Ammonite Fossils – Matching Pendant & Earrings

Ammonite fossil pendants are pretty easy to come by, but to get matching earrings for a complete set that is a little more difficult. Here are a couple of wire wrapped ammonite pendants with matching earrings; they come on silk cords that can be removed and worn with on other collars, chains or cords. All these fossils come from the regions of Madagascar.

Ammonite Fossil Pendant & Matching Earrings in  Beautiful Earthy colors; wire wrapped in non-tarnish brass wire

Ammonite Fossil Pendant & Matching Earrings in Striking Black; wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire

 

Rugged Elegance to Wearable Earth…Check out Timeless Designs Ruby Lane shop to purchase artisan crafted jewelry!

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!

Oco Agate with a Twist of Amber Navy Mix

Working with Oco agates you just never know what you are going to get in the pendant slice. What makes these very unique is that they are highly polished on back and front, but the sides have been left with a slight rawness, almost a feel of the mine they come from.

Each one is a carefully crafted colorful piece from nature with the centers open showing the years of crystallization, this makes the Oco agate very different from normal agate slices.

In this new pendant I’ve hand wire wrapped it in bronze non-tarnish wire, the beauty of the pendant is captured in an array of fall colors; navy blue, white, black, rust, butterscotch, and even a hint of cream.

The necklace is crafted of amber freeform chips with a high polish, faceted rondelle crystals the color of navy or sapphire and between are little gold tone pewter round beads. With the size of the agate pendant being a little smaller, the necklace is not as heavy as many of the chunky and bold pieces I’ve been known to create.

A piece of nature that has been artisan crafted to enjoy for all time….browse our online shop at Ruby Lane to find your fossil, mineral or natural stone jewelry!

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.

Enter Peruvian Pink Opal

Peruvian pink opal is relatively rare and is only found in the Andes Mountains near San Patricio, Peru. The pink opal derives its color from trace amounts of included organic compounds known as quinones. These opals range from opaque to translucent, and depending on how the stone is cut, the color will either be clear or show the stone’s matrix and inclusions. (Like agates, some Peruvian opals show the scenic fern-like dendritic inclusions.) Peruvian opal is also known as Andean opal.

Opal was formed many millions of years ago, when a combination of silica and water flowed into cracks and spaces in the ground. This then gradually hardened and solidified to become opal. Opals contain water, which makes them very sensitive to heat. They are soft and can be cracked or chipped easily.

Traditional Properties

Pink Peruvian Opal is a stone of love and gentleness. It brings energies of gentle love and kindness to both romantic relationships and relationships of other kinds. As with other opals, it also brings inspiration, imagination and creativity. It can help release inhibitions and brings happy dreams. It also eases the process of change.

This is an absolutely striking and very beautiful necklace; I just love the pendant it really sets off the whole piece. I started with a rare peruvian pink opal pendant that is highly polished, faceted and cut in a shape called the ax. It is really quite striking and one of my favorites. The base of the necklace is crafted of onyx cut on the diamond and then overlapped, between are several clusters of hand charmed pink faceted crystals. The whole set just says dramatic, chic, just sophisticated.

Browse our collection of artisan crafted jewelry and purchase your next piece of treasured earth!

More Signs of Fall

These new designs are sure to take on the fall fever! Check out our online shop at Ruby Lane to browse the available collection designs for purchase!!

 Deep rich carnelian donut squares that have handcrafted double spiral coil beads in non-tarnish brass wire; accented with picasso jasper, faceted round crystals and corrugated gold tone pewter spacer beads.

Dramatic yet fun necklace starting with a yellow agate cabochon wire wrapped by hand in non-tarnish shiny gold wire; accented with cracked agate beads in yellow with very definite black veins and faceted crystals.

Orthoceras Fossils Go Wired

Orthoceras or "straight horn" is a genus of extinct nautiloid, which lived from the Ordivician to Triassic (251.4 to 390 Ma) it, is a cephalopod and is also called Orthoceratites. Orthoceras fossils are common and have a global distribution, occurring in any marine rock, especially limestones. These are slender, elongate shells with the middle of the body chamber transversely constricted, and a subcentral siphuncle. The surface is ornamented by a network of fine lirae. Although it has an external chambered shell like the Nautilus, Orthoceras is probably more closely related to coleoids.

I really like using the orthoceras fossil because it goes very well with designs in black to red to white. With the pendants one side is polished and shows the squid fossils, the other usually left a little raw to show sort of a before and after of the pendants.

  

In this design I’ve used a nice large orthoceras fossil and mixed it with smooth onyx stones, pewter silver textured square beads, Swarvoski Black Cosmo Crystals, and red coral disks.

 

For more uniquely artisan crafted jewelry browse our collection online at our Ruby Lane!

Designs in Shades of Blue

Blue is one of my favorite colors and with the right mix of stones can make incredible designs. These two designs mix shades of blue in a deep navy almost sapphire colored crystals and a mix of natural stone.

I started with rectangular stones in exotic California Palm Wood Jasper. It has beautiful coloring in navy, tan, beige, purple, rust and black. To highlight the deep blue I added in irregular shaped freshwater cultured pearls in a soft yellow color. The faceted of the blue and clear crystals captures the light and accents against the jasper and pearls for a stunning necklace.

What’s different about this second necklace is that it is actual two strands; to get a bit of a ‘cluster’ effect I strung the pearls on two wires and then both through the larger crystals. These clusters are irregular shaped freshwater cultured pearls of yellow, tan and eggshell. The necklace is all graduated faceted rondelle crystals colored in two shades of blue, mostly a deep navy almost sapphire blue and then a few lighter blue at the base.

Rich, trendy jewelry in fresh designs for any personality; browse and purchase any of our collection at our online shop!

Unusual Mixed Blending of Beads

This necklace is crafted of different types of beads for a totally unique and unusual design. The look is quite chic and trendy, yet a little casual and subtle with the blending of natural colors in browns and tans with bolder blues and reds. At the focal is a large leaf murano glass pendant in blue, red, metallic copper, and tan with a clear front but set against a medium purple/red background, giving it an abstract coloring.

The base of the necklace is made from a mix of different beads; first start with the light tan colored rondelle disks which are actually wooden beads for a littler feel. Next near the pendant are nicely patterned flat oval shaped red fossil coral and red jasper well rondelle stones. Between I’ve mixed in lovely cloisonné beads of red with a smattering of gold, pink and white; they are capped with dainty filigree antiqued copper bead-caps. To pull the blue from the pendant I chose a few faceted metallic sapphire colored rondelle crystals and finished off with a copper twisted toggle.



The entire piece is a mix and blending of different beads to create a chic and casual designer look.


Browse our collection of wearable earth to find your next artisan crafted treasure.

Different Rainbow Pyrite Design

The highlight of this necklace is the large round rainbow pyrite pendant! I’ve highlighted it with bright gold non-tarnish silver wire; nicely blending with the white/dark gray background with flecks of golden pyrite. The base of the necklace is made from faceted rondelle sandy jasper, daisy spacers, smooth green/black ceramic beads, and a few faceted rondelles olive colored crystals. A nice round cut rainbow pyrite pendant that is accented with non-tarnish bright gold wire swirls.

Pyrite: Defense, prevention, protection from negativity, physical wholeness, memory.
Jaspers: Protection, nurturing, joy, awareness; balancing of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies.

Browse our jewelry collections for many other uniquely artisan crafted pieces!

Chic Blended Navy Crystals

More and more I’m working with crystals; either in pure crystal designs or a mixture between natural stone and crystals. Crystals are a very versatile bead and I like them because they come in an array of colors, blending easily with just about any jewelry design.

In this particular necklace I did a double strand to get more of a unique look with the pearls, but not charmed. I’ve blended together a graduated strand of metallic navy blue, almost sapphire colored faceted rondelle crystals and add a few light blue crystals at the bottom of the necklace. Pewter star fancy bead caps have been added to the crystals and little clear round crystal spacers are between for a bit more ‘bling’. Between I’ve mixed again are freshwater cultured pearl irregular nuggets in colors of yellow, champagne and cream.


Pearl: Purity, faith, charity, innocence, integrity, focus, wisdom, spirituality, sincerity, fertility.


Browse our collections for to find your chic, trendy uniquely handcrafted jewelry!

Rugged Earthy Jasper

Jasper is a massive opaque variety that is a mixture of chalcedony, quartz, and opal. The name comes from the Latin name for the stone, iaspis, which probably also referred to other types of chalcedony. Jasper is found as small veins and replacements in different metamorphic and sedimentary rock, and in cracks of volcanic rocks. It is fine-grained and colored by red and yellow iron oxides or green chlorite and actinolite.
Jasper was used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans who carved portraits and such ornamental objects as amulets. It was believed that a person wearing jasper would be protected from illness, especially stomach problems. It has traditionally been used as a gemstone for jewelry; pictured to the left is slabs of landscape/picture jasper.

In this design, these colorful jasper rondelles remind me of the southwest. They give an appearance of rugged earth caverns in shades of rusts, browns, creams, hints of yellow, green and blue. The perfect accent is this beautiful turquoise cross pendant in a lovely shade of blue/green and heavy veining in black/brown; the bail and wire work are of artistic non-tarnish silver wire. I’ve added in a few round turquoise stones that have light brown/tan veining and pewter metal barrel beads that have been etched, giving another flavor of southwest to this necklace design.

Jaspers: Protection, nurturing, joy, awareness; balancing of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies.
Turquoise: Spiritual attunement, cleansing, healing, protection, valor, soothing, peace of mind, guidance through the unknown, romantic spontaneity.

Browse our jewelry collection of artisan handcrafted designs!

Fun In Bones Fossil Design

When I came across these lampwork beads in Tucson this year, I just new I had to have them. The creative look of a bone would really be a great design with some of my fossils. I kept creating until yesterday I came up with this latest creation using the lampwork bones.

The necklace focal is an button ammonite fossil pendant that has a toffee colored background with the fossil in black and off-white, showing just a hint of crystallization. It is polished on one side and left semi-raw on the backside. The pendant is set with supporting and coil wires in artistic non-tarnish brass wire.



The base of the necklace is the fun irregular lampwork bone beads! The colors of the bones are a begie/cream with some being slightly darker than others; I’ve accented some of them with freeform wire wrapping. Between the bones are rough cut rondelles in red star jasper, small black jet disks and round gold-tone spacers.

Find your next ‘bone’ treasure among our artisan designed jewelry!

Wired Ancient Fossil Meets Southwest

Wired ancient fossil meets a little southwest…..I started this design using a midnight black Ammonite Fossil from Madagascar, it shows a nice vein chambers in gray and is handcrafted in non-tarnish silver with coil and supporting wires. The base of the necklace is then created from Arizona Turquoise (stabilized) graduated in raw chips; all reflecting earthy colors of brown, rust, black, cream, green, and hint of blue. Scattered between the turquoises are barrels of Arizona Ivoryite, faceted smoke black crystal rondelles and silver disk spacers. The set includes the matching pair of black Ammonite Fossil earrings.

The ammonite’s name comes from the shell’s resemblance to a coiled ram’s horn (the ram being the symbol of the Egyptian god Ammon). Like the extinct belemnites and the living nautiloids, octopuses, squid and cuttlefish, they belonged to the mollusk group known as the cephalopods. The name comes from the Greek ‘kephale’ (head) and ‘podia’ (foot), referring to the tentacles they have in the head region.

There are many different species of Ammonites; Phylloceras, Psiloceras, Stephanoceras, and Caloceras just to name a few. I haven’t yet identified which group the pendant and earrings are members but they are quite definitely strikingly black ammonites.


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