Best of 2010 from our Rock Yard Collection

The Rock Yard collection is a turn of nature’s treasures in fossils, minerals and raw rocks coming to life as single pendants or incorporated into necklace and earring sets. It is by far the most watched and purchased of all our collections; especially the designs using fossils and minerals. This collection is by far the toughest to pick the best of the year from, but here’s our shot at it!

A twist of old turquoise meets million year old fossil; a lovely button ammonite fossil hand wire wrapped in brass non-tarnish wire is at the focal. The base of the necklace is blue turquoise and a green/blue turquoise mosaic mix bead and accents of gold tone pewter.

 

Many people are used to seeing the ammonite cut on the half shell, but I’ve been working with the whole thing! This design is a whole red ammonite with fire on both sides, encased in brass non-tarnish wire; accented with charmed crystal rondelle beads, gorgeous wavy bronzite and lampwork beads in black to beige design.

 

Black and white in a nice sized large orthoceras fossil hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire as a pendant. The necklace base is onyx, red (dyed) coral, Swarovski black cosmo crystals and sterling silver textured square beads.

The charmed necklaces were such a hit that I didn’t want to leave out the fossils; so I created this one using a small orthoceras fossil encased in non-tarnish silver wire and then charmed many swarovski crystals, cloisonné beads and freshwater cultured pearls. All set stationary on a silk black cord with matching earrings in a double coiled spiral.

  

A large goniatite fossil pendant in soft earthy colors all hand wire wrapped in brass non-tarnish wire is the focal in this design. Then I paired it with two strands of coral chips and long ceramic Tibetan beads which are capped in gunmetal filigree.

  

Digging around at Tucson one can find some real treasures and I got lucky with several pairs of matching earring and pendant ammonite fossils. This beautiful and striking earthy color in this half shell ammonite fossil that is hand wire wrapped in brass non-tarnish wire; the matching earrings are the same colors and mounted on posts. It is hung from and can be removed to wear on other cords or collars, a beige silk cord.

Browse all our collections to find your hidden treasure of artisan crafted jewelry!

Best of 2010 from our Mystic Artisan Collection

By far, the largest of our collections is the Mystic Artisan designs and with so many different ones, it was hard to choose just a few. This collection is where high elegance meets trendy, chic and bold in necklaces set in agate, jasper, pearl dichroic glass, swarovski crystals and many more. So here’s several of the best/favorite from this collection!

Dichroic glass pendant and earrings in pink set to an all black back ground, then mixed with onyx stones cut on the diamond to overlap (a difficult cut and unusually hard shape to find in stones) and more pink in faceted graduated rondelle crystals (some hand charmed) with a metallic sheen.

This is the first of the charmed necklace collection that I did and has remained a favorite. I started with a nice dichroic pendant in soft shades of lime green, pink, mauve, and gold. Then set it with tons of hand created charms in freshwater cultured pearls, swarovski crystals and several wired spirals of non-tarnish brass wire. Everything is captured stationary on a beige silk cord. 

Murano glass pendants are great to use as a focal; here I’ve paired a lovely heart pendant in cream, blue and red with butterscotch quartz nuggets, swarovski crystals and more pearls. The clusters of crystals at the bail and through-out the necklace are all hand charmed.





 

Another really big Murano glass pendant in puffy heart red; clustered together with freshwater cultured pearls, swarovski crystals, onyx, and several double coiled hand wired beads in non-tarnish silver wire. All held captive stationary on a black silk cord.

 

Polymer clay is a really great medium to work with; the beads are so lightweight and are created in just about any pattern. This design features graduated rounds of polymer clay beads shades of blue flowers set against a creamy white background. The big round was used as a focal drop pendant and has open charm dangles; more charms, crystals and freshwater cultured pearls finish off this necklace.

 

 
 
A bit different but one of my favorite combinations in stones; starting with a center heart pendant in turquoise that is flanked with faceted round turquoise, crystals and finished with soft button freshwater cultured pearls. The earrings hold tons of cascading charmed pearls over a single turquoise faceted round.

Purchase available designs from any of our collections at our online Ruby Lane Timeless Designs shop!

Best of 2010 from our Southwest Flair Collection

Our Southwest Flair collection is an array of natural stones such as turquoise, bamboo coral, magnesite, onyx, and spiny oyster just to name a few. Many of the styles reflect classic traditions of the southwest, while others take on a little modern and trendy look but still focusing on the use of the southwest or indian stones. Here’s a look back at this year’s Best/Favorites for 2010.

Three strands of natural turquoise chips and tiny onyx tube stones surround slender rare and exotic Arizona ivoryite stones and a hint of silver metals between. This is a favorite with the bold colors of turquoise in green, brown, black, rust and a hint of blue in some of the stones; set against strong smooth ivoryite.

A little bit of bold statement in sold red colors starting with red (dyed) coral disks, a large sponge coral pendant; between are beige/red colored lampwork rondelle beads and a mass of antique brass wire mess balls. I used two remaining mess wire balls with a hint of coral as earrings to add a little ‘funky’ to the set.

Here is where classic meets modern starting with a large marquee shaped beige faceted crystal pendant, charms of crystals in the bail and through-out and then I’ve added big nuggets of turquoise, medium rounds and cloisonne beads to finish the necklace.

 

A bold silver pewter square pendant that is textured, then added rare and exotic Arizona ivoryite and long square turquoise nuggets with a hint of red (dyed) coral and a little more silver pewter barrels and you get a very traditional southwest looking design.


Browse our collection of available designs for purchase at our online shop!

Best of 2010 from our Wiry Legends Collection

Wow, it’s been another year and as fast and furious as it went, we still created some designs that we call ‘our best of this year’. Each design is destinitive, original and unqiue in it's own right there were some that  just stood out more than others.  So here’s our look back at all the designs that I’ve done and picking my ‘Favorites or Best’ of the year; I start with my signature, wire designs that include pendants in fossils and minerals along with natural stones. So here’s the best for 2010, in my opinion, from the Wiry Legends collection!

Nature’s beauty at its finest with this next design, a very large Brazilian agate hand wire wrapped in brass non-tarnish wire. It is placed on a beige silk cord and matching twisted double coil and crystal earrings.  This one was so hard to 'let go' because of it's striking beauty encased in brass.

The pendant is a large red (dyed) coral encased in silver non-tarnish coil wires. The charms are all done by hand and feature black agate, red coral, swarovski crystals, and cultured freshwater pearls and wire work in double coils and swirls.  The matching earrings are double coiled swirls and accents of coral, black agate and pearl.

Caging is an accent that I do with the stones, in this design I caged black agate rounds with charmed crystals and the pendant is an unique stone of gray with black and charcol markings of Snail Jasper from the UK. I did the same caging to the earrings and dangled the crystals.

Brazilian Oco agate slice, striking in black with hints of red and white then hand wire wrapped in brassy gold non-tarnish wired. Wavy focal stones of black sardonyx agate amid two-tone black metallic and clear crystals (some charmed through-out and also at the bail) and cultured freshwater button pearls.

Stay tuned for more of our Best of 2010 from among our collections – browse our online shop to purchase available designs.

Purple Crystal Madness

I call this creation ‘Purple Crystal Madness’ because it is entirely designed in faceted metallic purple crystal rondelles. The crystals have a metallic or polarized sheen giving off multiple colors of the rainbow. At the base focal is a large off-cut faceted marquee shaped multi-colored crystal pendant; giving way to the different colors of the purples and metallic sheen too. The pendant is hung from a bail cluster of hand charms in the purple crystals; also found in clusters through-out the necklace. Nestled among the crystals are cracked onyx oval shaped stones, accented with fancy pewter silver bead caps.

Deep shades of purple and everything in-between; browse our collection of custom artisan crafted jewelry at our online Timeless Designs Ruby Lane shop.

Pendants & Charms Coming Together

One of the new designs that I did this year is with many different kinds of pendants and charming. The charming technique takes quite some time to create, but the affect is most appealing. Using different pendants gave each one a unique look while using accents in stones, swarovski crystals, dichroic glass, freshwater cultured pearls, and some of my free form spiral or double coiled wire work.  The neat idea behind this is that each design is stationary on the silk cord, so the designs will not be lost and each comes with a matching pair of earrings!

In this design I used a puffy heart pendant in lapis lazuli and the charms include freshwater cultured pearls, swarovski crystals and black agate. Wire work is done in non-tarnish silver wire.

 

Turquoise is one of my favorite stones of nature to work with; here I’ve paired the blue teardrop pendant with a fold-over wavy bail and charms of swarovski crystals, white magnesite and black agate. Wire work is done in non-tarnish peacock blue and black wire.

Fossils are fast becoming one of my more favorites to work with in wire as they are so individually unique; here I’ve used an orthoceras fossil pendant with charms of swarovski crystals, freshwater cultured pearls and two cloisonné beads. All wire work is done in silver non-tarnish wire.

  

Browse our collection of artisan crafted jewelry, available for purchase at Timeless Designs Ruby Lane shop!

A Heat Treatment of Turquoise

When you think of turquoise visions of the southwest and indian designs come to mind; the beautiful colors range from the robin eggs blue, sky blue, deep shades of blue to lime green and deep shades of green, all with matrix veining of black to brown and in-between. Turquoise is too soft by nature and must be stabilized or treated to keep that beauty. Another problem of untreated turquoise is that the color and sheen fade over time. Though initially, the natural stone may be a brilliant sky blue or blue-green, colors will fade to duller greens or blues eventually.

One of the processes is called heating to achieve the more desirable colors; though this does not change the character of the stone and it is usually considered an acceptable standard process in the lapidary and jewelry industry.

These turquoise stones have been heat treated to achieve the brown color from deep to medium and bring out the matrix veining. Each design has been created with a different flavor…..

First, a twist of traditional turquoise, Arizona ivoryite and a splash of Swarovski faceted rondelle blush crystals and a focal pendant in Brazilian Oco; hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish rose colored wire.

Second, a more traditional turquoise design with southwestern lampwork beads, Swarovski faceted bicone turquoise crystals and faceted rectangular yellow citrine stones.

Different designs but still using the natural stone of turquoise that has been heat treated; in this case to bring out a natural soft brown color.

Browse our collections of artisan crafted jewelry featuring unique stones, minerals and fossils!

Winter Wonderland Dichroic 2

This is another dichroic glass pendant in the beautifully done winter scene; resembling an icy blue wintertime snow among red trees and a little black bird flying across the top and black lines resembling hills. The pendant is hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire, support coils and swirls at the bail. The earrings are faceted crystal rondelles of black, metallic red and clusters of sky icy blue.

Gifts of artisan jewelry from natural stone, minerals and fossils; give a very unique gift this holiday season!

Winter Wonderland in Dichroic Glass

This is the first of a couple of seasonal pieces that I’m doing this year. The focal is a nice dichroic glass pendant with a winter scene of red trees set against an icy blue snowy background. It has been hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire with support coils and swirls at the bail. It also has a matching pair of earrings!

The base of the necklace is onyx teardrop stones, faceted red rondelle crystals with a black metallic sheen; some have been hand charmed into clusters and more onyx teardrops in tiny stones and white bicone crystals.

Looking for the unique gift to give this holiday season --- browse our collection of artisan crafted jewelry using minerals, fossils and natural stones.

The Sky Blue Celestite Crystal

Getting it’s name from the Latin ‘caelestis’, meaning “heavenly”; an allusion to its color, celestite or celstine is a very popular mineral because of its typical sky blue or ‘celestial’ color. Often forming beautiful transparent light to medium-blue tabular crystals, celestite can be colorless, white, light red, green, blue, or brown. It is often found in colorful combinations with minerals such as yellow sulphur. Although celestite can look similar to barite, it is actually strontium sulphate, and has long been used as a source of strontium for fireworks, glazes and metal alloys.

It forms in sedimentary rock such as limestones, dolomites, and sandstones. It can also be derived directly from sea water and commonly occurs in evaporate deposits as a minor constituent; occasionally it forms in hydrothermal deposits. The crystals take a wide variety of forms but are typically tablet, prism, or plate shaped. It can also form crusts, nodules, grains and masses. Celestite may also be found in the cavities of fossils. It is known to form, for example, in fossilized ammonites. It can be found in Madagascar, Mexico, Italy, Canada, England, and the US; lesser known specimens have been found in England, Slovakia, Austria, and Germany.

 

Legend & Traditional Properties

In ancient Greece it was believed that the stone only worked if it had been given to its owner by a friend or relative. It would then protect the body from all kinds of evil. The ancient Romans were also familiar with the healing properties of celestite, its calming, fortifying influence on the mind and its ability to drive evil out of a person. The stone encourages the healing of wounds and is said to be effective in alleviating pain caused by tension, anxiety and in solving problems with insomnia. It is connected to both Capricorn and Gemini star signs.

Research from various crystal-mineral-rock websites & books.

Early Bird Gets the Sale

Happy Thanksgiving from Timeless Designs

Looking for gift ideas for those hard-to-shop-for-people this holiday season.....then you have come to the right place!!

We are starting early with a

Thanksgiving Sale 

going on right now thru November 28th!

Timeless Designs characteristic uniquely designed jewelry features fossils, natural stones, crystals, dichroic glass, metal chains and links, and wire work.

Our quality, up-scale and innovative designs are very popular, as each artisan crafted piece capitalizes on the beauty and distinctive features of natural stones, while reflecting the diverse personalities of our clientele.

Shop our Thanksgiving Sale - going on now at our Timeless Designs Ruby Lane shop.

We at Timeless Designs wish everyone a

Happy & Safe Thanksgiving Holiday!

Murano Glass Options

I love Murano glass pendants; they come in many different shapes, sizes and colors. I used to do them as separate pendants with earring sets and now I’ve incorporated them into designs with crystal charmed bails. Here are some of the designs….browse Timeless Designs Ruby Lane shop available designs to purchase!

Spoon Drop Pendant Aventurine Prehinte Crystals

 Leaf Blue/Green Ceramic Beads Crystals

Southwest Colored Leaf Pendant Red Fossil Coral Cloisonne Wood Set

Puffy Heart Pendant Butterscotch Quartz Crystals Set

Tan Puffy Heart Pendant Aventurine Crystals Set

Ammonite Fossils – Matching Pendant & Earrings

Ammonite fossil pendants are pretty easy to come by, but to get matching earrings for a complete set that is a little more difficult. Here are a couple of wire wrapped ammonite pendants with matching earrings; they come on silk cords that can be removed and worn with on other collars, chains or cords. All these fossils come from the regions of Madagascar.

Ammonite Fossil Pendant & Matching Earrings in  Beautiful Earthy colors; wire wrapped in non-tarnish brass wire

Ammonite Fossil Pendant & Matching Earrings in Striking Black; wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire

 

Rugged Elegance to Wearable Earth…Check out Timeless Designs Ruby Lane shop to purchase artisan crafted jewelry!

Holiday Shopping Sneak Peek

Here’s a sneak peek at a sliver of the jewelry we’ll have at the show this weekend………….

 

Various necklace sets in crystals, stone, murano glass, and wire work by Timeless Designs

Sonora glass leaf necklace sets by Gayle of Jewelry by CnC, just one of the many designs by Gayle

Pendants available single or with cords and a small selection of mounted pendants in sterling silver and copper

Mark your calendar for one of the BIG shows of the holiday shopping season!! This weekend at the Freeman Coliseum!

The Big Holiday Showcase – Last Show of Season

In the San Antonio Area - come see us for our last show of the 2010 Season!!

31st Annual San Antonio Christmas Showcase

Freeman Coliseum

Saturday, November 20 – Sunday, November 21

Hours: Sat – 9am-5pm & Sun – 10am-5pm

Our booth is located in the Coliseum, main floor under the alcove!

Avoid the lines and traffic at the malls; come join us for the last “BIG” show of the season!! We will have all new artisan crafted jewelry collections featuring…..

• Southwest Flair; classic and modern styles in turquoise, coral, magnesite, and onyx

• Mystic Artisan; high-end elegance in agate, jasper, pearl, dichroic glass, Swarovski crystal, and more

• Wiry Legend; funky wire techniques in links, swirls, wraps, cages, and use of other metals

• Rock Yard; old earth comes to life using fossils, minerals and raw rocks

…………and so much more in pendants, necklace sets, earrings and bracelets!

So grab your list, put on some comfy walking shoes and join the holiday shopping festivities with over 500 booths to shop from featuring some of Texas’s most talented artists!

Can't make the show, get a head start and browse our collections available for purchase at our online Timeless Designs Ruby Lane Shop!
Hint…..some items are being held exclusively for the show only and will not be listed in the shop, so mark your calendars for this weekend's show!!

Fossils Become Wired Pendants

One of the unique pendants I work with is fossils; they are so incredible and each one is a gift of nature and millions of years old from the far regions of Madagascar. These beautiful pendants have been wired and incorporated into bold, chic and striking necklace sets.

This button ammonite fossil pendant has gone a little southwest; hand wire wrapped and then mixed with mosaic turquoise rondelles and two sizes of blue turquoise rounds. (to the right)

  

 

Lovely browns and greens in a fire ammonite handcrafted and mixed up with lots of hand charmed crystals of golden topaz, light topaz, metallic green, smoky quartz, and green lampwork beads.
(to the left)







Classic yellow citrine highlights this button ammonite fossil; hand wire wrapped and mixed up with green jasper, lime lampwork beads and a hint of crystals.
(to the right)

Soft colors of the earth in a fire ammonite handcrafted and mixed with golden bronzite, Tibetan ceramic beads and more hand charmed crystals of golden and light topaz and smoky crystals.

(to the left)


For these and many other artisan crafted designs in wire, browse our Timeless Designs shop at Ruby Lane!