Taste of Green Agate Slice

Agates are another versatile stone; the colors and matrix that they produce can be brilliant, delicate or bold. This Brazilian agate really caught my eye in the bold shades of green; medium to dark green with hints of golden yellow along some of the edges. It is highly polished on both sides with the edges left with a slightly rough feeling.

It has been hand wire wrapped in bright gold non-tarnish wire and is the center piece of this necklace. The necklace is artisan crafted with mosaic turquoise, toffee colored ceramic barrel beads, checkerboard faceted light golden topaz crystal rounds and scattering of antique gold pewter daisy spacers.

Just right for the picking of jewelry in March!

This and many other wire creations are available to purchase at our online Ruby Lane shop!

Best of 2010 from our Rock Yard Collection

The Rock Yard collection is a turn of nature’s treasures in fossils, minerals and raw rocks coming to life as single pendants or incorporated into necklace and earring sets. It is by far the most watched and purchased of all our collections; especially the designs using fossils and minerals. This collection is by far the toughest to pick the best of the year from, but here’s our shot at it!

A twist of old turquoise meets million year old fossil; a lovely button ammonite fossil hand wire wrapped in brass non-tarnish wire is at the focal. The base of the necklace is blue turquoise and a green/blue turquoise mosaic mix bead and accents of gold tone pewter.

 

Many people are used to seeing the ammonite cut on the half shell, but I’ve been working with the whole thing! This design is a whole red ammonite with fire on both sides, encased in brass non-tarnish wire; accented with charmed crystal rondelle beads, gorgeous wavy bronzite and lampwork beads in black to beige design.

 

Black and white in a nice sized large orthoceras fossil hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire as a pendant. The necklace base is onyx, red (dyed) coral, Swarovski black cosmo crystals and sterling silver textured square beads.

The charmed necklaces were such a hit that I didn’t want to leave out the fossils; so I created this one using a small orthoceras fossil encased in non-tarnish silver wire and then charmed many swarovski crystals, cloisonné beads and freshwater cultured pearls. All set stationary on a silk black cord with matching earrings in a double coiled spiral.

  

A large goniatite fossil pendant in soft earthy colors all hand wire wrapped in brass non-tarnish wire is the focal in this design. Then I paired it with two strands of coral chips and long ceramic Tibetan beads which are capped in gunmetal filigree.

  

Digging around at Tucson one can find some real treasures and I got lucky with several pairs of matching earring and pendant ammonite fossils. This beautiful and striking earthy color in this half shell ammonite fossil that is hand wire wrapped in brass non-tarnish wire; the matching earrings are the same colors and mounted on posts. It is hung from and can be removed to wear on other cords or collars, a beige silk cord.

Browse all our collections to find your hidden treasure of artisan crafted jewelry!

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!

Color Change Swarovski Crystals

Swarovski crystals come in some of most incredible colors and one of my favorites is the Swarovski Cantaloupe color because it is a color changes crystals. By this, I mean it actual will change colors from a lovely light lime green or peridot to calming shade of lilac or purple.



In this design, I’ve paired the faceted bicone cantaloupe crystal with flat rondelles in black Jet and antique gold fancy spacers. The highlight is a beautiful highly polished triangular shaped Indonesian Fossil Coral pendant. I’ve handcrafted the bail out of gunmetal and brass non-tarnish wire.

Coral: Diplomacy, quieting emotions, visualization.
Browse our collections to find unusual and unique custom designs from nature’s gifts.

Dolomie to Dolomite

Named after French mineralogist D. de Dolomieu (1750-1801), who described it in 1798 during a visit to Egypt with Napoleon Bonaparte. The mineral’s original name was dolomie. It is used in manufacturing of refractory bricks for furnace linings. The mineral is composed of calcium and magnesium carbonate, being similar to calcite. Dolomite is found in metamorphic marble rock and occurs as a gangue mineral in veins with sphalerite or galena. Its most important occurrence, however, is as a rock-forming mineral in carbonate rocks. Crystals are commonly rhombohedral or tabular, and often have curved faces. Dolomite can be coarse to fine granular, massive or fibrous, which is rarely seen. Pearl spar is a variety with a pearly luster and colored white, gray or pale brown. Bitter spar is an iron-bearing variety, colored brown by ankerite.




This piece is a touch of Indian Southwest design using a beautifully cut and polished Dolomite pendant; accented with Arizona Pipestone and Ivoryite with a touch of silver/pewter throughout.


Find this and many other unique designs available for purchase from our collections.
*Research from various gem/mineral books and website.

Strawberry Vanilla into Jasper

All natural stones from the Arizona mines; it looks like strawberry swirls but really its peppermint jasper mixed with creamy vanilla ivoryite; designed by Gayle. Summery set for causal jeans, t-shirt or dress up that summer dress for an afternoon or evening.

Jaspers: Protection, nurturing, joy, awareness; balancing of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies.
Browse our collections of available designs for any season.

Turquoise in Mosaic

I love the colors of these beads; bit shades of green with a hint of rust or blue among them, known at mosaic Turquoise. Though not entirely a natural stone, these beads are made from composites of crushed Turquoise bits. They make beautiful matrix beads and great additions to any piece of jewelry; rather the center of attention or as an accent to natural stones, crystals, metals or ceramics.

This set is made from the small more dominate green mosaic Turquoise beads, then mixed with toffee colored ceramic beads, gold spacer disks and light gold-lined glass seed beads; the highlight is button Ammonite handcrafted in brass non-tarinish wire.

Visit our collections for available designs from an array of stones and raw materials.

Red Explosion Coral

Explosions of red coral in chic jewelry fashions! Using the natural stone Coral as a focal, each design is created with imagination, depth and classic style; here’s how they are created and seen through the eyes of two different jewelry designers.



The first design to the right is designed by me, using tiny red and black Coral branches with additions of tiny white seed beads and silver spacers; highlighting a stunning handcrafted in non-tarnish silver wire natural Brazilian Oco Agate that displays a black background with wavy white veins and a hint of red.








The second to the left is designed by Gayle in a graduated combination of Coral and black Jet disks then accenting througout with faceted Onyx stones and fancy spacers. This special set includes all three pieces - necklace, bracelet and earrings.

Coral: Diplomacy, quieting emotions, visualization.
Agates: Balancing physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies; perceptiveness, strength, inspiration, awakening talents.
Onyx: Self-control, decision making, intuition, recognition of personal strengths.

See these and many other designs available for purchase in our collections.

Mexican Lace Agate Jewelry Redesign

This Mexican Lace Agate pendant is a stunning piece of nature’s work and paired with Picture Jasper it was all about the yellow. The set was very well done, but sort of lacked that ‘pop’ and my mother-in-law was about to take it apart when I asked if I could work the piece, thinking first I would try to mix it with some Turquoise, though that didn't work.

I wanted to really bring out the black in the pendant, since that is what is amazing about it. I started mixing it up with large pieces of Onyx to enhance the large pendant, hand charming all the chips, pearls, and faceted onyx pieces into clusters, threw in Ivoryite for a little color to bring out the cream of the pendant and pewter and gunmetal for some texture. It’s still got the same beautiful look of yellow but now has a stronger feel of black thrown in to give it that extra ‘pop’ that she was looking for.


Jaspers: Protection, nurturing, joy, awareness; balancing of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies.
Onyx: Self-control, decision making, intuition, recognition of personal strengths.


Visit our collections for many different designs to find something that fits your personality.

Classic Stunning Chic Blues

If you like blue, this necklace set is for you (and blue if my favorite color). This stunning piece is artisan crafted of faceted graduated clear blue Crystals; accenting a Denim Lapis puffy heart pendant that has a slight cream and black grain; then a scattering of sterling silver beads and finished with a single strand of freshwater cultured Pearls. The earrings are leverbacks that have dangle charms in pearls and one of the faceted blue crystals.

Available for purchase with many other trendy and chic designs in our collections.

Wow – 100 Hits

Wow, what a milestone, who would have guessed!! Yesterday our website Timeless Designs had 100 hits in one day!! Thank you so much to everyone who has made purchases (and continues to do so!), browses and loves our designs as much as we do.

If you haven’t made it over yet, here’s your chance to check out our contemporary artisan crafted art-to-wear jewelry collection. Find something in stylish old and new Southwest Flair; go a little bold with something in minerals and million year old fossils of the Rock Yard; a little trendy classic mystery from Mystic Artisan, and don’t forget wire, chain and metals in Wiry Legends!

Whatever your style, bold, classic, sassy, tempting, or even bling, see what it’s all about at our website make a purchase or check the Shows page to see where we are in the area and come buy our booth. As always with our blog we continue to debut pieces, lapidary tidbits, and even throw in some techniques.

Styles of Chain

I’ve been experimenting with different styles using chain; trying to give the necklace designs more dimension and texture. Here are a couple of new styles using just a few stones and mainly chain as the base.

Boro Lampwork Beads Denim Lapis Crystals Set

CA Palm Wood Jasper Ivoryite Crystals Set

These and other custom styles are available for purchase in our collections.

Single Red Coral

Doing designs in purely one color is often risky; however with the Red Coral design I hit onto something. It was such a hit, that I redesigned the piece and incorporated different chunky coral stones, several types of copper beads and added a bigger Sponge Coral pendant. This piece hit the mark and was sold before it even hit the website!

Coral Lampwork Beads Sponge Coral Pendant Copper Set (SOLD)

For more designs in natural stone and wire, browse our website for available pieces to purchase.

Naturally Earthy Fossil

More of the great Tucson finds here, a beautiful Moroccan Goniatite in soft shades of green/cream/black wired in non-tarnish silver and accented with carved Jade in natural earthy colors, mixed in some dark green Aragonite for contrast that are in pewter star end-caps.

This and many other Tucson finds are available for purchase on our website.

Petoskey Fossil Coral

Homegrown and commonly found along the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron in the United States is the water stone Petoskey Fossil Coral. A Petoskey stone is a rock and a fossil, often found in the shapes of pebbles and composed of fossilized coral, Hexagonaria percarinata. These corals colonized Michigan in the Devonian period, about 350 million years ago when most of Michigan was submerged under water. The stones were formed as a result of glaciations, in which sheets of ice plucked stones from the bedrock, grinding off their rough edges and depositing them in the northwestern portion of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

The name of the stone is a derivation of the name Petosegay, the name given to the son of a Frenchman who married an Ottwa Indian princess and later became the tribes’ chief. According to legend, Petosegay was the child of a descendant of French nobleman and fur trader, Antoine Carre and an Ottawa princess. Petosegay, meaning "rising sun", "rays of dawn" or "sunbeams of promise", was named after the rays of sun that fell upon his newborn face. In keeping with his promising name, Petosegay was a wealthy fur trader who gained much land and acclaim for himself and his tribe. He was remarked upon to have a striking and appealing appearance, and spoke English very well. He married another Ottawa, and together they had two daughters and eight sons. In the summer of 1873, a few years before the Chiefs' passing, a city began on his land along Little Traverse Bay. The settlers christened the newborn city Petoskey, the English translation of Petosegay

This new piece is made from Petoskey Fossil Coral and Denim Lapis with many silver spaces in-between. The website has this and many other custom pieces available for purchase.

*From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and various lapidary websites.

Our Best Year the Sea Offered

Another posting of this year’s best of our collection; this time we are highlighting our best designs using what c comes from the sea; pearls, mother-of-pearl, and shells in all shapes and sizes.

(to the left) Black Agate Pearls Silver Mother-of-Pearl Pendant

Philippine Shells Pearls Dragon Skin Pendant (to the right)

Purple Spiny Oyster Ivoryite (to the right)

(to the left) Turquoise Pearls

Bronzite Argonite Ocos

A mix of nature’s pretties in this design; custom handcrafted using all natural stones in Bronzite coins, deep forest green Argonite that are accented with silver non-tarnish wire; sandy opal Jasper and hints of Swarvoski Fire crystals; the focal is a stunning Brazilian Ocos Agate that has been handcrafted in two-tone non-tarnish wires brass and silver.

Agates: Balancing physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies; perceptiveness, strength, inspiration, awakening talents.
Jaspers: Protection, nurturing, joy, awareness; balancing of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies.
The energy of bronzite promotes certainty and control, encourages us to take control over our own actions and enables us to be sure about what it is that we want in our lives.

Available for purchase along with many other uniquely custom crafted jewelry designs.

Classy Sunstone Designs

Sunstone is a very classy, timeless stone; the perfect fleck striations crystals are what gives it that perfect look. These two designs use Sunstone in different ways; the first is as a highlight along with freshwater pearls, brown wire links and Swarovski crystals. The second is a little more causal, simple and very long; using Sunstone nuggets, Carnelian and glass Pearl beads among copper.

Available for purchase with other custom designs on the website.

Kyanite Two Strengths

Named from the Greek kyanos, “dark blue”, for its color and also because of it’s particular characteristic of developing different hardness in different directions, so it is was alos given the name disstenos (‘two strenghts’), which means dual hardness. Because of its dark blue color, the ancient Greeks identified kyanite as the protitive stone of seaferers. It was offered to those about to embark on long journeys.

Kyanite occurs principally as elongated flattened blades, and less commonly as radiating, columnar aggregates. It is usually blue and blue-grey, but can also be green or colorless. Kyanite is formed during the regional metamorphism of clay-rich sediments. It is one of three polymorphs of Al2SiO5. The other two are sillimanite and andalusite. It can be found in Finland, Austria, Italy, West Africa, Brazil, Switzerland, and North Carolina.


Kyanite is ideal for wearing round the neck as in necklaces or pendants, because it has beneficial effects on the throat. It promotes the ability to speak easily and express oneself and to learn languages. It removes enter blockages and stimulates vital energy.

Psychologically, kyanite is said to produce positive energy, sharpens the concentration and encourages calmness. It also relaxes, drives away sadness and makes life seem ore worth living.


The presence of crystal inclusions in the parent rock makes particularly powerful healing stones. Magical properties of Kyantie symbolize lightness and leads to new thoughts. It is also associated with star sign of Aries, Taurus and Libra.


Visit Timeless Designs for many unusual and custom stone jewelry designs.

*Research from various websites and books.

Pearls Among Turquoise

Turquoise is one of nature’s beauties; you see it traditionally mixed as a Southwest design and among a few more contemporary looks; which shows just how versatile turquoise really can be. This new design from the studio is a mix of shapes in all blue Turquoise with matrix of brown and black; highlighted by small light gold glass seedbeads and in the center strands, three freshwater cultured pearl drops. The dangle earrings are just a small compliment to the piece as the three strands really stand out.

Turquoise: Spiritual attunement, cleansing, healing, protection, valor, soothing, peace of mind, guidance through the unknown, romantic spontaneity.
Pearl: Purity, faith, charity, innocence, integrity, focus, wisdom, spirituality, sincerity, fertility.

Visit the website to purchase this and many other designs in nature’s beauty.