and the Answer is... everything! For starters this vibrant blue/green gem is the national stone of Peru. I just love knowing that these gems are only found in the Andes mountains. How amazing is that? This rare stone can be as clear as the color of the Caribbean sea. Or it may feature some darker inclusions as you can see in the stones shown here. One single specimen of … [Read more...]
How do I create Pure Metal Earrings?
I love working with metal. Can you tell? Creating my collection of Copper and Sterling Silver PURE METAL earrings requires lots of elbow grease. First I texture the raw metal. This is usually done by hammering but can be done with a rolling mill as well. The metal must be softened (heated) before starting the texturing. Since the metal becomes distorted from the … [Read more...]
Tiger’s Eye Gemstone: Legends and Facts
Tiger Eye (also called Tiger's Eye) is a semi-precious gemstone from the quartz family. It is easily spotted by it's luminescent band that resembles a cat's eye (or tiger in this case!!) Mostly you see these in brown tones, but they can also be seen in red tones or yellow tones... all with the tell-tale band. I love working with this gem. The brilliant 'band' seems to … [Read more...]
Do you love COPPER Jewelry?.
Well those of you who follow me KNOW that I adore copper. When I first started taking metals classes, the instructors always had us making the designs and templates with copper. Copper was considered a low cost alternative to silver and gold (Duh!) So we could make lots of mistakes on our journey to become designers... without the financial burden. That made lots of … [Read more...]
Stone Setting: An inside look at Bezel settings
Have you taken a peek lately at your jewelry? How are the stones and gems set (or held in) on the design? There are a variety of ways to set stones in metal. Bezel setting is perfect for cabochons (gemstones that are cut flat on the bottom). And it is my GO-TO process! I start with a bezel strip. This is normally fine silver but I have also use sterling silver when I want … [Read more...]











