Dramatic & Sparkling Autumn Sundial Design

Fashion and jewelry in Autumn are all about the soft earthy colors; rust, cream, brown, olive, with layers of deep rich reds, crimson, forest greens, golds and black. With the upcoming holidays bring with it many parties, the look of sparkle and elegance is all the rage. This new piece has all that and more with a lot of sparkle. This latest custom jewelry design is no exception......we started with a ceramic pendant, which looks somewhat like a sundial; the warm caramel color is a perfect match to the faceted brilliance of crystals in rich cranberry and golden topaz.

We finished it with a chain extender for wearing at different lengths; the earring are just beautiful in swing style hoops with lots of crystal hand twisted charms.

Visit our online store, TimelessDesigns at Ruby Lane to browse and shop our uniquely artisan crafted jewelry!

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!

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!

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.

Heavy Metals Designs

Trendy and chic, moving beyond the traditional designs with stone pendants…these new designs feature metal pendants and matching earrings! This is a new line of designs that I’m testing the market with and so far, they are quite popular and going fast at our online Timeless Designs Ruby Lane shop!

Metal is a great way to showcase any mixture of stones, crystals and pearls. The different textures, and sculpture done with metal brings to life the art created by the artisan. These new designs feature different pendants and matching earrings, offering a collection of bold, classy, sassy and still classical looks for any occasion.

This first design (to the left) reminds me of the waters in the Caribbean….crisp cool teal blues of the Caribbean are always a fantastic palette to use. The pendant is hammered on one side and the front is sectioned with two different colors of blue – royal and teal. I’ve added in a clustering of hand twisted charms in faceted crystals and large nuggets of teal druzy agates, colorful faceted agate rounds, more crystals and spacey silver pewter beads finishes off the necklace.

Next up (to the right) is a lovely and very fun set all about the green of spring sparkle…..at center focal is a shamrock pendant and matching earrings, tons of hand twisted charms of creamy glass pearls and faceted crystals, lovely flowery lampwork beads, more crystals and marbled ceramic barrels finished off the necklace.

Bold and classy (to the left) in a stately metal two-tone cross and matching earrings…..featuring more hand twisted charms of cultured freshwater pearls, faceted crystals, two large marquee shaped agates with pyrite, bold deep etched barrel beads and finished with black tourmaline.

For these and many other artisan crafted designs, visit our online shop to browse our latest custom collections!

Shards of Glass – Dichroic Glass

Dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass dichroic optical properties. The invention of dichroic glass is often erroneously attributed to NASA and its contractors, who developed it for use in dichroic filters. Dichroic glass dates back to at least the 4th century AD as seen in the Lycurgus cup.

Multiple ultra-thin layers of different metals (gold, silver), metal oxides (titanium, chromium, aluminum, zirconium, magnesium) and silica are vaporized by an electron beam in a vacuum chamber. The vapor then condenses on the surface of the glass in the form of a crystal structure. This is sometimes followed by a protective layer of quartz crystal. The finished glass can have as many as 30 to 50 layers of these materials yet the thickness of the total coating is approximately 30 to 35 millionths of an inch (about 760 to 890 nm). The coating that is created is very similar to a gemstone and, by careful control of thickness, different colors are obtained.

I love working with dichroic glass, just not really good at making any beads or pendants; however I’m in luck! A very good friend and fellow artisan Anna is a premier glass designer here in San Antonio, Texas. She makes some of the most incredible, gorgeous dichroic one-of-kind pieces (I know, I personally have quite a few of her pendant sets!).

From time to time I purchase her pendants and incorporate them into my own creative designs; accenting with wire, metals, crystals, or natural stones; drawing on the colors of the pendant to develop the jewelry.

These latest designs feature dichroic glass dichroic pendant and earrings sets; accenting with tons of crystals, lampwork beads (another fun glass to work with), metals, and cultured freshwater pearls, just to name some.

Browse all our artisan crafted jewelry at our online shop – find your next treasure of wearable art!

*Research from various websites.

The Mermaid's Stone - Aquamarine

The clear blue of aquamarine attracts almost everyone from jewelry makers, gem collectors to the individuals how want to have that silky blue gemstone. Aquamarines tone flatters all skin colors and harmonizes with all precious metals. It is relatively easy to cut and can often be found in innovative shapes, as cutters experience with new forms.

Aquamarine is a member of the beryl group. Beryl commonly occurs as an accessory mineral in granites, and is usually found in cavities and in granite pegmatites. Beryl is usually clear, but iron content gives aquamarine its characteristic blue color. Beryl crystals in some pegmatites grow to very large sizes, even up to 30 feet; aquamarine crystals up to 3 feet long are not uncommon. It is also sometimes found in steam gravels and generally free from inclusions, meaning that it is a durable stone; this is also why it is easy to cut. Though it is known to have some inclusions of biotite, rutile, pyrite, and hematite.

The name aquamarine comes from the Latin aqua, for water, and mare, for sea, and many superstitions and legends about the sea have been attached to the gemstone over the years. It has been said to come from the treasure chests of mermaids. Sailors often took aquamarine with them to sea as a lucky charm to protect against shipwreck; sometimes the stone was carved with the image of Poseidon or Neptune, the gods of the sea. When it is immersed in water, the stone is practically invisible and the water in which it was immersed was long considered to have curative properties.

Aquamarine is said to bring pure love, by turning darker or lighter, the stone indicates what is true and false; when it becomes almost white, it is said to warn against false friends. It promotes friendship and love; symbolizes peace and encourages a gentle nature and personality in the wearer.

Fresh from the studio, this new design features faceted rondelle aquamarine stones in the necklace strand with coordinating crystals, cloisonné beads and at the center a beautiful Brazilian agate slice in a soft color of blue and warm carmel.

Visit our online shop to browse our collections of artisan crafted jewelry…..never know what you might find!

The Old & New Jasper

One of Mother Nature’s most unique stones is Jasper. It is a versatile and very decorative stone haling from the Quartz family and most notable known for its interesting patterns. Jasper is often named either for its pattern or for the location of origin. Since it comes in so many different varieties, there are slues of different names, some named for the same stone, as in this case with Red Creek Jasper.

A side note, jasper was one of the 12 gems set into the foundations of the city walls of Jerusalem, and is considered a highly protective stone by many of today’s crystal healers.

Though not really an old or new find, I came across some of this Red Creek Jasper (or Rainbow Picasso Jasper as it is also known) in pendant form. The most incredible beauty about this stone is the gorgeous colorful scenic landscape patterns it produces in hues ranging from soft grays to blues, beige mustards to yellows, dusty pinks to almost true reds and a few shades of green and rust marbled together.

The real beauty of these pendants is shown against the flair of faceted crystals, cultured freshwater pearls, wild horse magnesite, cloisonné and lampwork beads, and different metals; just to name a few of the pairings I’ve done with these new designs. Each pendant is stunningly cut and has a slight matte finish.

These designs are very popular and you can see additional pictures of them in our Ruby Lane shop!

Chic Stylish Designs in Shades of Red

A chic, trendy, elegant, and bold design….that is what’s new at our online shop in artisan crafted custom jewelry featuring the color RED!

Heart of mine in Murano glass deep red pendant with black marks; accented with lots of hand turned crystals of red and black.

Trendy stylish statement in red sponge coral pendant that is accented with cloisonné and lampwork beads, red coral (dyed) and extended with long chain.

Bold elegant red (dyed) coral with all faceted onyx in shapes of square and rounds.

Browse and shop our collections of artisan crafted jewelry, from natures earthy treasures!

Best of 2010 from our Mystic Artisan Collection

By far, the largest of our collections is the Mystic Artisan designs and with so many different ones, it was hard to choose just a few. This collection is where high elegance meets trendy, chic and bold in necklaces set in agate, jasper, pearl dichroic glass, swarovski crystals and many more. So here’s several of the best/favorite from this collection!

Dichroic glass pendant and earrings in pink set to an all black back ground, then mixed with onyx stones cut on the diamond to overlap (a difficult cut and unusually hard shape to find in stones) and more pink in faceted graduated rondelle crystals (some hand charmed) with a metallic sheen.

This is the first of the charmed necklace collection that I did and has remained a favorite. I started with a nice dichroic pendant in soft shades of lime green, pink, mauve, and gold. Then set it with tons of hand created charms in freshwater cultured pearls, swarovski crystals and several wired spirals of non-tarnish brass wire. Everything is captured stationary on a beige silk cord. 

Murano glass pendants are great to use as a focal; here I’ve paired a lovely heart pendant in cream, blue and red with butterscotch quartz nuggets, swarovski crystals and more pearls. The clusters of crystals at the bail and through-out the necklace are all hand charmed.





 

Another really big Murano glass pendant in puffy heart red; clustered together with freshwater cultured pearls, swarovski crystals, onyx, and several double coiled hand wired beads in non-tarnish silver wire. All held captive stationary on a black silk cord.

 

Polymer clay is a really great medium to work with; the beads are so lightweight and are created in just about any pattern. This design features graduated rounds of polymer clay beads shades of blue flowers set against a creamy white background. The big round was used as a focal drop pendant and has open charm dangles; more charms, crystals and freshwater cultured pearls finish off this necklace.

 

 
 
A bit different but one of my favorite combinations in stones; starting with a center heart pendant in turquoise that is flanked with faceted round turquoise, crystals and finished with soft button freshwater cultured pearls. The earrings hold tons of cascading charmed pearls over a single turquoise faceted round.

Purchase available designs from any of our collections at our online Ruby Lane Timeless Designs shop!

Purple Crystal Madness

I call this creation ‘Purple Crystal Madness’ because it is entirely designed in faceted metallic purple crystal rondelles. The crystals have a metallic or polarized sheen giving off multiple colors of the rainbow. At the base focal is a large off-cut faceted marquee shaped multi-colored crystal pendant; giving way to the different colors of the purples and metallic sheen too. The pendant is hung from a bail cluster of hand charms in the purple crystals; also found in clusters through-out the necklace. Nestled among the crystals are cracked onyx oval shaped stones, accented with fancy pewter silver bead caps.

Deep shades of purple and everything in-between; browse our collection of custom artisan crafted jewelry at our online Timeless Designs Ruby Lane shop.

Pendants & Charms Coming Together

One of the new designs that I did this year is with many different kinds of pendants and charming. The charming technique takes quite some time to create, but the affect is most appealing. Using different pendants gave each one a unique look while using accents in stones, swarovski crystals, dichroic glass, freshwater cultured pearls, and some of my free form spiral or double coiled wire work.  The neat idea behind this is that each design is stationary on the silk cord, so the designs will not be lost and each comes with a matching pair of earrings!

In this design I used a puffy heart pendant in lapis lazuli and the charms include freshwater cultured pearls, swarovski crystals and black agate. Wire work is done in non-tarnish silver wire.

 

Turquoise is one of my favorite stones of nature to work with; here I’ve paired the blue teardrop pendant with a fold-over wavy bail and charms of swarovski crystals, white magnesite and black agate. Wire work is done in non-tarnish peacock blue and black wire.

Fossils are fast becoming one of my more favorites to work with in wire as they are so individually unique; here I’ve used an orthoceras fossil pendant with charms of swarovski crystals, freshwater cultured pearls and two cloisonné beads. All wire work is done in silver non-tarnish wire.

  

Browse our collection of artisan crafted jewelry, available for purchase at Timeless Designs Ruby Lane shop!

Winter Wonderland in Dichroic Glass

This is the first of a couple of seasonal pieces that I’m doing this year. The focal is a nice dichroic glass pendant with a winter scene of red trees set against an icy blue snowy background. It has been hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire with support coils and swirls at the bail. It also has a matching pair of earrings!

The base of the necklace is onyx teardrop stones, faceted red rondelle crystals with a black metallic sheen; some have been hand charmed into clusters and more onyx teardrops in tiny stones and white bicone crystals.

Looking for the unique gift to give this holiday season --- browse our collection of artisan crafted jewelry using minerals, fossils and natural stones.

Fossils Become Wired Pendants

One of the unique pendants I work with is fossils; they are so incredible and each one is a gift of nature and millions of years old from the far regions of Madagascar. These beautiful pendants have been wired and incorporated into bold, chic and striking necklace sets.

This button ammonite fossil pendant has gone a little southwest; hand wire wrapped and then mixed with mosaic turquoise rondelles and two sizes of blue turquoise rounds. (to the right)

  

 

Lovely browns and greens in a fire ammonite handcrafted and mixed up with lots of hand charmed crystals of golden topaz, light topaz, metallic green, smoky quartz, and green lampwork beads.
(to the left)







Classic yellow citrine highlights this button ammonite fossil; hand wire wrapped and mixed up with green jasper, lime lampwork beads and a hint of crystals.
(to the right)

Soft colors of the earth in a fire ammonite handcrafted and mixed with golden bronzite, Tibetan ceramic beads and more hand charmed crystals of golden and light topaz and smoky crystals.

(to the left)


For these and many other artisan crafted designs in wire, browse our Timeless Designs shop at Ruby Lane!

Idaho’s Gem Owyhee Picture Jasper

Called King of the Picture Jasper Owyhee Jasper is colorful and popular picture jasper that probably derives its name from the Owyhee River. This material has been offered under several trade names including Owyhee Jasper Agate, Owyhee Junction Jasper, Owyhee Picture Jasper, and Owyhee Picture Rock.

Owyhee Jasper is basically petrified mud. There are three jasper mines within a mile of each other, the LED, Wildhorse and Rocky Butte. The Classic Owyhee Jasper has a wide variety of patterns and shapes. The jasper is known for its bright colored scenic patterns with and without blue sky. This jasper depicts desert scenes, high mountain ranges, winding roads and meadows or even the seas.

Where does Owyhee Picture Jasper Come From?

Owyhee Picture Jasper comes from the Owyhee mountain area, situated on the Idaho-Oregon border, along US 95 just south of Homedale Idaho. The Owyhee River begins in northern Nevada and flows north close to the Oregon - Idaho border. It eventually empties into the Snake River just south of Nyssa, Oregon, about 25 miles northwest of Jordan Valley, Oregon.

The river abruptly turns east for several miles, makes several loops and then turns north again. It finally flows into the Owyhee Reservoir. This is Eastern Oregon's high desert country in Malheur County and even spills over into Humboldt County, Nevada. Many types of picture jasper, plume agate, petrified wood, rhyolite, colored agates and saginites come from all these areas.

Owyhee picture jasper is a natural wonder depicting the great beauty of the earth it was born in.

This design features the famous Idaho gem, owyhee picture jasper in smooth polished rounds; the have been drilled on the diagonal to form the overlap, making designing with these types of cuts very difficult! I’ve hung a large puffy crystal heart in a light beige and the bail is many hand charmed crystal clusters, which area also in a few places in the necklace.

 

 

  

See this and many other uniquely artisan crafted designs at our online Timeless Designs Shop!

Research material from mineralsnmore.com.