YOJ 2005 Week 40

The theme this week is "It's all about the clasp", and going against the grain, I created a bangle WITHOUT a clasp. This is a slip-on bangle, made with a variety of honey, yellow, lavender and purple stones:

Honey Lavender Bangle
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My personal theme for this piece is CONTRAST and VARIETY, which are found in these situations:

1) The contrasting complementary colors of yellow and purple;

2) The contrasting feel of the faceted transparent stones and the opaque smooth ones;

3) The different types of stitches, taken from needlelace, used to frame and finish each stone: a scalloped edge between beads, laced half-caps on some of the larger beads and the diagonal connectors.

The stones used for this bangle are: AAA faceted lavender and purple amethysts, AAA faceted citrines, hard to find icecube rectangular citrine nuggets and also hard to find natural yellow agate.

YOJ 2005 Week 39

The theme for this week is Faceted Stones, and the only reason why I managed to get it right is due to coincidence. This pair of earrings is inspired in ancient mosaic, which seems to be very fashionable these days. I wanted the "grout" of the mosaic to be rugged, irregular and thick, so I used lengths of coiled wire in between the stones.

Citrine Mosaic Earrings
The earrings were made with gold-filled wire, vermeil beads and rough faceted citrine nuggets, honey colored. I rarely use gold filled wire since I prefer to wear silver myself, however, my muse seems to be taking some uncharted and unorthodox routes lately. The circles are about the same size as an American quarter coin.

YOJ 2005 Week 38

This piece is called The Fairy: surrounded by gemstone amethysts of two tones, a tiny silver fairy floats above...

The Fairy Necklace

The inspiration for this necklace: a while back I created a bangle with silver and amethysts. My favorite bead store owner suggested I make a matching necklace -- only now I had the time to make it happen.

YOJ 2005 Week 37

During the time I've been in bed rest, I've had plenty of time to read, watch TV and... make jewelry. Here is a pendant made with various lapis-lazuli beads I received through a beadshare group I am part of:

Midnight blues pendant
The pendant measures 1.5 by 1.75 inches, not including the bail.