Sea bottom earrings

 

Siver earrings with cubic zirconia



Sea bottom pendant with larimar

Silver pendant with larimar and cubic zirconia stones.

Sparkly earrings

This idea grew out of this project. I liked my little "invention" - seed beaded leaves combined with metal and decided to give it a try in earrings. Love, love, love them!

A few days flew by... and there was a pile of leaves in front of me... in different colours and sizes. It was time to put the beads away and remember how to use a torch... :)

What did I do with them? What I always do with all my experimental pieces... I took them to Just Jewellery :)

Silver pendant with white topaz

Some jewellery pieces were born only because I needed to make a sample in a class that I was teaching. Just like this necklace. I was teaching Advanced Stone Setting class and had a demo on making a basket setting for a faceted stone there.

This white topaz on the silver pendant looks like a sparkle of light. When you wear this necklace, you might not notice a stone right away, but you will notice an extremely sparkling pendant. What an interesting effect!

Sea Bottom earrings with rainbow moonstones and pearls

I love making Sea Bottom pendants. I do have lots of pretty earrings with the sea creatures too. Finally I got an idea of making big earrings for this line!

I have been fascinated with an idea of making matching, though slightly different earrings as a pair. So, this is what I've successfully achieved! I am very happy with the result. I love the shape and the length.

Though I do not wear them, I will miss them when they are sold... and will have to try and make something similar. I will probably fail :) Not sure if it is a downside or an advantage of being an artist and not a production person.... :)

The beautiful stones in the earrings are rainbow moonstones (feminine energy and good fortune) with subtle blue flush in them. They are a good match for the fresh water pearls!

The earrings are going to be available in my Etsy online store.

Sea bottom pendant with tourmaline

Tourmaline is the only stone that comes in all colours of rainbow. There is no a tint of a colour in tourmaline that would not be pretty. 

However, one of my favourite colours in this gem is dark pink. It is a perfect stone to represent a treasure you could find at the bottom of the sea.

The backing for the faceted cabochon stone is polished silver, so the transparent stone will always shine, no matter what the background for the necklace is (dark or light).

I have wrote of the qualities of Tourmaline before here if anybody is interested...

The pendant is for sale in my etsy online shop 

A picture for my wish list. James Christensen

I am looking for inspiration everywhere. Fine artists are a great source of inspiration! My husband introduced James Christensen's art to me last year. What a great artist! We have a couple of his prints, but might get more. I am absolutely in love with this fish especially. It looks like a ready to wear piece of jewellery made of copper. I hope one day I will have it on a wall... it is on my screen for now :) 

http://www.jameschristensen.com/

Deer necklace

This is one of my favourite ornaments for jewellery.

The picture of the deers themselves were found in a 50 y.o. Russian book for housekeeping in woodworking section (as a pattern for a scroll sawed jewellery box). Trying to bring together my love for the Russian ornaments and the nature of beautiful British Columbia, I designed the ornament around the deers. If you look carefully, you will see tiny maple leaves there!

The original ornamental plate was hand-made in metal (by me, of course). I do cast them now. However, all the necklaces are very different. For example, this one was a custom order from a friend of mine. Another one was inspired by the Art Nouveau style. Do not let me forget this bracelet!

There is one more... It was hand-made (again) in silver for a contest.

Modern organic shape of this necklace is enhanced by the copper background piece. It gives the colour to it without involving any gemstones, that I consider an advantage, as the piece becomes suitable for wearing with any outfit. No need for waiting for a special occasion. Leather cords with just a few sterling silver beads on them only help the same purpose. The clasp is sterling silver also.

The necklace is going to be available at my Etsy store.

Sea bottom pendant with chrysoprase

This is another gem stone that I can call "one of my favourite". Bright green chrysoprase is a gemstone variety of chalcedony that contains small quantity of nickel (this is how it gets its green colour). Most chrysoprase comes from Australia now. This is the origin of my gemstone too. It is cut by a local lapidary artist Bruce McClellan.

This high quality stone deserved a rich frame. So the pendant basically designed itself with all those sea creatures and silver swirls... Emeralds (emerald imitation stones) enhanced the beauty of this gem as well as the fresh water pearls.

If you are interested in metaphysical qualities of chrysoprase, it is said that it encourages hope and joy, helps clarifying problems and protects on sea voyages. It is also said that it is used to speed the healing of any wounds and as a shield or protector from negative energy.

The pendant is available in my Etsy online store.

Sea bottom pendant with sugilite

Sugilite is one of my favourite stones. However, the colours can be so different (depending on a stone) that I won't like sugilite just because it is Sugilite. I like it when it is light purple or purple with a little bit of blue, or even with some white sections. The stone in this pendant I like a lot!

Every pendant from this collection is a "game". I do not make sketches, but decide on the shape of each stone, which of my sea creatures I would like to use; and how the wires should be arranged. I felt that light-purple sugilite needed bright sapphires beside it (they are sapphire imitation stones, really). I am happy with my choice of this colour combination. Love it! White fresh water pearl is another lucky choice for this pendant!

Sugilite is not your common gem stone, so if you've never heard of it before I got some information here...

Sugilite is a fairly recent discovery (1944). It is found in Japan, Canada, India and Africa. The most important occurrence was found in 1975 in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. This is where most sugilites come from. The hardness in Mohs scale is of 5.5 to 6.5, that makes it suitable for jewellery, though preferably for the pendants and earrings. A ring is ok too, but only if you are naturally careful with your rings.

For those who are spiritual, it is said that sugilite can have a positive effect in protecting one from harm, anger and other negative energies.

It is also said that sugilite strengthens the heart, aids physical healing and reduces stress. It is a balancer of mind, body and spirit; encourages peace of mind, a general feeling of well being and spiritual love.

The pendant is available in my Etsy online store.