wire wrapped in brass non-tarnish wire; the light clear to beige-orange colors are earthy and soft for any outfit. Matching earrings are in tiny double hoops with complimenting colored seed beads and honey colored faceted pendant.  Pendant comes on the beige silk cord.

Clear blue season in another Brazilian Agate slice hand wire wrapped in silver non-tarnish wire; this one pendant shows more of the clear with just a few streaks of blue running along the side. Matching earrings are in tiny double hoops with glass seed beads and dagger shaped pendant.  Pendant comes on the blue ribbon cord.

  

 

Beauty in Brazilian Oco Agate slice hand wire wrapped in silver & brass non-tarnish wire for a two-tone look. The pendant has soft delicate features and colors of tan, rust, white, and hints of blue. The matching earrings are tiny triple hoops with two coordinating soft colored glass seed beads.  Pendant comes on the beige silk cord.

For these and many other pendants in both sets and singles, visit our online store to browse and shop!

The Hues of Lapis Lazuli

Lapis Lazuli is a rock, a contact metamorphoses limestone that contains lazurite. It also is known to contain pyrite, the added sparkle of golden-yellow and white flakes of calcite. Other trace minerals can include hauuyne, sodalite, diopside, feldspar, mica, apatite, and zircon just to name a few. The stone was once powdered and mixed with oil to produce the pigment ultramarine(literally, 'beyond the sea'), which is seen in the beautiful blues of Renaissance paintings. Lapis is Latin for “stone”. The names of both lazulie and lazurite are derived from the Persian word Lazbuward and Latin word Lazulum, meaning “blue” or “heaven”. The lapis lazuli name, often shorted to lapis, is sometimes mistakenly used for the mineral lazurite.

The ancient Egyptians used it extensively in religious ceremonies, and lapis items were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen. It was a popular stone in Mesopotamia, Persia, and the ancient city of Ur, which had a large trade in lapis lazuli. The Greeks and Romans used it as a reward for bravery. The ancients also employed it for inlaid work and for jewelry, amulets, and talismans.

The value of lapis lazuli is largely determined by the abundance and color of the dark intense blue lazurite. The colors range from greenish-blue to purple-blue. The flecks of gold pyrite and white calcite can often increase the value or, when too numerous or too large, decrease it.

This new design features deep blue lapis lazuli stones with flecks of pyrite, disks of natural kyanite, faceted crystals and at the center an old style metal cloisonne round pendant; the blue hues bring out the best in the lapis and kyanite.

Traditionally Lapis Lazuli Properties: Wisdom, intuition, awareness, objectivity, clarity, creativity, expanded consciousness, dreams, purity, courage, serenity.

Visit Timeless Designs online at Ruby Lane to discover your next royal treasure; hidden among our custom artisan jewelry collections!

Sassy Southwest Design for Fall

This design in a little different and full of soft colors for the coming fall season. Featured is a lovely agate pendant; cut square with a nice polish on both sides. The pendant is lovely colored in soft shades of tan with white and splashes of dark purple.

  

I hand twisted several faceted rondelle crystals accent above the pendant and act as a bail; then I added in more faceted crystals in complimenting colors, golden rutilated quartz faceted hexagons and metal accents in gold tone pewter spacers.

 

 

A little southwest with a touch of brilliant bling in crystal; visit our Timeless Designs online store to browse and shop our custom designs!

Mixed Metals & Natural Stones

This new designs features a mix of metals in techniques; at the center is a large brush antique brass metal pendant cut-out in geometric design with enamel gun-metal colors. 

Accenting either side are two large hand wired double coils in gun-metal non-tarnish wire. Adding to the design for a contrast of color for fall, carved jade in soft olive from dark to light colors and exotic Arizona ivoryite. 

Check out this and many other new designs featuring hand wire wrapped pendants and natural stone mixtures! 

All custom designed artisan jewelry featuring some of nature's most brilliant and historic creations!

Earthy Fall Design in Morocco Fossil

This new fall design features a beautiful and uniquely colored orthocreas fossil. Normally you see this fossil in black and white colors; however once in a while you get the rare slate with slight off coloring of olive or green and brown shades. This fossil comes from the fossilized squid found in Morocco.

Orthoceras are a famous and very large fossil deposit of animals that can be found in Morocco, North Africa. Ancestors to ammonites, Orthoceras are extinct sea creatures, and depending on what source you refer to, they date from the lower Ordovician to Triassic ages (500 to 190 million years ago). 




As they died, their shells accumulated in great numbers on the sea floor where they were aligned by currents, buried by sediments, and transformed over the ages preserved in black limestone. Today, this prehistoric sea floor is ironically, found in the dramatic Atlas Mountain Range in southern Morocco at the northern fringe of the Sahara Desert.







 

The necklace strands are crafted with natural nuggets of prehnite stones, ceramic coins and metal accents in braided disk and puffy smooth spacers. The fossil is hand wire wrapped in a two-tone look of gun-metal and silver non-tarnish wire.  The squid fossil really shows the chambes and is a very nice pendant.

Browse our Rock Yard collection for more jewelry featuring hand wire wrapped fossils!

Hand Wire Wrapped Fall Agate Slice

This new necklace set features an all naturally colored Brazilian agate slice pendant! The colors of orange and rust with some cream remind me of a deep fall sunset. I have hand wire wrapped it using non-tarnish brass wire with lots of twists at the bail.

  


I wanted this necklace to be versatile enough to wear any time of year, so I put softer bright colors within the necklace strands itself. I started with creamy smooth glass pearls, green marbled ceramic beads that hare caged in gold tone wire, and a little bit of sparkle with faceted rondelle crystals in light fall colors.

This piece is both elegant and classy using a variety of techniques; wire wrapping, caging, and mixing of ceramic, glass pearls and crystals with a lovely natural agate stone.

For more selection in fall pieces, browse our online shop to find your mixed autumn treasure!

Hot Pink in Metal

Metal is one of the hottest things going in jewelry right now; it is so versatile and can be mixed with a variety of stones, crystals and any other metals such as links, coils and chains. I like working with the metal pendants because it gives such a unique look to the necklace design; it offers a completely different style than when using a crystal or natural stone pendant. This new design is all about the colors of pink and if pink is your color than this little number is perfect for you!

The set features matching metal pendant and earrings in the shape of a square, with brightly colored 2-tone of pink enamel and bronze/gold accents also in enamel. It has been hand wired with a bail and above lots of hand twisted charms in crystals and chocolate jasper.

The bling in this one is in all faceted rondelle crystals of pink raspberry, light champagne and pink just to name a few; there is also a unique stone, chocolate jasper that has a nice dark chocolate with light swirls of cream marbled together, cut as a rondelle with a matte polish.

This one is a fun and bright necklace with matching dangle earrings, which also have small clusters of crystals above the metal square pendants.


Visit Timeless Designs online at Ruby Lane; browse and shop our collections of artisan crafted jewelry – find your treasure of the earth today!

Light-Weight Design of Jasper

This design is from our Southwest Flair Collection and features a beautiful red jasper pendant. The pendant is a nicely shaped triangle with a high polish and lovely light golden matrix veins running through it. I have hand bailed it using brass non-tarnish wire.

The necklace strands are crafted using wooden rondelle beads that have a soft texture feel to them. Next I added in golden rutilated quartz that has been faceted and shaped like hexagons; metal accents are in gold tone pewter daisys and round beads.

It is a light-weight necklace in a classical design with a little pop in the colors of red, golden yellow and browns.

Jasper is an opaque and fine grained variety of Chalcedony. It is found in all colors including: red, brown, pink, yellow, green, grey/white and shades of blue and purple.

It often contains organic material and mineral oxides which give it interesting patterns, bands and colors. Many of these patterns resemble landscapes with mountains and valleys, thus the name "picture" is part of the name of many well know jaspers.

Jasper was a favorite gem in ancient times and is referenced in Greek, Hebrew, Assyrian and Latin literature.  Found worldwide, a wide variety of named jaspers is found in the western areas of the Unites States; California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Washington.

A Heavy Mix of Amethyst & Turquoise

In a previous post (just a few down, find out all about amethyst) I posted about amethyst and in one of the pictures there was a large chunk that I had wire wrapped as a pendant. Here is the finished product of that pendant and what I ended up mixing with it.

The pendant is a nice chunk of raw amethyst from Uruguay, hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire.

I have made it the center focal to this heavy necklace set; mixed with nice barrel turquoise (stabilized), beautifully faceted agate that is a matrix coloring of black-dark blue and tan and a few faceted amethyst rondelle crystals.

Browse and shop our artisan jewelry collections store Timeless Designs, online at Ruby Lane.

Designs Featuring Murano Glass

The beauty and mystic of murano glass; it glitters and produces some of the most sought after vintage glass products in the world. Venini, Salviati, Barovier & Toso, Pauly, Seguso and many other brands are still around today making murano glass, they are among the most historical glass factories, and the oldest glass factory is Antica Vetreria Fratelli Toso, which was founded in 1854.

A Little History

Murano glass is a famous product of the Venetian island of Murano. Located off the shore of Venice, Italy, Murano has been a commercial port as far back as the 7th century. By the 10th century, the city had become well-known for its glassmakers, who created unique Murano glass. While Murano glassmakers have settled and operate elsewhere, some say authentic Murano glass is fabricated only in Murano.

It is believed that glassmaking in Murano originated in 9th century Rome, with significant Asian and Muslim influences, as Venice was a major trading port. Murano’s reputation as a center for glassmaking was born when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and destruction of the city’s mostly wooden buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano glass is still interwoven with Venetian glass.

Murano's glassmakers were soon the island’s most prominent citizens. By the 14th century, glassmakers were allowed to wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state, and found their daughters married into Venice’s most affluent families. However glassmakers were not allowed to leave the Republic. Many craftsmen took this risk and set up glass furnaces in surrounding cities and as far afield as England and the Netherlands. By the end of the 16th century, three thousand of Murano island's seven thousand inhabitants were involved in some way in the glassmaking industry.

Murano’s glassmakers held a monopoly on quality glassmaking for centuries, developing or refining many technologies including crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicoloured glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing these century-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass figurines to Murano glass chandeliers and wine stoppers.

What of Murano Glass Now
Today, Murano is home to a vast number of factories and a few individual artists’ studios making all manner of glass objects from mass marketed stemware to original sculpture. The Museo Vetrario (Glass Museum) in the Palazzo Giustinian, which holds displays on the history of glassmaking as well as glass samples ranging from Egyptian times through the present day.

These designs feature matching murano glass pendant and earrings, accented with faceted crystals and cloisonné beads in complimentary colors.

Browse and shop our online store, Timeless Designs on Ruby Lane for artisan crafted jewelry designs!

Research about murano glass from various books and websites.

Back by Popular Demand -- Single Wired Pendants

I haven’t done many single wired pendants in a while and many people have been asking for them this summer. A jewelry trend shift for the summer and maybe the fall; many people have been asking for single pendants then mix and matching earrings. So I brought back this popular line using different stones, fossils and minerals; giving everyone a mix to choice from!

These pendants are found in our Wiry Legends and Rock Yard Collections. Stop by our shop Timeless Designs online at Ruby Lane to find your pendant treasure!

Holectypus Echinoid – Sand Dollar from Madagascar (to the right)

Orthoceras Fossil from Morocco (to the left)

Light Green (natural color) Agate Slice from Brazil (to the left)

Deep Amethyst Chunk from Uruguay (to the right)

The Mineraloid Amber

Mineraloids are a few solid substances that occur naturally in the Earth, but do not quite conform to the basic properties of minerals. They fit into none of the chemical families, rarely form crystals and are typically organic in origin, evolving from fossilized or compacted living matter. One of these mineraloids is Amber, which is fossilized pine tree resin.

Amber is often regarded as a gem, but is not a mineral, but a solid organic material. It is a form of tree resin that was exuded to protect the tree against disease and insect infestation. This then hardened and was persevered for millions of years. Amber slowly oxidizes and degrades when exposed to oxygen, so it survives only under special conditions.

It is almost always found in dense, wet sediments, such as clay or sand formed in ancient lagoon or river delta beds. It is typically found embedded in shale or washed up on beaches. Most amber deposits contain only fragments of amber, but a few contain enough to make it worth mining, such as those found along the shores of the Baltic seas where amber formed in sands 40-60 million years ago, and those from the Dominican Republic.

Amber can form nodules, rods and droplets in various shades of orange, yellow, red or cognac, deep green, and brown. Milky-white varieties are called bone amber. Modern analysis techniques are beginning to indentify the detailed composition of ambers and link them to modern resin-making trees. Mexican amber, for instance is linked to the Hymenea tree. Up to 3,000 different inclusions have been found in amber objects. These range from beetles and flies to spiders and water drops attached to the resin in primeval times and then petrified with it.

It is said that for 7,000 years amber has been used to stimulate the metabolism and treat skin ailments caused by metabolic imbalance. It is also said to have soothing, calming, and cleaning powers. Because of its warmth it is also used in the treatment of asthma, allergic respiratory problems, and is good for treating rheumatism and strengthening the heart muscles.

Mystically, gold-colored amber symbolizes success; it is the Star sign of Geminis, Leos and Virgos. Amber should be cleansed under lukewarm running water and never leave amber in the sun, this will make it brittle.

Visit us at Timeless Designs on Ruby Lane to browse and shop our custom artisan crafted jewelry collections!

Hot Fiesta Fun in Glass

A hot new design for the season…better yet wears it on any occasion! This necklace features a center drop pendant in blown clear glass heart with swirls of red, green, yellow, and white. Above the pendant I’ve created a drop bail bunched together with lots of hand twisted charms; red hot cloisonné beads, bright lime green lined square glass seed beads and soft champagne faceted crystals.

 

The necklace strands are crafted with orange (dyed) magnesite disks, more faceted crystals, lime green seed beads and cloisonné beads, and accents in gold tone corrugated rondelle and bicone metal beads. This necklace also features an extender chain for wearing at short or long lengths to fit your style.

One of the beads in this necklace is cloisonné; I use it quite a bit when designing with crystals because of the elaborate designs and colors. Cloisonne is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects, but in recent centuries they began using various enamels and adding inlays of cut gemstones, glass and linen for more variety and color to the metal beads.

Hot and trendy for the summer, or just about any time of the year…this necklace set fits the bill!

Visit our online store to browse and shop among our trendy and chic jewelry collections!

Vintage Elegance with Twist of Contemporary

This design is described by many of my customers as a vintage or antique design with a classic twist of contemporary. The elegance comes in with the wooden pendant, hand-painted by a Russian artist. She leaves no detail unturned, the fine lines and intercut shades in each flower petal is just breath-taking. The scene is so real, you almost want to reach out and caress each one of the flowers.

A perfect balance to this pendant is crystals and lots of them. I started at the base making a bail of hand twisted faceted crystals in coordinating colors to support the pendant. Next the necklace strands are crafted using more faceted crystal in deep olive, lively blush and light golden topaz.

A little antique design of a lovely pendant paired with the contemporary faceted crystals….makes for a very striking and stunning necklace design that is perfect for that night out on the town or special occasion.

 

Visit Timeless Designs online to browse around our collections to find your perfect match of vintage, contemporary, bold or earthy.

One’s Seashells Another’s Designs

Shells from the sea scatter the beachfronts and coasts in practically hundreds of varieties of shells. One type that is often sought is the volute shell. It is these shells that are most noted for variety and their distinctive color patterns, which make them valued by collectors and designers around the globe. Most are solid heavy shells but vary greatly in size and look.

 

Volutes are found in warm and temperate seas and are most common around Australian waters. All species have folds on the columella (central pillar of the gastropod shell (single shell) and visible within the aperture (opening at the gastropod shell front end). Most volutes burrow in sand and all are carnivorous (meat eaters).

This new design from our Southwest Flair Collection features square cut volute shell beads. The colored markings of dark against the soft shaded tan background are a perfect design companion with natural stone.

At the center focal I’ve used a lovely murano glass spoon pendant with soft tan, yellow and beige colors against a white background. Then I added in the shells, stacking them with the concave inward to create a more chic style; blue-green magnesite disks and bold colored cloisonné beads finish the necklace.

This style is a little flair of the southwest with a hint of the summer beach. Comb the collections of jewelry at our online Timeless Designs store at Ruby Lane! Never know what treasure you might find hidden to add to your jewelry box!

Fossilized Sand Dollars

Fossils come in many different shapes, sizes and varieties; one of the newest for us to work with in jewelry design is the Holectypus Echinoid, or sand dollar fossil. Holectypus, fossil echinoderm genus, of the extinct echinoids genus are much like the modern sea urchins and sand dollars.
 

This species are found as fossils exclusively in marine rocks of Jurassic to Cretaceous age (between 200 million and 65.5 million years ago).  The echinoids, having such an extremely long fossil record, are often used by scientist and paleontologist for dating rock strata and fossil locations.

The Holectypus was bun shaped with a flat bottom and arched back. The mouth of the echinoids is at the underside of the animal. These are rough looking fossil specimens as most have some cracking and chipping on the top of the shell, but the underside of the specimens are very well preserved. The echinoid has an exoskeleton or outer shell with no inner skeleton. This animal lived mostly in shallow seas and would have moved about on the sea floor by way of moving their long spines that stuck out from their shell; eating mostly algae. Today, many collections, both private and public, are comprised of many different species of fossil echinoids.

Our newest designs to our Rock Yard Collection feature the Holectypus Echinoid from the Cretacous Majunga Basin, Madagascar. Each one is unique and has been hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish wires. Each necklace design is unique......

....this one to the right reflects a Mediterranean or Egyptian design style with a mix of golden citrine nugget chips, faceted indian agate and amethyst crystals. 

  

...this set to the left a more chic tribal and ethnic design constructed with a couple of carved onyx stones with a matte finish, painted onyx, turquoise, and rare Arizona ivoryite.

Visit our online Timeless Designs store to browse and shop our collections, featuring uniquely artisan crafted jewelry!