Wired Agates of Summer

Light, small and full of brilliance…these lovely agates just right for the coming summer season! Hand wire wrapped in silver non-tarnish wire, the agates are from Brazil and all naturally colored.

Look for these and many other artisan crafted styles for the coming summer season at our Timeless Designs shop on Ruby Lane!

Naturally colored green & clear agate slice -- hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire. 

  

 

Brazilian Oco Agate slice -- all natural color with center crystalization -- hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire.

Agates: Balancing physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies; perceptiveness, strength, inspiration, awakening talents.

Greek & Roman Luster of Bronzite

In striking shades of brown, with flecks of golden and silvery slivers, bronzite is a bronze-like sub-metallic luster variety of Enstatite. The bronzite variety of enstatite has a semi-metallic luster which is formed through weathering of the enstatite mineral. The gemstone consists of magnesium and magnesium iron silicates and has an orthorhombic crystal structure. These are considered to be the ferriferous variety of enstatite.

The purest bronzite comes from Brazil, but is also found in India, Western Australia, China, and South Africa. It can be found in meteorites, leading some to speculate this means that other worlds in our solar system must have a similar composition to that of the earth.

The ancient Romans used to grind bronzite into powder form to protect against mental illness and confusion and as an effective treatment to strengthen the nerves. They also wore the stone as a protective amulet. Bronzite was highly valued by the Greeks and Romans as a decorative stone because of its particular brilliance. 

 

This new design features several stones in an octagon cut and faceted rondelles with a high polish to bring out the golden flakes. It has been paired with matching metal pendant and earrings in red enamel; tons of hand twisted charm crystals, rare Arizona ivoryite and cloisonne beads.

A rich and classy necklace set, sure to capture attention!

    

Find your next rare gem among our collection of finely artisan crafted jewelry!

Research various books and websites; bronzite rough picture by R. Weller/Cochise College

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!

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!

Best of 2010 from our Wiry Legends Collection

Wow, it’s been another year and as fast and furious as it went, we still created some designs that we call ‘our best of this year’. Each design is destinitive, original and unqiue in it's own right there were some that  just stood out more than others.  So here’s our look back at all the designs that I’ve done and picking my ‘Favorites or Best’ of the year; I start with my signature, wire designs that include pendants in fossils and minerals along with natural stones. So here’s the best for 2010, in my opinion, from the Wiry Legends collection!

Nature’s beauty at its finest with this next design, a very large Brazilian agate hand wire wrapped in brass non-tarnish wire. It is placed on a beige silk cord and matching twisted double coil and crystal earrings.  This one was so hard to 'let go' because of it's striking beauty encased in brass.

The pendant is a large red (dyed) coral encased in silver non-tarnish coil wires. The charms are all done by hand and feature black agate, red coral, swarovski crystals, and cultured freshwater pearls and wire work in double coils and swirls.  The matching earrings are double coiled swirls and accents of coral, black agate and pearl.

Caging is an accent that I do with the stones, in this design I caged black agate rounds with charmed crystals and the pendant is an unique stone of gray with black and charcol markings of Snail Jasper from the UK. I did the same caging to the earrings and dangled the crystals.

Brazilian Oco agate slice, striking in black with hints of red and white then hand wire wrapped in brassy gold non-tarnish wired. Wavy focal stones of black sardonyx agate amid two-tone black metallic and clear crystals (some charmed through-out and also at the bail) and cultured freshwater button pearls.

Stay tuned for more of our Best of 2010 from among our collections – browse our online shop to purchase available designs.

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 Dichroic 2

This is another dichroic glass pendant in the beautifully done winter scene; resembling an icy blue wintertime snow among red trees and a little black bird flying across the top and black lines resembling hills. The pendant is hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire, support coils and swirls at the bail. The earrings are faceted crystal rondelles of black, metallic red and clusters of sky icy blue.

Gifts of artisan jewelry from natural stone, minerals and fossils; give a very unique gift this holiday season!

Murano Glass Options

I love Murano glass pendants; they come in many different shapes, sizes and colors. I used to do them as separate pendants with earring sets and now I’ve incorporated them into designs with crystal charmed bails. Here are some of the designs….browse Timeless Designs Ruby Lane shop available designs to purchase!

Spoon Drop Pendant Aventurine Prehinte Crystals

 Leaf Blue/Green Ceramic Beads Crystals

Southwest Colored Leaf Pendant Red Fossil Coral Cloisonne Wood Set

Puffy Heart Pendant Butterscotch Quartz Crystals Set

Tan Puffy Heart Pendant Aventurine Crystals Set

Holiday Shopping Sneak Peek

Here’s a sneak peek at a sliver of the jewelry we’ll have at the show this weekend………….

 

Various necklace sets in crystals, stone, murano glass, and wire work by Timeless Designs

Sonora glass leaf necklace sets by Gayle of Jewelry by CnC, just one of the many designs by Gayle

Pendants available single or with cords and a small selection of mounted pendants in sterling silver and copper

Mark your calendar for one of the BIG shows of the holiday shopping season!! This weekend at the Freeman Coliseum!

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!

Designs for the Season in Polymer Clay

A not so new medium being used by artists in the jewelry industry is polymer clay because of its pliable, bendable and sculpting polymer compound or synthetic modeling material, thus it is not really true clay. True clay has fine particles of silicate suspended in water, whereas polymer clay is fine particles of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) suspended in plasticizer, but it can be used much like clay.

 Polymer clay is formulated from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), dyes or pigments and plasticizer to keep it soft until heat cured. It is an acrylic art material and there are many brands available in the United States. All the polymer clay brands have been individually tested and certified as non-toxic art materials. Brands vary in how hard or soft they feel at the beginning of use and the softer clays are more brittle when cured, and the firm clays are more durable after they are heat cured. The working properties vary between brands and become a designer’s personal choice. Some brands or colors within brands contain white mineral clay that makes colors opaque; others contain mica that gives it a shimmer and shine to the clay. All polymer clays are thermal set plastics, meaning they are hardened with heat and do not become soft again after curing. Before being cured in an oven, clays are thermally reactive and become hard when cool and soft when warm.

  

What makes polymer clay special is its versatility for anyone who wants to let their imagination run wild. With the dozens of colors choices and a designer can blend clays together like paints into canes to make any color palette they desire. Since the color is inherent in the particles, you can also work two or more colors together without blending them, if you prefer, for special effects such as cane marbling or stoning. The clay's pliability and ductility let you use techniques from other mediums such as glasswork, textile arts and sculpture. And polymer clay doesn't dry out, so you can sculpt and form it without worrying about a time limit.

  

In these new designs we feature polymer clay beads; the necklaces are quite lightweight and another alternative for people who don’t like the big chunky styles seen in many jewelry designs today.

Wired Double Spiral Coil Pendant

I really like the double spiral coil and depending on what mandrel it’s coiled on, you can make it just about any size to fit any project. In these two designs I’ve spiraled on a large mandrel to get a both a medium and large focal pendent.

Designed in all natural Chinese turquoise, the center a medium double coil spiral is hand wired in silver non-tarnish wire. I’ve included a few smooth polished tube silver tone pewter beads as accents.

The colors of the turquoise are so striking, when I saw this strand in Tucson I just new that it would turn into something incredible. The mix of green mixed with rust, black, brown, toffee, and a hint of blue in some stones cut in a flat disk shape carry very well with this necklace.

This one is I’ve done the same double coil spiral a little larger than the first, also created in silver non-tarnish wire, again as the focal pendant. The necklace is then made from blue magnesite barrels and lampwork beads that are toffee background with red swish marks and silver tone pewter beads.

Browse our collections of uniquely handcrafted artisan jewelry for purchase at our online Ruby Lane shop!

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.