Pretty Good Jewelry

Picture jasper rectangular nugget necklace + earrings

Picture jasper is a tan variety of jasper named for the landscape pictures that the blotches and dots sometimes seem to form.

These picture jasper beads are around 10mm long, and about 8mm wide.  I alternated them with 2.5mm gold-filled beads, and finished with a vermeil s-clasp from India.  The necklace about 18.8 inches long, and weighs 1.7 oz.

There are matching earrings, which I made by hanging picture jasper nuggets plus 2mm gold-filled beads and gold-filled headpins from gold-filled French hooks.  The longest dangle is 1.25 inches.  The earrings weigh 0.2 oz.

Price: $25.60 (shipping is free)

Fossil coral 8mm necklace

The thing I love best about fossil coral is the cool flower/starburst-shaped patterns that you can see in it.  It's so awesome!  (You can see my other fossil coral necklaces here and here.)

I thought the tans and brown/grays were best accented with gold, so I strung them with vermeil beads from Bali, finishing with a Bali vermeil S-clasp.

The length is almost 20.25 inches, with a weight of 1.7 oz.

Price: $65.80 (shipping is free)

African opal tube bead-link necklace

These beads are a bit cheaper than the ones in the African opal necklace I just posted, but they're still pretty nice.  African opal is a common variety of opal (that is, not gem quality).  It has a nice beige background with black & brown inclusions.

The beads in this necklace are tube-shaped, 8mm in diameter, & ranging from 13 to 17mm in length.  I joined each bead with gold-filled wire, and finished with a vermeil S-clasp from India.

The length is 24.5 inches (can be worn shorter as shown), and the weight is 1.6 oz.

Price: $27.10 (shipping is free)

African opal flat rectangle bead-link necklace

Common opal doesn't have the flash that gem-quality opal has.  The flash isn't opalescence (as I used to think).  The opalescence is the soft milkiness that is present even in common opal.

Anyway, the variety used in this necklace is called African opal, which is beige with black and brown inclusions.  The beige background ranges from being nearly transparent to looking as if smoke-fine particles have been suspended in liquid.

These particular beads measure 18x13mm, and are joined with gold-filled wire.  I finished with a vermeil S-clasp from India.

The length is 22.75 inches (can be worn shorter as shown), and the weight is 1.3 oz.

Price: $39 (shipping is free)

African opal puff square necklace

I adore Africal opal.  There's so much going on beneath the beige suface!  These particular beads are flat squares measuring 10x10mm.
The gold beads are vermeil from India, as is the clasp.

The length is 21.5 inches, with a weight of 1.3 oz.

Price: $55.60 (shipping is free)

Fossil coral faceted diamond-cut bead necklace

Here's some more fossil coral.  These beads show the patterns of long deceased coral.

Each fossil coral bead measures about 20mm point to point.  I added 10mm faceted quartz beads, and then alternated each bead with a 3mm gold-filled round.  The clasp is a gold-filled lobster/trigger type.

The length is 22 inches, with a weight of 2.3 oz.

Price: $42.80 (shipping is free)

Fossil coral retangle bead-link necklace

Coral is a popular material for jewelry, but I admit that I'm uneasy about using it--there are arguments that the exploitation of coral is damaging to the oceans, etc. etc. etc.

Fossil coral, however, isn't just dead, it's long long dead.  And the patterns are extremely cool.  The beads I used for this necklace aren't as fabulous as they could be, but they're still pretty amazing.  I took a closeup shot of a few of the best beads:

Each bead is about 20x15mm.  I joined them using gold-colored copper wire (this is one of my earlier necklaces, made before I gathered the courage to move up to gold-filled wire), and the clasp is a gold-plated hook & eye.

The length is 22.25 inches (can be worn shorter) & the weight is 2.6 oz.

Price: $16.40 (shipping is free)