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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Old Fossils Brought To Life

Fossils are so fun to work with; they give a designer a never ending color pallet to work with. In these two new designs I’m using goniatite fossils from Atlas Mountains, Morocco. Goniatites are extinct ammonoids, which flourished from the mid-Devonian to the Late Permian (251.4 to 390 Ma). These shelled cephalopods related to squid, octopus and belemnites forming the order Goniatitida. The Gonatitida originated in the Middle Devonian 390 Ma and survived the Late Devonian extinction. The goniatitids flourished during theCarboniferous and Perian and became extinct at the end of the Permian 251.4 Ma. They were survived by their cousins the ceratite ammonoids.

Pictured to the right, earthy tones in this goniatite pendant wired in silver non-tarnish wire; accented with black agate mixed with pyrite, clusters hand charmed irregularly shaped freshwater cultured pearls.

Pictured to the left, black and white colors in this goniatite wired in non-tarnish silver wire; accented with deep dark brown almost black agate, freshwater cultured pearls, and swarovski crystals with a scattering of silver tone pewter metal beads.

Find your next treasure from the earth in our uniquely handcrafted artisan jewelry!

Turquoise Gone Charms

Blue and black are very striking colors and with the right combination of blue to black it can almost have a dramatic affect. The latest in my charmed necklace line is a mix of these two bold colors together and I really like how they turned out together. I just love this turquoise (stabilized) pendant with the deep color of blue and black veining hung by a gunmetal colored half-moon bail; it is the perfect focal to this necklace.


I paired it with the charms design that I’ve been doing for this fall collection. There are many hand-charms such as small chunks of white magnesite, black agate rounds, Swarovski crystals of blue, light topaz and cosmo. I also added signature swirl drops in teal blue non-tarnish wire with silver accents; however when I did the earrings, I did the base in black to match the necklace. It hangs stationary on a black 18” silk cord.

Turquoise: Spiritual attunement, cleansing, healing, protection, valor, soothing, peace of mind, guidance through the unknown, romantic spontaneity

Browse and purchase from our fall collections at our online Ruby Lane Timeless Designs shop!

Striking Mix of Bold Colors

Ok, I have to admit that this design in the bold colors of red, black, white and silver are extremely striking together. The design is new for me and I’ve taken a mix of different techniques to combine and put this piece together. And so far it’s begun to be a big hit and I’ve been asked to create more in different colors and styles!

The necklace focal center is designed to stay stationary on either a silk cord or a ribbon cord. I’ve used in this case a large chunk of coral (dyed) in a thick oval shape; then surrounded it in single coils. To accent the pendant, I’ve hand charmed 36 pieces different shapes of stones coral, freshwater cultured pearls, black agate, and Swarovski crystals; between I’ve added a couple of double spiral coils and then capped the entire piece into a stationary position with wired coils and swirls that becomes part of the design.

The whole piece is quite labor intensive taking quite a bit of time to design, mix/match colors and stones, then hand charm each one and either wire, bail or get creative with the pendant. The matching earrings are the same double coils and stones from the necklace – all wire is done in non-tarnish silver wire.




Keep watching as I’ll be doing many more of these inspirations from the many pendants, stones and metals that I have!

This design along with many other uniquely artisan crafted jewelry pieces are available at our online shop!

Agates: Balancing physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies; perceptiveness, strength, inspiration, awakening talents.
Coral: Diplomacy, quieting emotions, visualization.

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

Turquoise in Colors

Turquoise is a stunning beauty of nature; the colors range from vibrant blues to deep greens and the matrix veining can be anything from brown to black to rust. Here are some designs in turquoise using several different accent stones.

Visit our online store for available pieces and find your true style in turquoise!
Turquoise: Spiritual attunement, cleansing, healing, protection, valor, soothing, peace of mind, guidance through the unknown, romantic spontaneity.

Double strand turquoise nuggets w/silver tubes (to the right)

Turquoise Black Onyx (to the left)

Turquoise teardrops w/freshwater pearls crystals (to the left)

Kingman Turquoise ivoryite crystals and yellow opal pendant (to the right)