Pretty Good Jewelry

Keshi pearl necklace + earrings

Most pearls are formed when nacre is deposited around a small irritant.  Keshi pearls, however, lack the central nucleus and tend to be flat rather than rounded.  Being pure nacre, they tend to be highly lustrous.  (You can see my other pearl necklaces here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

These pearls are about 5 to 6mm in diameter.  I strung them with small gold-filled saucers, and finished with a gold-filled lobster clasp.  The necklace is 17 inches long, and weighs 0.5 oz.

I made hoop earrings to match.  The hoops are gold-filled, about an inch in diameter.  The earrings weigh 0.1 oz.

Price: $83 (shipping is free)

Blackstone, onyx, & silver necklace + earrings

The large black beads are 10mm blackstone, and the smaller are 4mm onyx.  I love the contrast between the matte blackstone and the polished onyx!  I strung them with sterling silver wave tube beads, finishing with a sterling silver lobster clasp.  The finished length is 17.25 inches, with a weight of 0.8 oz.

I made matching earrings with sterling silver French hooks.  The little saucer beads are also sterling silver.  The dangles are about 3/4 inches, and the earrings weigh 0.1 oz.

Price: $24 (shipping is free)

Lava rock, blackstone, and silver bead-link necklace + earrings

The three large black flower-shaped beads are lava rock.  Cool!  I bought the round matte blackstone beads to go with them.

The lava rock beads are 25mm across (about 1 inch), and the blackstone beads are 10mm in diameter.  The larger sterling silver beads are from Bali, measuring about 11mm in diameter, and the smaller ones are plain 6mm rounds.  I linked each with sterling silver wire, finishing with a Bali silver s-clasp.  The necklace is 17.5 inches long and weighs 2.1 oz.

The matching earrings are made with sterling silver French hooks.  The silver end charms are from Bali.  The earrings weigh about 0.2 oz, and the dangles are about 1.25 inches.

Price: $49.50 (shipping is free)

Black "fire" agate & matte blackstone bead-link necklace + earrings

The lantern-shaped beads were sold to me as black fire agate, but it is actually agate that's been made to crackle & then treated with black dye.  I like it a lot, but if you want to see real fire agate, click here.  The round black beads are blackstone, which is a catchall name for various stones that are then permanently dyed black.  My best guess would be that it's some sort of jasper.

The agate beads are about 11mm in diameter, and the blackstone 10mm.  I linked each with sterling silver silver wire, finishing with a Bali silver s-clasp.  The necklace is 17.5 inches long, and weighs 2.0 oz.

I made earrings to match.  They're a bit on the heavy side--0.4 oz--and the dangles are 1.5 inches.  The French hooks are sterling silver, and the silver spacers and small end dangles are from Bali.

Price: $39 (shipping is free)

Drusy & black agate gold chain necklace + earrings

I found these drusy beads at a local bead store.  The crystals on the surface are very fine and sparkly!  The largest bead measures about 20x25mm.

I used gold-filled wire to link the drusy beads with small black agate nugget beads, and I then joined the bead-link unit to my favorite gold-filled figure 8 chain, finishing with a gold-filled trigger clasp.  The necklace is 16.5 inches long, and weighs 0.6 oz.

I made earrings to match.  The wire joining the beads and the French hooks are also gold-filled.  The longest dangle is 1.5 inches, and the earrings weigh 0.2 oz.

Price: $39.50 (shipping is free)

Square drusy & silver bead-link necklace + earrings

Druse is a coating of small crystals on the surface of a rock or mineral.  Drusy beads are beginning to be more available and this is my first experiment with them.  The sparkling crystal coating is on one side only, with the other side smooth.  The flat squares are 20x20mm, and the 25mm twisted links between are sterling silver from Bali.  I joined the links with sterling silver wire.

I finished with a Bali silver hook & eye clasp.  The necklace is 17.25 inches long, and weighs 2.2 oz.

I made earrings to match, with Bali silver hooks and headpins.  The dangles are about 1 1/8 inches long, and the earrings weigh 0.4 oz.

Price: $64 (shipping is free)

Zebra jasper 6mm necklace + earrings

There are several different kinds of zebra jasper (I have a pink zebra jasper necklace listed here), and this green variety is one of my favorites.  (I have another necklace of this type here.)

The jasper beads are 6mm rounds, and the sterling silver beads are from Bali.  I finished with a sterling silver lobster clasp.  The necklace is just under 18 inches long, and weighs 0.8 oz.

The matching earrings are made with sterling silver French hooks and headpins.  The dangles are about 1 1/8 inches long, and the earrings weigh 0.1 oz.

Price: $44 (shipping is free)

Ametrine faceted necklace + earrings

Here's more ametrine.  The colors range from a little lighter to a little darker than those of the ametrine necklace I just posted.  These beads aren't perfect--some of the beads do have inclusions present--but the overall quality is fairly good.

The shape of the beads is not quite an oval, but too rounded to be a rectangle.  They are faceted, and are about 8 to 9mm long.  I set them off with little vermeil spacers from Bali, and finished with a vermeil hook & eye clasp.  The necklace is 17.25 inches long, and weighs 0.6 oz.

I made ear threads to match.  (I had a little bit of trouble in the 2nd picture: the friction that keeps ear threads in place in your ears isn't sufficient to keep them in my display stand without a little maneuvering.)  The ear threads are gold-filled and weigh less than 0.1 oz.  Their length from the end of the threader to the bottom of the bead dangle is about 3.75 inches (so less than 2 inches long when worn).

Price: $70 (shipping is free)

Peacock pearl small nugget necklace + earrings

These pearls are called peacock because of their color, which can't be pinned down to a single shade: among the tones present are blue, green, purple, and pink.  They are irregularly shaped, about 4-5mm in diameter.  I strung them with 2.5mm round sterling silver beads, finishing with a Bali sterling silver hook & eye clasp.  The necklace is about 17 3/8 inches long, with a weight of 0.4 oz.

I made hoop earrings to match.  The hoops are sterling silver, about 0.75 inches in diameter.  They weigh less than 0.1 oz.

Price: $23 (shipping is free)

Pearl nugget and gold-filled chain necklace + earrings

Here's the gold-filled counterpart to my previous necklace.  I used gold-filled figure eight chain, and finished with a gold-filled lobster clasp.  The necklace is 17 inches long, with a weight of 0.2 oz.

The matching earrings are made with gold-filled posts.  The longest dangle is about 1.25 inches, and the earrings weigh 0.2 oz.

Price: $26 (shipping is free)