Here's a necklace made with Fool's Gold(aka pyrite) oval beads and real gold-filled wire, finished with a vermeil s-clasp. (I thought the beads were too heavy for earrings, but I do have pyrite earrings here.)
The ovals measure 18x13mm. The necklace is about 22.5 inches long, and weighs 2.7 oz.
Price: $42 (shipping is free)
These citrine
nuggets are in a rough cut, not tumbled smooth, so they look like
honey-flavored rock candy, good enough to eat! The color is not
uniform, but they are wonderfully translucent, like bits of late
afternoon sunshine.
I joined the nuggets with gold-filled wire, finishing with a vermeil hook & eye clasp, putting the largest nuggets in the middle (they range in length from 12 to 27 mm.)
The necklace is 24 inches long (can be worn shorter by hooking the clasp as shown), with a weight of 2.5 oz.
I made matching earrings with gold-filled headpins and 2mm round gold-filled beads. The French hooks are also gold-filled.
The dangles are about an inch long, and the earrings weigh 0.1 oz.
Price: $48 (shipping is free)
These bloodstone beads are predominately dark green, with very few of the red flecks which gives the stone its name. They are twists, measuring about 15mm long and 7-8mm thick. I linked each bead with sterling silver wire, finishing with a Bali silver s-clasp.
The necklace is 20.75 inches long (you can wear it shorter by hooking the clasp as shown), and weighs 1.4 oz.
The silver drops on the
matching earrings are sterling silver, as are the French hooks. The complete dangles are 1 1/4 inches long. The earrings weigh 0.2 oz.
Price: $27 (shipping is free)
These beads are a new type of stone for me: ruby fuchsite. Fuchsite is the green variety of muscovite, and the red splotches that you can see are grade Z ruby crystals. (Muscovite is fascinating in its own right because it can be split into very thin translucent sheets. It used be be known as Muscovy glass because the sheets were sometimes used for windows in Russia. But I digress.) What I love about these stones is the great sparkle it has. Flashy!
I joined each bead with gold filled wire, finishing with a vermeil hook & eye clasp. The beads measure about 20mm from corner to corner, and the finished length is 23.25 inches, with a weight of 2.0 oz.
Price: $51 (shipping is free)
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)
I picked up this wonderful turquoise in Albuquerque. I tend to go for the blue shades over the green (most of my other turquoise necklaces are blue: see here, here, here, here, here, and here), but I couldn't resist the rich green in addition to the cute irregular polygonal shapes.
I joined each flat nugget with sterling silver wire, finishing with a Bali silver s-clasp. The necklace is about 22.5 inches long, and weighs 0.8 oz.
I used a couple of Bali silver beads for the matching earrings. The French hooks are sterling silver, and the dangles are about an inch long. The earrings weigh 0.2 oz.
Price: $81 (shipping is free)
Most of these lovely prehnite beads do have inclusions (that's common with all but the most expensive prehnite), but they all have that pearly green glow that I love so much! These particular beads came from Australia. They are flat 14x14mm squares, and I linked each with gold filled wire, finishing with a vermeil clasp.
The necklace is about 23.75 inches long, and weighs 2.6 oz. (You can shorten the length by hooking the clasp between two beads as shown.)
I made earrings to match. The headpins and French hooks are
gold-filled, and the dangles are about 3/4 in. The earrings weigh
0.2 oz.
Price: $53 (shipping is free)
What can I say about mother of pearl? It's fabulous, it's silky, it's iridescent. Gorgeous!
Anyway, these particular beads are flat 15mm squares. I linked each with gold-filled wire, and finished with a vermeil hook clasp from India.
The length is 22.25 inches (can be worn shorter by hooking the clasp between two beads as shown), with a weight of 1.6 oz.
I made earrings to match. The headpins and French hooks are gold-filled, and the dangles are about 3/4 in. The earrings weigh 0.1oz.
Price: $35.30 (shipping is free)
My vendor tells me that this set of turquoise is from the Fox Mine in Nevada. It is a beautiful robin's egg blue, traced with a light black matrix. (You can see my other turquoise necklaces here, here, here, and here.)
The nuggets feel slightly waxy, and range in length from about 12 to 20mm. I joined each with sterling silver wire, finishing with a Bali twisted silver S-clasp.
The length of the necklace is almost 22 1/4 inches (can be worn shorter, by hooking the clasp between two beads as shown), with a weight of 1.5 oz.
I made earrings to match. I bought the large (8mm) sterling silver beads at the ends from the same vendor, but I can't remember from which country they were imported. (They look Thai, but I wouldn't swear to it.) Anyway, the French hooks, headpins, and 2.5mm silver beads are also sterling silver. The finished length of each dangle is about 1 1/8 inches. The earrings weigh 0.1 oz.
Price: $69.90 (shipping is free)
Iolite (also known as "water sapphire") is one of my favorite stones (I know, I say that about all of them!). I think its most interesting characteristic is its natural pleochroism--the color of the stones changes with the angle of your observation, going from a strong violet blue to a light brownish gray and back again. (You can see my other iolite necklaces here and here.)
I connected each nugget with sterling silver wire, & did my best to graduate the sizes: the length of the nuggets ranges from about 12 to 17mm. I finished with a Bali silver hook & eye clasp.
The necklace is 24.5 inches long (can be worn shorter by hooking the clasp between two beads as shown), with a weight of 1.6 oz.
Price: $29.40 (shipping is free)
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