Pretty Good Jewelry

Elephant skin jasper flat oval bead-link necklace + earrings

This stone was sold to me as golden lace agate, but I've seen it elsewhere as elephant jasper or elephant skin stone or elephant skin jasper.  It certainly looks more like a jasper than an agate to me.

These particular beads are flat ovals measuring about 18x13mm.  I joined each with gold-filled wire, finishing with a vermeil s-clasp. 

The necklace is about 20 inches long (you can wear it shorter by hooking the clasp between two beads as shown), and weighs 1.7 oz.

The matching earrings are made with gold-filled French hooks & headpins, with little vermeil daisy spacers on the ends.  The dangles are about 7/8 inches long, and the earrings weigh 0.1 oz.

Price: $32 (shipping is free)

Hypersthene 7mm necklace + earrings

These hypersthene beads are a very deep brown, almost black.  Their highly polished glassy surfaces have chatoyant depths.  Gorgeous!  (I have another hypersthene necklace here.)

I strung the beads with Bali vermeil spacers, and finished with a vermeil s-clasp.  The finished length is 18 3/8 inches, with a weight of 1.3 oz.

I made matching earrings with gold-filled headpins and French hooks.
The dangles are 1 1/4 inches long, and the earrings weigh 0.2 oz.

Price: $47 (shipping is free)

Smoky quartz & gold-filled chain necklace + earrings

The first two pictures were taken in direct sunlight, and the third in indirect light.

These are some fabulous beads, so marvelous that instead of putting them all in one necklace as I normally would do, I picked just a few to be focal points.

Here's a couple of closeups, in the direct sunlight and out of it:
Glorious!

Okay, that's enough gushing for now.  How about some facts?  The beads are smoky quartz, and they're shaped into puffy faceted dice.  They measure about 10x10x10mm, or roughly 14mm from hole to hole.  I linked the dice with my favorite gold-filled figure eight chain, finishing with a gold-filled lobster clasp.  The necklace is about 17 5/8 inches long, and weighs 0.3 oz.

(I have other smoky quartz necklaces here, here, here, and here.)

The matching earrings are made with gold-filled stud posts and headpins.  The dangles are about 1.5 inches long, and the earrings weigh 0.2 oz.

Price: $39 (shipping is free)

Smoky quartz twisted circle bead-link necklace + earrings

Here's some lovely, elegant smoky quartz!  These beads were a total impulse buy: I couldn't resist their unusual shape, and the way it reflected the light.  The shape is kind of a circular saddle, like a Pringles® chip.  The saddles/chips are drilled diagonally, so that the dips & peaks at the edges are off to the sides.

This closeup shows the shape a little better.

Anyway, the beads measure about 15mm from hole to hole.  I joined them with gold-filled wire, and finished with a vermeil s-clasp.  The finished length is 20.5 inches (you can wear it shorter by clasping the hook between two beads as shown), with a weight of 1.8 oz.

(I have other smoky quartz necklaces here, here, and here.)

I made the matching earrings by suspending bead-links on gold-filled chain from gold-filled posts.  The earrings are about 1.5 inches long, with a total weight of 0.2 oz.

Price: $72 (shipping is free)

Fossilized wood jasper faceted square diamond bead-link necklace + earrings

I love these beads!  They're a beautiful chocolate brown, with darker streaks that look like wood grain.  (I have another fossilized wood jasper necklace here.)  Plus, I'm a sucker for the square diamond shape.

The beads measure about 16mm from corner to corner.  I joined each with gold filled wire, finishing with a vermeil hook & eye clasp from India.

The necklace is 19.25 inches long (you can shorten it by hooking the clasp as shown), with a weight of 1.6 oz.

I used gold filled French hooks for the matching earrings.  The dangles are about 1.25 inches long, and the earrings weigh 0.1 oz.

Price: $43 (shipping is free)

Fossilized wood jasper 8mm necklace + earrings

These beads are jasper, and very very cool.  They're a lovely chocolate brown with darker brown grain-like streaks, looking just like a very dark wood that's been turned to stone.  (Hence the name).  They are round, 8mm in diameter.  I strung them with 6mm Bali vermeil spacers, finishing with a vermeil s-clasp from India.  The finished length is 17 inches, with a weight of 1.3 oz.

The French hooks and headpins in the matching earrings are gold-filled.  The dangles are about 1.25 inches long, and the earrings weigh 0.1 oz.

Price: $38.50 (shipping is free)

Mahogany obsidian nugget bead-link necklace

Mahogany obsidian is named for its deep reddish brown color, which provides the background for its mottled black splotches.  Obsidian is actually form of volcanic glass, and I've used other forms of obsidian in earlier necklaces (see here, here, here, and here).

These particular nuggets vary in length from 12 to 19mm.  I linked each nugget with gold-filled wire, finishing with a vermeil hook & eye clasp.

The necklace is 22.5 inches long (can be shortened by hooking the clasp between two beads as shown), and weighs 2.4 oz.

Price: $30.50 (shipping is free)

Hypersthene flat rectangle bead-link necklace

These beads are just gorgeous: glossy and brown, like chocolate satin.  The beads are flat rectangles, measuring 20x12mm.  I linked each bead with gold-filled wire, and finished with a vermeil hook & eye clasp from India.

The necklace is 21.25 inches long (can be worn shorter by hooking the clasp between two beads), and weighs 2.0 oz.

Price: $59 (shipping is free)

Tigereye small nugget necklace

Lovely tigereye! These are some nice little nuggets (around 7-9mm in diameter) with that nice glowing chatoyancy which is one of the stone's best features.  (I've got two other golden tigereye necklaces posted here and here.)

I used 5mm vermeil beads imported from India as accents, and finished with a vermeil s-clasp from Bali.  The finished length of the necklace is just under 18.25 inches, and the weight is 1.5 oz.

Price: $44 (shipping is free)

Poppy jasper 20mm flat coin bead-link necklace

Poppy jasper is usually colored a rich brick red, but the color of these beads looks closer to a warm chocolate brown to me.  These beads are guaranteed not to melt in your hands, though.  ;)

The beads are flat disks measuring about 20mm in diameter.  I joined them with gold-filled wire, finishing with a vermeil s-clasp from India.

The necklace is 20.5 inches long (can be worn shorter by hooking the clasp as shown), with a weight of 2.6 oz.

Price: $26.50 (shipping is free)