Some new work

I've been so tired lately that it's been tough to get up motivation to make jewelry, take photos, or post any new work. These pieces are actually a couple of weeks old. *sigh*



My mom was wearing an older design that I created a few years ago and it inspired me to create another similar styled necklace. Plus I wanted to make something with lots of green since it's been so beautiful and bright here in my area of Washington. So "Spring Green" is the result.

These peacock freshwater pearls in a neat teardrop shape have been calling my name for awhile and I finally pulled them out of my stash and did something with them. It's a simple design but I think it's very elegant and timeless.

I experimented with some semi-matching earrings.

They were a lot more difficult to create than they appear...mostly because I was hand forming the wire and working hard to get the lengths and shapes to match up.

I'm working on a new pair of earrings that I am really excited about - combining pale pink Amethyst, deep royal purple Amethyst, and some deep purple red garnet together with fine silver and sterling chain. I can't wait to get them finished and share them here. I hope they turn out the way I'm envisioning.

Hopefully next week I'll be able to share those. And a fun, and bright, Turquoise, Coral, and Freshwater pearl sterling chain necklace.

Another Custom Necklace

I enjoy custom orders. They sometimes stretch my imagination and give me ideas I might not have acted on otherwise.

The request was a freshwater pearl necklace that modeled itself after the faux pearl Chanel necklace where the pearls varied in size.

I avoid designing anything to match another design so my take on the necklace is slightly different than the customer's Chanel necklace...but that is what makes it unique and handcrafted. =)


It's hard to tell in the photo but these have such a gorgeous luster that it's nearly like looking in a mirror.


It's long enough to wear as a single strand or to double up as a choker. It looks so beautiful on my little cousin. I might need to make a similar one for myself. =)

I pre-stretched 100% silk before hand knotting between each pearl. Silk will continue to stretch after being used in a necklace like this but if you pre-stretch it you will not get nearly as many gaps later on.

Knotting pearls is relaxing for me. I don't have to do it at my work desk, I can sit on the couch and work on a board. Plus the result is always so beautiful.

Akoya Saltwater Pearl Necklace

I was blessed enough to receive a custom request for an Akoya necklace. Akoya pearls were originally from Japan (though there are now cultured Akoyas coming onto the market from China, South Korea, Vietnam, and Australia) and are saltwater pearls, as opposed to the more common freshwater pearl.

The strand of pearls I bought to use in this necklace were labeled as Japanese Akoyas, but the reality is that many of the pearls labeled as Japanese are imported to Japan from another country.

Regardless, the strand I finally found was gorgeous. It was slightly above my budget but to stick to my budget would have required buying inferior pearls and I was not willing to do that.

Laying the Akoya strand next to a very high quality strand of Freshwater pearls, the difference was immediatley clear. The luster of the Akoyas is superior. The whole look is a step above even the nicest freshwater pearls.


Don't be fooled by cheap strands claiming to be high quality Akoya pearls. All the lower priced Akoyas I saw while searching were poor quality...lots of scratches, scuffs, dents, and mediocre luster. A GOOD quality strand of Akoka pearls will cost a lot of money. Mikimoto Akoya pearl necklaces start at $2,000 for smaller (not-round) necklaces and can go up to $20,000 and higher. Of course, there you are partly paying for a name. The benefit is that they have access to a lot of high quality pearls. It was very hard for me to find the strand I did.

Wordless Wednesday - Pretty Pearls

Wordless Wednesday - Foxy Cleopatra

A Different Kind of Diet

While fulfilling my promise to visit other blogs more regularly, I visited Bethany at BeppyCat & Co and she of course had me laughing.

She's on a Yarn Diet. Yes, a Yarn Diet.

Addictions come in many different flavors. And apparently Bethany is addicted to Yarn.

Me? I prefer ice cream. But my non-food addiction is pearls. Seriously. I have enough pearls to practically open up my own store.

Some are sitting, waiting to be photographed and added to my Etsy Gemstone shop because I know I'll just never use them in a million years.

But most are stored in a large 12 x 12 Scrapbook paper storage bin...and it's overflowing.


I mean seriously...how many pearls does one person need. I just bought MORE pearls last weekend at a local bead show. They called my name. I couldn't resist them.

I LOVE pearls...they come in so many different shapes, sizes, textures, and colors. The pearl industry (yup...it's a whole big industry) has done an amazing job of making gorgeous, high quality pearls affordable to the masses. And that means gorgeous pearls that I get to use in my designs. I wonder how long it would take me to use all the pearls I have right now. Maybe if I didn't work full time...*sigh*

But I'm thinking I need a Beppy style diet...a Pearl diet.

Back into the Swing of Things

Well, it's not much. But I did manage to create something last weekend. I have these stunning peacock freshwater pearls burning a hole in my pocket (so to speak) and these lovely amethyst rondelles that are cut in a really different way than most. So I put them together. Nothing fancy. I think it's pretty classy thought.



What do you think? Oooooo? Ahhhhhh? :) Or Blech and boring? I didn't use a torch or a hammer. Just some simple stringing. Sometimes simple is good. And I'm only going to make 3 of them total. So if you want one it's posted in my Etsy store. I won't be posting it on my main site. Or maybe I will. I don't know. I haven't decided yet.

Oh, and Scoutie Girl featured me today!!! Having been in a funk for so long it's nice to see my name out there. It gives me more inspiration to get back on the horse and start riding. =) I have 4 days off starting Friday and I plan to create!

Old and New

I had an idea in my head for some jewelry ages ago ... I went ahead and started to create the pieces and then stopped. The project sat there for weeks ... and weeks ... and weeks.

So long that the silver started to tarnish!

Finally last week I picked up the pretty fine silver circles that I had hammered as if they were being made into rings and then textured all around. I bought some really neat green - brown peacock freshwater pearls in a flat disc shape at the gem show the other weekend.

And together they make a pretty and (I think) fairly unique design. :)


Sometimes I try to force myself to complete a design but it really does make a difference to wait until inspiration really hits.

Modern Pearls

When I saw these pearls at the gem show I went to two weekends ago I just stopped and stared. Even among strands and strands and strands of other pearls these stood out. Of course the sticker price just about gave me a heart attack, but I had to have them. I only got one strand (it's all I could afford) and brought them home and stared at them some more.


I thought about how to showcase these properly and truly the only thing I could do is leave them alone and show each pearl off by itself. No extra metal. No extra beads. Just a big, huge, gorgeous, lustrous, rainbow, ivory, pink, pearl. How's that for a description?

I even created my own 14k gold headpins and 14k gold ear wires for a pair of earrings that are elegant and classy while still being a tad sassy.


I'm thrilled with how the gold accents turned out - sort of rough and abstract just like the pearls, which aren't rough but are abstract.

These are extremely limited edition because I only bought one strand and there were only 14 or 15 pearls on the strand. Each one is brilliant! And though no two are exactly alike they all 'go' together.