This looks like a very ordinary necklace of two sizes of black beads. . . but it isn't. Look closer at the larger spheres and you'll find that they are very tactile, filled with little dents and striations, only because nature had a major hand in them, not some factory in Hong Kong. They are lava stone, the product of a volcano somewhere that spews hot magna that cooled eventually into a stunning material, nearly matte in surface and studded with character. The small black spacer beads are not black onyx as I had originally thought but black tourmaline, an exceedingly elegant stone. Price: $90.
In that huge box of glass beads at my favorite bead store, I found these substantial pointy-end bullets of iridescent grass green glass that just cried out for a really spectacular pairing, a color that would stand up to the vivid verdency and yet compliment it. Right nearby was a wall of copper beads and these really fit the bill. They're solid copper spheres, 9 mm, corrugated for lightness, yet very substantial. The clasp I chose is a large, spring-loaded hook/toggle that is very architectural and beautiful in its own right. Price: $175.00
Western-style jewelry comes in and out of fashion, but really, it's a classic and is always right, like a strand of "good" pearls. I haven't seen nuggets like these in a long time and would suggest, because of the price, that they are made from reconstructed turquoise, ie. stabilized with some kind of resin or created from turquoise dust. Regardless, they're pretty and the price is right. I had some of these gorgeous corrugated carnelian beads left and together, with the knobby turquoise and the smooth, sophisticated carnelian, they make a pretty spectacular piece. Price: $200.
I saw these gorgeous iridescent turquoise glass "pillows" in a cut-out display at my bead store. What first attracted me was the color -- deep and rich, like the shimmery turquoise in a peacock's tail. I bought a bunch of the strands because they're gorgeous and they were relatively cheap. On the hunt for unusual glass beads, these filled the bill. I put them with a neutral gray-ish iridescent Czech glass roundel and a rhinestone magnetized ball clasp and made them almost 20" long, perfect for a deep V neckline or atop a wonderful fall dress.
Yes, these are slightly kitchy, being red, white and blue and all that. But can't you just see this with a white shirt and jeans? It's a fairly close-to-the neck "torsade" or choker made with lampwork cylinders of blue with tiny little evil eyes and Murano glass fishies in shades of blue with gold and white. Finally, a theme necklace! The red Czech fire polish beads really set the entire thing off.
I've had this Tibetan silver pendant for a long time. It's very delicate and girlish, quite intricate, and calls for something special to show it off. To my mind, there's nothing more special than American turquoise, Sleeping Beauty specifically. It is probably the most beautiful turquoise mined in the American Southwest -- a gorgeous shade of sky blue turquoise. It tends to be very expensive which is why I am particular about how I use it. These are faceted miniature briolettes or "tears" which bunch up together when strung with no separation element. I like the elegant porqupine-ness of it. A very tactile piece, perfect for my elegant Tibetan pendant. Price; $425. SOLD
Recently, I've fallen in love with copper beads again. I found these wonderful elephants at my favorite bead shop. Over on another table was a huge box full of "pillows" in different shades of iridescent glass. I loved the intensity of the green ones and loved how they complimented the bright coppery rust of the elephants. They were desitined to be together!
These adorable ladybugs will definitely not fly away from your neck. They're pressed glass and very, very red. I can see them on a crisp white shirt or a lavender or powder blue turtleneck, defintely with a work shirt and jeans. These little suckers go with just about everything. I had bought a fabulous garnet and vermeil clasp a few years ago but never found any natural garnet beads that were enhanced by it. . . so I went to faux garnet ladybugs for a perfect color match. Lightweight and comfortable, this piece will have everybody wonderful just what it's about.
What I love about this piece is the color variation within each bead. Natural rock crystal picks up color from the minerals found in the soil from which it is excavated. These particular beads seem to be rutile-free (no little black lines are in it) but the front bead and some of the others have a golden-brownish tint. I finished this piece with a sterling silver clasp done in a basketweave pattern.
This piece is a combination of the coolness of "ice" (the slang name for diamonds which these gigantic faceted glass gumballs resemble in high sunlight) and the warmth of faceted peacock glass roundels. The pink/purple/blue iridescence is a real hot-cha-cha contrast which is why this necklace works so well. There's just enough glitz and just enough mystery to ignite some fire and ice. Price: $110.
Transparency is the name of the game with the smoky topaz quartz beads in this necklace. They almost don't look real, but believe me, they are. Sometimes smoky quartz is very, very pale, letting a lot of light through. They're a marked contrast to the substantial looking Chinese turquoise beads with the copper veining. There is a lot going on in this necklace, but you just don't notice it. But what a wonderful kicker for a cream silk shirt or a brown or khaki jacket. Price: $175.00
Whenever I see these beautiful shell pendants, I try to buy them. They're so elegant but fascinating. This particular one is not as big and bold as the usual ones I get; it's more delicate and lent itself to a longer strand. I picked up the browns with faceted smoky topaz barrels. I've had those beads for a long time; they're very special and came from the cache of beads that my friend Karen Riley gave me. The turquoise is part of the strand of Chinese mottled turq that has provided beads for the next three pieces. It's finally finished (it was one of those flapper necklaces that just went on forever and ever). There are large almost rust-colored Swarovski crystals in here as well as some silver. The clasp is an unobtrusive sterling hook and eye. Price: $205.00
When I first bought these, I thought they were either very opaque carnelian (no, that stone is transluscent) or agate, but no: They're brick red jasper. And a very vivid shade, at that. Are they orange red (yes, probably); but closer to brick. The silver and faceted Swarovski crystal beads set off the red beautifully. A perfect piece for the Leos on your list. $250.
Lapis Lazuli usually comes from Afghanistan, but I think these are Chinese Lapis because Afghani Lapis is very rare now (for obvious reasons) and quite expensive. These beads are a beautiful color and are quite reasonable. I set them off with faceted crystal rounds and hung a glass and silver pendant.
Nothing is so classic as black and white, in this case, faceted Czech glass faceted roundels accenting huge faceted clear glass gumballs. It's very simple but spectacular in presentation. Not all that heavy, by the way. These are glass, not stone. I love the rhinestone clasp which is a screw fastener, not a magnet. Note to self: get some more of those.
How I love these smoky faceted glass hearts. The gray is so subtle, I originally thought these were clear glass. They they aren't. And with the Czech fire-polished faceted beads, they are spectacular. I should have bought more of them. I love how tailored and yet, how mysterious this piece is. A bit of whimsy in a corporate situation, something wonderful to wear out at night under a spotlight. The facets will sparkle.
I've never considered myself a 'blue" person. I'm more attracted to reds, rubies and oranges. But the blue in this Lapis choker (it's probably 19-20" long) is so intense, I think it's absolutely gorgeous. The clasp is gold-tone metal with a sparkle of rhinestones; it's also magnetized which means you just put the separate pieces near each other and they attach. Great for trying to close it from the back of your neck. Lapis Lazuli is a wonderful classic staple. Everyone should have at least one Lapis piece in their jewelry box. It's wearable and is a very healing stone. Or so says my woo-woo friends who always carry a piece of Lapis in a pocket.
I love how these Czech fire-polished peacock roundels pick up the striations in the Chinese turquoise. They also pick up light something fierce. I've always considered myself a human Mynah bird, attracted to all things flashy and glittery. . . which this piece has in abundance. The turquoise calms it down a bit, but the Czech beads are wonderful little light sources.
Oh, my my, is this gorgeous or what! When I was in college, my darling cousin Sue Ellen brought back a crystal necklace from Germany that was so phenomenally glittery, I almost had to wear sunglasses to see her in it. Crystal is like that. I never thought glass was. But here is proof: Czech fire-polished cut glass in huge, 14mm faceted rounds. I like the monochromaticism highlighted with clear Swarovski crystal bicones. If this piece had been totally crystal, it would have cost the same as a gemstone necklace. In this case, the glass is spectacular but won't break the bank. Price; a nearly painless $100.00
Botswana agate is such an elegant stone in heft, intensity and variation. In this opera-length strand of Botswana agate, no two beads are identical, alike, perhaps, and blended in desert colors to wear with anything. I've always love the earthy, natural and neutral quality of agate, to begin with, and the more I work with this particular stone, the better I like it. It's casual enough for a white man's shirt and classic enough to set off a beautiful sweater or a silk blouse. For corporate women who love jewelry but shy away from traditionally flashy, faceted stones, this piece is a way for self-decoration without blinding anyone.
I had some of these spectacular faceted emerald glass beads left over from another piece, moused around in my crystal stock to see what would look good with them and found a cache of nearly-forgotten citrine-colored Swarovski crystal hearts. I backed them up to each other, separated by faux antique pearls and threw in the intense green beads for a sure-en-begorrah tribute to Ireland and the Boston Celtics. Price: $100.
One of the reasons I love working with beads and stones so much, is the attendant glitter and shine and this opera-length, two-strand necklace as that to spare. These beads are Czech fire-polish iridescent rounds that came equipped with their own glittery faceted roundels. I just added some iridescent peacock blue-black crystal and voila! A spectacular piece with every color of the rainbow and sparkle to spare.
Something unique to wear for July 4 besides the usual glittery flag pin, that's for sure. Red, white and blue is so geared to America, that I couldn't resist making something that is not only patriotic but unique and graceful at the same time. There's a lot going on here: faux antique pearls, red jade, Lapis Lazuli, Swarovski crystal and gorgeous, rare French blue kyanite squares. I would hope that a piece like this would be worn with jeans or white sun dresses any time you want.
Agate beads are fascinating. They come in all sorts of configurations and these are particularly unique: eye of God agates in shades of brown, black, rust, cream and white. This is a wear-with-everything piece, longer than traditional choker length and elegant in its simplicity. Between each unique God's eye is a faceted onyx roundel. I love this piece. Something like it is standard in my wardrobe. A wonderful addition to a business suit and cream silk shirt or jeans and a black cashmere sweater.
I'm very fond of green. Not every one is. In fact, one of the retailers I worked with many years ago said: "Green is a mark-down color." Well, not this very, very green necklace. It's a stunner. Catches light better than actual emeralds and costs a fraction of the price. For "costume" jewelry, this is absolutely gorgeous. A little longer than traditional choker length, it's a comfortable necklace with some heft to it and. . . loads of sparkle. Price: $100.00
Carnelian is a July birth stone and since I'm a Leo and subject of red and orange gemstones, this one's for me. Natural carnelian is usually lighter and more variegated with tones of gold in it, as if citrine got its foot in the mix. . . they are related geologically. These particular beads, a combination of tubes and smooth roundels, came from the Karen Riley cache. They've been sitting there for a year or two just like you see them, in a strand bought probably 25 years ago from Taj bead dealers in New York. They're deceptively simple, but gorgeous, stiff enough not to lose their graceful arc around the neck but not so heavy as to prevent wearing them with everything!
There are many qualities of turquoise found in the American West. The most expensive is Sleeping Beauty, which is close to Persian turquoise in clarity and color, free from imperfections and copper matrixing. These beads are not Sleeping Beauty, but very close to it. The color is spectacular evoking the azure of Western skies. I had bought these interesting pendant maybe two years ago at a gem show and never had anything to put it with. I thought that all lapis would have been too dark and the variations in the pendant would have been lost. On these wonderful turquoise and lapis bead, the pendant shares the spotlight. Set in filigree silver, the center stone is lapis lazuli, opaque and glowing set off by faceted, transparent gemstones like garnet and amethyst.
Each of these fascinately chubby little ovals looks like an eye -- the Eye of God. The first time I ever saw anything like it was in a sardonyx ring my father had. When I bought these beads, pleasant memories of Daddy's jewelery came back. These particular stones each have the Eye of God front and center. I would think that wearing an entire necklace of here's lookin' at you beads would be a very powerful talisman of protection. And. . . they're pretty.
Kunzite is an amazing stone. In its gemstone mode, it is clear and found in a color that is hard to describe. Is it pink? Is it lavender? Is it an elusive combination of both? These stones are kunzite in the raw, hewed into cubes and displaying all the roughly feminine qualities of the stone -- delicacy and elusiveness. Like a sugary Christmas candy. I tried to civilize them somewhat by paring them with rhinestone-circled roundels. This piece is an absolute conversation-starter. A fairly new gemstone, kunzite was discovered in California and named by a turn-of-the-century (the 20th) jeweler and gemstone specialist named George Frederick Kunz. Kunzite can also be found elsewhere such as in Afghanistan where the colors tend to be more violet than pink and often have flashes of green. In gemology, this phenemenon is called pleochroism, which means "multi-coloredness." Most kunzite is light in color which makes a strongly hued kunzite rare and therefore more expensive. Price: $400.+quartz+and+silver+pendant+with+torsade+of+coral,+moonstone+and+pearls.jpg)
The sea has given us yet another treasure. Pearls, for sure, but tiny little peach-tinted freshwaters coupled with uniform rounds of Angel Skin coral, finished off with peach-tinted moonstone rounds. And that's only the torsade which displays the piece-de-resistance -- a spectacular faceted peach quartz pendant set off in sterling silver. Again, this is a necklace of pure serendipity. I buy these pieces, pendants that are by themselves a little odd or maybe hard to match and then, visualize them in a special setting. This was a fairly large pendant that needed something substantial, which dictated a torsade, but a delicate one. What a wonderful surprise for hot summer nights and sunny summer days.
How sweetly this piece sings of festive summer nights, great tans and white shirts and strapless dresses. Just the right length (a nice circlet to sit round the neck, not too tight, not too long), this is a special piece created from faceted Swarovski crystal roundels and a sterling-silver-clad piece of carved dyed blue quartz the exact same color. I had kept the pendant for a long time never knowing whether to tone it down on pearls or wait for just the right thing. Then I was noodling on eBay one day and saw a fabulous strand of Swarovski roundels, a string of which made quite an impression on me. Hopefully, it'll make an impression on whoever sees it, finished and gleaming. . . some romantic summer night.
I ordered these prehnite beads from China thinking I could get more of them, but when I couldn't I thought: How can I pair these with something that will make both look good. I had a handful of these wonderful sand-blasted aquamarines left and let them sit together on my bench to sort of get acquainted. . . and they loved each other! The prehnite is like I like it -- filled with what looks like dry leaves but are really rutiles of another material captured for life. The aquamarine begs to be stroked. I threw in some figured vermeil beads as front accents and a vermeil clasp to complete the perfect spring and summer necklace.
This bracingly colored orange crystal and citrine necklace is more than eye-catching. it demands attention. The silver filigree setting for the large faceted citrine quartz provides an interesting counterpoint to the simplicity of the Swarovski roundels which I set off with teensy smooth carnelian beads. It's like wearing gemstone sunshine around your neck.
There is nothing simpler or more elegant than a single strand of beads. These are more than just simple. They're Botswana agate, polished to a spectacular shine and strung opera length to look great with a turtleneck or a pristine white shirt. The colors are earthy -- tones of rust, brown, black, beige, gray, cream -- and the Mother Earth patterns are varied and interesting. Rugged but sophisticated at the same time, Botswana agate is like a gemstone Jack-of-All-Trades -- it can be worn with anything, anywhere and still be appropriate.
What color are these spectacular beads? Brown or rust just doesn't cut it. Root beer, maybe? The color of a smashed beer bottle? Certainly not elegant. But cognac, deep golden brown, and satisfying may do it. I love these beads. They're substantial, faceted to catch a subtle ray of light and set off by the vivid turquoise, albeit veined with deep copper. Glass may keep the price of this beauty down, but certainly not its elegance and impact.
Here's a conundrum: How to feminize the primitive quality of these Chinese turquoise slabs without over-shadowing how wonderful they are, how individual and full of character. The brushed silver hearts were a subtle and female way to tame these beasties. The contrast of the laser-blasted hearts against the nubby, tactile slabs of turquoise is eye-catching but not so blatant as to ruin the balance of the piece. I've always loved how rugged the turquoise was and how imperfect with its copper matrixing and irregular surfaces. They go together rather nicely. . . yes?
I've seen moonstones that are round but very rarely square. And these are definitely that. A set of two strands designed to nest, one in the other, and hand down the decolletage like an elegant strand of pearls. Only these ain't poils, Madge. They're something a lot more fun. They were so oddly carved, little rectangular and square boxes of moonlight, that I thought they'd just love to shine, albeit with great subtlety, all by themselves.
What do you do when you've got all these left-over beads? After five or six years of making jewelry, I had two huge baggies or odd stones, not enough to do an entire piece. . . or so I thought. I call this Confetti because that's exactly what these stones look like scattered against each other. I didn't plan, I just strung and used this wonderful antique 40s rhinestone clasp to hold it all together. if you look closely, you will see what's left of all the turquoise, red jade, coral, moonstone, pearl, malachite, crystal, rose quartz, apatite, etc. stones I'd been saving. It's a great celebration of color, a precocious howdy-do of a piece, to be worn with great joy and a whole lot of panache.
As cool as a blueberry Popsicle, these beads are frosty, like aqua ice. They're sand-blasted, matte finished aquamarine, not cookie cutter matched but certainly smooth and tactile. I love how subtle the surfaces are. I wanted to keep this piece low key and vivid at the same time, playing off texture more than shine, so I didn't put any metal like silver or vermeil with it and kept the crystals away, choosing instead to play up the seaside quality with beautiful, deep blue lapis lazuli rounds.
Chalcedony is a gorgeous stone. Like its cousin, the onyx or the sardonyx, it is strong enough to be incised and/or carved into beautiful shapes. These aqua flowers have been carved from Peru Chalcedony, luminous, translucent and vividly colored as the Caribbean. I used pearls from a classic 40s necklace (they're probably glass but they have a fabulous luster), a lovely peachy coral close to the color of angel skin and then these lyrical flowers, incised with petals and carved from Peru chalcedony. The clasp is made from the same material. I bought it a few years ago and finally found something to use with it. All in all, this is a glorious piece, frolicsome, girlish and unique.
This was a very interesting pendant and a difficult one to work with. It came to me at a gem show. I don't know why I bought it but there was something mysterious about it. The photo really doesn't so it justice. But it starts out looking like black onyx and I'm sure it's some kind of agate or man-made facsimile of same. But if you look really closely, you'll see the inherent and mysterious sparkle that veers toward purple. When I finally found the perfect match, they were an odd shade of Swarovski crystal bought on eBay. I used accent beads that had the same iridescence as the pendant and came up with a piece that is Goth to the core. Morticia would flip for it.
