. . .AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

There is a WOW! factor to this necklace which looks like someone had strung five different pieces on their neck. I saw something like this at Neiman Marcus by a jewelry company that specializes in mixtures of huge, wildly colored beads. Thought I'd make my own version and this is what I came up with. This thing has more stuff in it than the kitchen sink: Starting at the top -- peach jade and Sleeping Beauty turquoise; then lovely fat ovals of prehnite, followed by some sparkly man-made goldstone. The prehnite kites are really fabulous and I thought about making a single strand of them, but I like this better. Finally, finishing it all off, faceted coins of deep rust carnelian. The findings are sterling silver. While you don't necessarily have to be a big person to carry this off -- you'll probably need to come equipped with a soupcon of attitude!

THE SEASON FOR PEARLS -- CREAMY WHITE AND SHADES OF GRAY

Pearls are so appropriate, anywhere. You can wear a string of cultured pearls with jeans or a wedding dress. Nothing is too overdone or out of place. I love using a classic pearl necklace as the background for a lovely pendant. I found these pearls at my favorite bead store. They are huge baroques with a nice luster. complimenting them are brushed silver beads dotted with sparkly cubic zirconia. The pendant was found in a store on Grant Avenue in San Francisco. I kept it for a long time until I found those CZ-studded stardust beads and then knew exactly what I wanted to do with all of them. The pendant is made up cabachons in two different shades of gray. The round one is the deeper gray of the South Sea pearl; the bigger oval appears to be a Philippine pearl. Together, they are simple and sophisticated.

THE SIMPLE SOPHISTICATION OF PEARLS AND MARCASITE

One afternoon I was doodling my time away on the computer playing solitaire when Chuck said to me, "Why are you wasting so much time. You could be doing something else. . . like selling your stuff on eBay or something." He was right, but first I wanted to test the waters. I had drawers filled with black pouches, velvet jewelry boxes, creamy white gift boxes, filled with jewelry I'd bought or collected since the '70s. Vintage stuff. I trolled eBay for a while and saw a huge market for it and put most of it up for bids. I made a small potful, for sure. But, I fear, I spent it all of things I found on eBay that I could incorporated into my own designs. A prime example: the gorgeous marcasite heart that I've paired with freshwater pearl roundels and small marcasite spacer beads. I love this design. It's so classic and modern and yet the marcasite adds a touch of the old fashioned to it. The perfect accessory for black velvet or the creamy white of a wedding dress!

SECRETS OF THE CARIBBEAN LARIMAR AND SILVER NECKLACE

The first time I ever saw Larimar was when I worked for my bead dealer friend in Tucson back in 2005. I had never heard of the stone before and it looked so amazing to me -- the personfication of sand, sea and sky.

You can find Larimar only south of the Caribbean, specifically in the Dominican Republic. There is only one mine and it is controlled by the man who discovered the stone and then named it after his daughter. Caribbean blue-green paired with chalk white and then accented by black-gray-brown occlusion. It's a spectacular stone, highly-recognizable, and for me, an acquired taste.

There are those who would prefer more polite forms like the different shapes of highly-polished Larimar cabachons in cuff bracelets, earrings, pins, etc. that people create from them. Me. . . I was drawn to the unique oddity of these jagged slabs of Larimar, each of which could have made an interesting pendant. I chose to string them together with some brushed silver roundels and double-pointed beads, accented with faceted topaz blue Swarovski crystals. To finish the piece, i used a blue topaz and silver box clasp.

SOPHISTICATED SAND-BLASTED BLACK ONYX ROUNDELS WITH BALI SILVER

I found these beads hiding behind something at my favorite bead store. They reached out and spoke to me. There are those who would look at these matte-finished deep charcoal gray roundels and say, "what the heck are these?" And then there are people like me who appreciate the unique oddness of these huge, sensual beads. Yes, they do look like coal and yes, they do have a semi-smooth cat's tongue kind of feel. And yes, they will probably require a some attitude to wear. But this piece is very special.

I kept the beads around the studio until I found the Bali silver round beads to go with it. They're almost the same color as the onyx but they're highly textured, like a porcupine with shaved quills, but quite soft and tactile. To finish the piece, I had to use a really special and sturdy clasp, so I picked one of my "Only in Vegas" hand-of-cards box clasps which stabilizes the necklace and feels very comfortable on the neck.