Summer – A Little Bold Chic or Traditional

Summer is here and with it new jewerly designs.......these are just a few of the newest additions from our studio and are perfect for the summer season! Bright, bold and somewhat a little more traditional they are both light-weight necklaces using a mixture of natural stone, ceramic & crystals beads and even a little bit of bone.

Boldly bright shades of green turquoise (stabilized) chips, creamy irregular rondelle bone beads, with a little splash of ‘bling’ in crystals. The necklace features a lovely smaller agate pendant from Brazil; it is almost clear with a center color of olive and slight crystallization. I have hand wire wrapped it in non-tarnish brass wire to bring out the more earthy tones.

Traditional and chic southwest style necklace featuring a beautiful turquoise (dyed) colored agate from Brazil; the pendant has natural citrine color with a few cream streaks and has been hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire. It is hung from strands of natural citrine chip/nuggets, a few ceramic Tibetan beads and blue Arizona turquoise (stabilized) and accenting metals.

Agates: Balancing physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies; perceptiveness, strength, inspiration, awakening talents. 

Citrine: Intuition, comfort, protection, creativity, physical energy, wealth, mental awakening.

Turquoise: Spiritual attunement, cleansing, healing, protection, valor, soothing, peace of mind, guidance through the unknown, romantic spontaneity.

See more summer designs…..just browse and shop our artisan crafted jewelry collections at our Timeless Designs online store!

Tiger’s Eye of My Son

My son joined me this year on my Tucson trip, which was the best ever! We had so much fun and while there, he picked up quite a bit of fossils and this strand of tiger’s eye, his favorite stone. I told him I would design something for him using this faceted stone and maybe mix in a little bit of bone that I had purchased too. The result is this really unique necklace fit for a young man…and he tells me that he really likes it!

The necklace is crafted of faceted round tiger's eye stones, a mix of creamy bone rondelles and gold tone metal disks.

Tiger’s Eye quartz is a semiprecious variety of quartz exhibiting chatoyancy, a vertical luminescent band like that of a cat’s eye. Unlike cat’s eye quartz, tiger’s eye is formed when parallel veins of crocidolite (blue asbestos) fibers are first altered to iron oxides and then replaced by silica. As a result, it is more opaque and has a rich yellow to brown color and when cut and polished, the stone has a fine luster. The major source of tiger’s eye is Griquatown West, in South Africa, but it has also been found in Wittenoom Gorge, Western Australia.

 

Legend says that the stone takes its name from its resemblance to the eye. This appears when the brown inclusions are cut in a certain way, just like the cat’s eye and falcon’s eye stones. For about a hundred years it has been highly sought after and used for jewelry or for therapeutic purposes.

The traditional properties of the tiger’s eye say that is an effective healing stone for bronchial problems, helpful in the cases of headaches and migraines and effective in lifting depression and promoting concentration.

Browse and shop our Timeless Designs store for your own custom artisan crafted jewelry!

Ancient Fossils of Ammonite

Ammonites are one of the most popular of the fossils, both for collectors and jewelry designers. They are mostly from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Peridos that evolved into a great variety of forms. They can be found in a vast range of different shapes, sizes and structures. The movement of different species may have depended on their shape. Some of them are big and round, while others are thin and disc-shaped, some have shells that are quite small and others are very large. Ammonites are marine creatures that may have moved freely in the water, though some of the largest may have browsed more on the seabed.

The spiral coiling of the ammonite shell does not usually extend upwards. Instead it is coiled in a flat plane, with both sides of the shell depressed in the center. The ammonite shell itself has a large body chamber at the shell opening. This chamber reaches back for about half a whorl. Usually the animal lived with the body chamber at the lowest point, and the rest of the shell above.

 

We often feature many designs using the ammonites; which are hand wire wrapped.  The range of soft earthy colors or sold balck are perfect for any seasons!

Browse and shop our custom jewelry collections at Timeless Designs on Ruby Lane!

Spring to Summer Rages Charms

Charms are all the rage this year; so for the big hit we came out with this charmed line last Fall and it was very well received. We brought it back again for Spring – Sumer and it has again been very popular. Most of these charmed necklaces feature Italian murano glass pendants and one that features a pink mushroom jasper stone pendant.

All the charms are faceted crystals, lampwork beads, cultured freshwater pearls,and natural stones; each charm is individually hand twisted and then looped onto the silk cord. For accents between there are an array of lampwork & cloisonne beads or faceted crystals. Each one is uniquely crafted as an individual piece that stands by itself.

They are all just beautiful…these are all sold quickly, but we will have more soon at our online shop!

 

Royalty in blue hues and purple (to the left)

Beach fun with octopus (to the right)

Spring time elegance of calilies (to the left)

Richly deep purples and amethyst (to the righ)

Pretty in pink mushroom jasper (to the left)

Modern in black and white (to the right)

Browse and shop our custom artisan crafted jewelry collection at Timeless Designs on Ruby Lane!

Wired Agates of Summer

Light, small and full of brilliance…these lovely agates just right for the coming summer season! Hand wire wrapped in silver non-tarnish wire, the agates are from Brazil and all naturally colored.

Look for these and many other artisan crafted styles for the coming summer season at our Timeless Designs shop on Ruby Lane!

Naturally colored green & clear agate slice -- hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire. 

  

 

Brazilian Oco Agate slice -- all natural color with center crystalization -- hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire.

Agates: Balancing physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energies; perceptiveness, strength, inspiration, awakening talents.

Artisan Carfted International Beauty

I have to say, my latest acquisition has to be one of the best I’ve made in a very long time. When I came across these pendants, not only did they draw me in from across the isle, but their incredible beauty is indescribable. The vendor sells international hand-crafted artisan pendants and beads and I have to say, these latest ones…well, the “wow” factor is off the charts!

 

 

The pendants come from Russia and are all individually hand-painted. The steady hand that created the fine details of the flowers and leaves are just stunning (the pictures really do not do them justice). With each stroke you can tell the light and dark areas of the petals, softly fine brush strokes around the outer edge as a tiny picture fame; the artist left no detail unturned, giving way to one’s imagination of a country garden with each pendant.

Each one is a little unique and something quite a bit ‘outside the box’ for me; I’m more known for creating bold, funky and chic designs….these are more traditionally delicate and soft, like an English Garden that I’ll probably mix up with crystals and pearls (my imagination was on overload while trying to pick out just a few to use in designs).

The larger pendants are all wooden and very light weight, something I really liked because I’ve been searching for a little larger pendant with very little weight. The smaller pendants are all beautiful mother-of-pearl and the flower designs explode with color. Each one has a high glossy coating that really brings out the details. The artist also signed each one on the back for a truly unique pendant…soon to be designed into jewelry pieces!

Check out our latest creations of artisan crafted jewelry at our online Ruby Lane shop!

Specialty Wire Working Tools

In wire working there are some specialty tools that enable a designer to create something unique and unusual. There are the usual tools such as different pliers and cutting tool, but also special wire working tools to include wire twisters, coiling pliers, nylon jawed pliers (heavy), rosary pliers (heavy), and bail makers. You can find any of these online or through a vendor that carries special wire working tools.

 Wire Twisters (to the left): These unique tools are used to twist short to medium pieces of wire using just one hand. If you are going to be combining more than 2 pieces of wire, or a bunch of wire twists, than an electric hand drill will also perform the same purpose, only much quicker.

Coiling Pliers (to the right): To make jump rings or wire loops, use coiling pliers that have one jaw that is flat and another that is in a 3-tier step making wire loops. This keeps you from marring your wire too much, as conventional convex/concave pliers can easily mar the wire as you turn loops or use as a bail maker.

Nylon Lined Jaw Pliers (to the left): These pliers are used to straighten wire or for bending, forming and shaping your wire. The nylon lined jaws keep the pliers from again, marring your wire. As you work with these pliers, the nylon jaws will need to be replaced over time as they can get cut up by the raw wire. (Tip: If you don’t want to buy a set of these pliers, then using blue painters tape wrapped around the ends of regular pliers will do the same thing. You have to replace the tape after each use.)

Rosary Pliers (to the right): These pliers are for working with every heavy gauge wire such as 14-16gauge. They are heavy pliers that are built not to slip when used in gripping, turning and twisting of the heavy gauge wire.

Bail Makers (to the left): Bail making pliers are usually rounded diameter cylinder pliers and come in different sizes. You can purchase several different sets of bail makers as each one will usually make 3 different size combinations, usually ranging from 1.5mm to 9mm bail or ring sizes depending on the plier size you get.

These are just a few of the specialty tools used in wire working. Doing research on the internet, reading books and magazines or taking a class you can learn about many other specialty tools used in wire working.

Good luck and have fun wire working!