Fiesta Fun in Mother-of-Pearl

Fun fiesta and a start to the New Year!! Mother of pearl is wonderful material to work with; the pure and soft natural color of mother of pearl is flattering to any stone combinations. Here I’ve just gone with the straight mother of pearl, but I’ve done it in a mix of colors, mother of pearl is often dyed to achieve many of the bold and bright colors such as these fiesta colors in the squares.

 Each square is cut in an irregular shape and then strung with a few tiny white seed beads between. At the base is a unique naturally formed mother of pearl pendant that has been wired in silver. There is no front or back to this design, so it makes for a reversible necklace. I’ve also done the stones shorter and finished if off with small oval chain, making the necklace wearable at many different lengths – wow, reversible and different lengths this really is a very versatile necklace set!

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Red Ammonite On Fire

Red Ammonites are very striking; whole ammonite fossils with a sheen or slight opal that reflects in a sheer color of red and some even in a slight hint of green but mostly in red. I love working with them because of their depth of color and the reflective red almost looks like the ammonite is fiery. I’ve been lucky enough to find them in earthy colors with brilliant red sheens and then mix with a variety if specialty stones and crystals.

This one I’ve hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish brass wire supporting wires and coils highlight the earthy tones. The striking marks remind me of a tiger’s stripes in a deep brown color against a taupe. It is the focal pendant to the necklace set against just a hint of Swarovski crystals in black and copper and graduated heishi shells from the Philippians.

 

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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.


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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.