Garnet: January's Birthstone

Garnet probably got its name from pomegranate because the gemstone resembled the seeds of the fruit. Garnet has been used in jewelry for thousands of years, and is still extremely popular today. While most people usually think of garnet as being a dark red, in some cases it almost looks black when it is very dark, it can also be brown, amber, and green (in fact, green garnet called grossular garnet is one of my favorite stones). Garnet looks wonderful with other gemstones and in combination with pearls and mother of pearl. Because it is January, I've been working with garnet quite a bit, experimenting with it. The only thing about garnet that I don't like is that it is hard to find in large sizes (in beads). So when I find large faceted garnet nuggets as those you see here, I grab them fast!
I had fun with the mother of pearl and garnet and made this wirewrapped bracelet using some large white mother of pearl rings and ovals that I had. Deceptively simple, it looks fantastic on. You can see this bracelet on the Mother of Pearl Jewelry page on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website.
I have large faceted iolite nuggets that I like and decided to combine them with the garnet and I'm very happy with the result which is a bracelet that goes with many of the clothes in my closet. The iolite is translucent and is a good complement for the mostly opaque dark garnet nuggets. This bracelet and the bottom one can be seen on the Garnet Bracelets page.The necklace features garnet and sterling silver and has a very nice sterling silver and garnet pendant that I've had in my stash for some time. I used the large linked Karen Hill Tribe imprinted chain and connected it in the middle to the bottom strand of the necklace (the pendant actually hangs from the bottom strand, not from the chain). I also added some borosilicate lampwork beads (I believe that these are from Frozenfyre). Borosilicate lampwork beads look wonderful with garnets. The necklace can be seen on the Garnet Necklaces page.
Finally, the last bracelet here has two strands of garnets mixed with sterling silver, lampwork beads from Irene Collier, and just two large faceted nuggets of rose quartz. The little garnet cabochon charms are the the Thai Karen Hill Tribes. Quite a few pieces of fancy silver on this one.
So to all of you born in January: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! (And remember, if you want birthstone jewelry, but don't care for dark red garnets, look for them in other colours).
I also have a couple of garnet pieces on auction at Ebay this week at low, low starting bids. Go to Studio G, my Ebay store and the auctions should be on the first page.

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Mother of Pearl, Mystic Topaz, and Fluorite

I was shocked to look at The Jewelry Blog and see how long it's been since I've posted anything. Christmas, all those packages, jewelry, jewelry, jewelry, a trip to Seattle, and my two new kitties have kept me very, very busy over the holidays so far.
So some things I've been working on: first, I added a couple of new pages to the Cluny Grey Jewelry website, including Mother of Pearl and Mystic Topaz (just click on the names to go there). I so often start working with one material and have to force myself to stop; I've been doing that with mother of pearl as you can see with the first and third bracelets here. I'm in love with the gold mother of pearl and vermeil bracelet, and I'm rather fond of the blue one also. In between the two is the mystic topaz; it's very expensive mystic topaz (and quite perfect) that I've mixed with Robin Weber's fantastic silver-laced beads and some of my favorite Karen Hill Tribes sterling silver decorated chain. Yum.
Of course, my tastes are quite eclectic, so when some great fluorite gemstone beads arrived one day, their wonderful colour made me stop everything else and sit down to make a bracelet (and earrings, too). The fluorite bracelet once again is just made by Robin's wonderful beads, quite different ones this time, with the greens and purples one finds in fluorite and little "bumps".



The fluorite bracelet is on the website's Fluorite Jewelry page along with earrings and necklaces.

A New Year's Resolution: (just one among many) Write in the blog more often!

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The December Birthstone? Turquoise (Among Others)

The December birthstone is difficult to decide upon. It seems there is no hard and fast birthstone for December the way there is for, say, May - the emerald, or January's garnet. Some sources will tell you that the birthstone for December is the Zircon, which is not the same as a cubic zirconia, but a real stone that is usually colourless and heat treated to turn it a beautiful blue colour. Some say the December birthstone is the Blue Topaz, probably because it became quite popular as a jewelry stone, and many people started viewing the Zircon as a synthetic, confusing it with the cubic zirconia. Other sources say turquoise which is what I am going with. So with turquoise in mind, I did the above bracelet with a mix of blues - blue turquoise and blue lapis - inspired once again by the great lampwork beads of James Derrick Reeves. Also, not only do I like lapis mixed with turquoise personally, but it has been mentioned as a traditional alternative to turquoise and blue topaz as the December birthstone. The smaller lapis pieces are good lapis from Afghanistan in a lovely dark royal blue. I have listed this bracelet on the Lapis Jewelry page on the Cluny Grey website, simply because there was more room on that page.
The turquoise bracelet above features borosilicate (boro) lampwork beads and blue ovals and rounds in turquoise. I think of this more as a birthstone bracelet than the others.
Turquoise gets its name from Turkey, and it has long been used in jewelry. A gift of turquoise is supposed to represent friendship and fidelity. In the ancient world, turquoise was considered to be a sacred stone.
The bottom turquoise bracelet is called "In the Time of Flowers" and has great turquoise nuggets with the wonderful spidering veins that makes it so pretty when it is this colour blue, and little charms at intervals throughout the whole bracelet. Everything is sterling silver, and the lampwork beads were chosen to complement the spidering as well as the turquoise. To see more turquoise bracelets, click here.
If you don't know what your birthstone is, or want to know your Hindu birthstone, see our Birthstone Chart.

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Swarovski Rocks!

I really stayed away from Swarovski crystals when I first began making jewelry, and what a mistake that was! I am trying now to make up for lost time. Working with the crystals is such a delight visually since the flawless crystals sparkle and flash so much that I find myself pushing them around on my workspace the way my cats push their toys around the floor, toying with them, holding them for a moment, then walking away from one only to pounce on it later as though I'd never seen it before.

The top bracelet is made with aquamarine crystals - huge ones, the new Swawrovski Cosmic crystals - and sterling silver Karen Hill Tribes dragonfly beads.
I love bangle bracelets, and I really, really like this one. The Hill Tribes silver of course, then some Bali silver and then the huge Cosmic crystals in the 12mm and 16mm sizes. I am thinking of keeping this one if I don't sell it this week.
Copper Cosmic crystals and copper coins pearls suit my monochromatic tendencies and although I made this bracelet with sterling silver, the next one in these colours will be with gold. See Swarovski and Pearl Bracelet.
Large round Swarovski crystals in a green colour go perfectly with this natural abalone that I just got in. This bracelet really should be seen live to get its full effect.
I'll be posting a few pieces of jewelry on Ebay this weekend if I have time (see user id: chloemarie99 or do a search for Cluny Grey); otherwise, I'm getting them on the Cluny Grey website as quickly as I can.

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Tourmaline, Lampwork, and a Drusy

I didn't used to work with tourmaline very often; it is a rather expensive stone if you are able to find stones that don't look like lumps of coal (and I really don't care to work with lumps of coal) but I finally have had some luck with getting some decent tourmaline. This tourmaline bracelet mixes different colours of toumaline, including pink tourmaline, with sterling silver and a couple of lampwork beads from two different lampwork artists. I love the faceted nuggets, a cut I haven't yet gotten tired of.

I decided that I needed to make a lampwork bracelet without gemstones, and that I needed to use some of my new Swarovski Cosmic crystals - these are in Lt. Colorado topaz, and I am very happy with the way this bracelet turned out. The very, very nice lampwork beads were some that I've had and that are so special (and expensive) that I'd put off using them. They are also a rather odd colour as well and weren't easily matched. I do love the new Cosmic crystals by Swarovski.
A drusy agate pendant got me started on this necklace, and it was serendipity that some whitish to bluish-grey agate nuggets, smooth, arrived in the studio, just waiting to be paired with this drusy pendant. I'm making earrings to match, of course.
I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ah, the beginning of the holidays. From now on, everything will be rush, rush, rush!
See the drusy agate pendant necklace at
Cluny Grey Drusy Jewelry, and don't forget what a wonderful gift our unique handcrafted jewelry is!

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Unconventional vs. Conventional?

The first bracelet was inspired once again by the marvelous lampwork beads by James Derrick Reeves and reminds me of something a friend once said,"Artists can get away with anything."
"Oh, you mean like staying drunk all the time and being unfaithful?"
"No, "she said, "you know, like wearing green and purple together."
The bracelet above is made of tourmalinated quartz, lampwork beads, and wonderful faceted amethyst nuggets along with sterling silver chain and tiny little charms.
Maybe not as daring as green and purple together, but I was in a mood, and I'd just gotten these luscious faceted citrine nuggets (very nice), and decided to mix them with some light aqua chalcedony I had as well as the lampwork beads. The sterling silver accents are from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes.
For the more conventional, a rainbow moonstone bracelet with lampwork beads in a light periwinkle blue. The lampwork is by Burt Gumeson. There are also chalcedony nuggets and faceted rondelles as well as some tiny little cabochon rainbow moonstone charms.
In the same vein, but a different temperature is the bottom bracelet: a sunstone and boro lampwork bead bracelet with vermeil and a huge very special crab fire agate faceted nugget. The vermeil elements in this bracelet are from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes also.

After being out of town for a while, nothing is as hectic as returning and trying to catch up on all the work - even though I took plenty of work with me! Does work multiply exponetially when we're away?
To see these bracelets, and many more, go to our Cluny Grey Jewelry website; the link will take you to the citrine bracelet first. (Don't forget that citrine is the November birthstone).

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Citrine, Kyanite, Pearls, and a Little Lampworking

I haven't posted for a while since I've been busy in Washington, D.C. taking a lampworking class among other things. I drove my daughter's-in-law 2 cats there (about 900 miles) so that they could all be together since they are back in the US for a while. I've been busy trying to find blue topaz that is a decent colour, but affordable, and trying to resize a bracelet with huge chrysocolla beads so that it retains its original look. But I did do a couple of things.
The first bracelet celebrates citrine since citrine is the birthstone for November. Aren't the dragonfly beads great?
The pearl necklace/torsade came from an idea I had when I was in Bailey, Banks, and Biddle in St. Louis buying a watch for my husband. (Thanks for the inspiration B,B, & B).

Finally, the earrings are the most marvelous sterling silver woven rectangles from the Karen Hill Tribes that have kyanite coins hanging in front of them. The basketweave in the silver is wonderful.
I will post again soon, I promise! I am also trying to get new pieces on the website as soon as possible - check Cluny Grey Jewelry.


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