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)
Inclusions are not desirable in clear or translucent stone, except when they are. This is one of the cases where the inclusions add to the stone's appearance rather than detracting.
The base stone is our old friend quartz, and the golden needles are rutiles. The golden rutiles shimmer wonderfully in the light, like shafts of sunlight breaking through the clouds. These particular beads are nuggets which have been faceted and then tumble-polished. They range in length from 13 to 17mm. I joined each with gold-filled wire, finishing with a vermeil s-clasp.
The necklace is 20.25 inches long (can be worn shorter by hooking the clasp between two beads as shown), and weighs 2.1 oz.
I made earrings to match. The French hooks and the headpins are gold-filled. The dangles are a bit over 3/4 inches long, and the earrings weigh 0.2 oz.
Price: $42 (shipping is free)
Citrine fascinates me. I resisted stringing these particular beads for the longest time, because I enjoying playing with them so much, moving the beads in the light and watching how they glowed and sparkled. Almost hypnotizing! They're like solidified sunshine.
The beads are cut into faceted rondelles, measuring about 5mm in diameter and about 2.5mm thick. I strung them with 3.5mm Bali vermeil daisy spacers, finishing with a gold-filled lobster clasp. (If you examine very very closely, you can see that I missed my pattern in two places....) The finished length is 18.75 inches, with a weight of 0.6 oz.
I used gold-filled headpins and French hooks to make the matching earrings. The longest dangle is 1.75 inches. The earrings weigh 0.1 oz.
Price: $48 (shipping is free)
This amazonite is a bit bluer than the previous necklace (and less expensive!). I love this particular shade best, I think. (You can see my other amazonite necklaces here, here, and here.)
The beads are flat faceted ovals, measuring 14x10mm. I joined each with sterling silver wire, and finished with a Bali silver hook & eye clasp.
The necklace is 21.5 inches long (you can shorten it by hooking the clasp between two beads as shown), and weighs 1.4 oz.
I made earrings to match. The little silver balls hanging below each bead are clapperless bells.
The dangles are about 1 inch long, and the earrings weigh 0.2 oz.
Price: $40.30 (shipping is free)
Here's some banded rainbow fluorite! Only a few beads show any hint of green, so mostly what you see are the purples. These beads are not polished to a high gloss, just a satiny sheen with some surface scratches and flaws. They are very pretty, though. (If you'd like to see my other fluorite necklaces, click here, here, here, here, and here.)
The ovals measure about 18x13mm, and are slightly twisted instead of being perfectly flat. I linked each oval with sterling silver wire, finishing with a Turkish silver hook & eye clasp.
The necklace is 19.5 inches long (can be worn shorter by hooking the clasp as shown), with a weight of 1.7 oz.
Price: $19.90 (shipping is free)
This isn't really jade, but a substitute, likely either serpentine or quartz. It has been permanently dyed to give those mysterious lavender shades.
The nuggets are rectangular & measure about 10x8mm. I alternated them with 2mm sterling silver rounds, and finished with a Bali silver hook & eye clasp.
The necklace is a smidge over 19 inches, and weighs 1.8 oz.
Price: $18.40 (shipping is free)
Here's a nice neutral necklace for you! The beads were sold to me as "white lace agate", but since they're more gray than white, I thought that name was a bit misleading. Anyway, they measure 8mm in diameter, and are gray banded with white. The silver beads & the silver S-clasp are from Bali.
The length of the necklace is 20.5 inches, with a weight of 1.8 oz.
Price: $24.90 (shipping is free)
Here's more iolite, also known as "water sapphire". Usually iolite is dyed, so I washed them thoroughly, but no color came off. Natural or dyed, these beads have great color. They vary in length, from around 6 to 12mm in length. I matched them with silver wire twists from Bali, & finished with a silver wire S-clamp, also from Bali.
The necklace's length is 21.25 inches, with a weight of 1.3 oz.
Price: $40 (shipping is free)
These beads are called new jade, but they aren't really jade--they're serpentine. (I do have a jade necklace that is actually made from real nephrite jade here.) They are a crisp celery green, which I paired with gold vermeil spacer beads from Bali. The clasp is also vermeil, from India.
The length is 19.25 inches, with a weight of 0.8 oz.
Price: $24.50 (shipping is free)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
Recent Comments