It's a Drusy!

My newest love is the drusy. What is a drusy, you ask? It is a gemstone that is covered with a large number of tiny crystals. Porous parts of rock were exposed to water with silica in it, and these crystals were formed. Drusies remind me of the surface of snow that has frozen, snow that glitters at night under the streetlights. A drusy (also called druse or druzy) is truly one of nature's most beautiful phenomena. The bracelet above has a soft blue drusy in a kidney shape that forms the focal of the bracelet. The beautiful lampwork is from Burt Gumeson"s "Jewels" series.
At Cluny Grey Jewelry we have a new section featuring drusy jewelry. As yet, there is only the one bracelet that you see here, but more are coming. I have a great ocean jasper drusy that will probably become the pendant in an ocean jasper necklace (unless I decide to make a bracelet from it - you know how I am about bracelets!)
On the personal side: my son and daughter-in-law are home after 3 years in Portugal (I did go there to see them). It is wonderful to have them home although for the past 3 or 4 days they have escaped the humid misery of the Arkansas summer by visiting a friend in Seattle. They will be in Washington, D.C. for the next two years and I am delighted to have them on the same continent! (That hasn't happened since 1998). My daughter-in-law is also a jewelry-maker and is hoping to take class in lampwork - and I'm crossing my fingers that she will be able to. Anything she puts her hands to turns into something exquisite!
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Rose by Any Name:Ruusu, Levantado, Gül

A unique bracelet that I'm not sure how to classify. It's from the Raj Collection, but features rhodochrosite as well as lapis, turquoise and lampwork with vermeil. Rhodochrosite is rather expensive, rather soft (Moh's hardness between 3.5 and 4), and because it has perfect cleavage, it is rarely faceted since it is so difficult to cut. Most rhodochrosite comes from South America - Argentina, Peru. However, in 2002 Colorado named rhodochrosite its state mineral; while found worldwide, some of the best samples of the stone have come from the Sweet Home Mine in Colorado.
The name comes from the Greek word rhodo for rose.
See this at Cluny Grey Jewelry as well as other unique bracelets.



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Rainbow Moonstone: Bring Me the Moon

Some lampwork beads are just stunning! These silver-laced beads are. With blue and white and flashing silver, they are perfect for a rainbow moonstone and kyanite and sterling silver bracelet. I also used white Softflex so that the rainbow moonstone would not have a dark look to it.

See this unique handcrafted bracelet and more at Cluny Grey Jewelry

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The Many Colours of Turquoise and Coral

Surprise! More necklaces! The first one is with stabilized turquoise and freshwater pearls, double strands with sterling silver.


I really, really like coral - and sometimes the rougher it is the better it is. Of course these coral slices have a smooth polish to them, as do the rondelles, but they are so rugged looking despite that. I like coral that looks as though you just broke it off the reef yourself!


The rose quartz necklace has a great lampwork bead that is huge (from Connie at River Oaks II - she does super work!), but the focal is the very large pink, yes pink, turquoise nugget that is at the center. I don't know why I like such an ersatz thing, but I really do. Lots of sterling silver with this one, too.

The simple coral bracelet above has little pieces of rough coral with freshwater pearls and sterling silver. Coral is just so basic, so rough in some ways, that it is very appealing, especially for summer.
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The Beauty of a Necklace

For me, the real beauty of a necklace is that it usually doesn't get in the way of doing things throughout the day the way that a bracelet can. But I am a bracelet person through and through. Sometimes I have to stop and work on making necklaces - to match bracelets - or just to "even" out my inventory. I 've been working with coral and with turquoise so I incorporated both into the necklace that you see above. That's pink angelskin coral with some nice large stabilized turquoise nuggets that I've had, and of course, I had to add some lampwork beads. One of the problems I have with necklaces (that I don't with bracelets) is that I'm bothered that on many people the back of the necklace will never be seen.
The second necklace I'm temped to keep for myself. I adore lapis and the lapis in this necklace is especially good with lots of the glittering gold pyrite that I like so much. And while carnelian is great with lapis, turquoise is wonderful when paired with lapis. I've also used lots of vermeil because lapis and gold are just scrumptious!
I'm trying to slow down a bit and take a little holiday. I only have one auction on Ebay this week, and summer is slow anyway. I'm going to try to stay in the pool some (if I can tear myself away from my beads), put in a new closet, and do various things that I've been ignoring for ever so long. It's amazing how much jewelry I can make while the house falls down around my ears!
Turquoise and Coral Jewelry by Cluny Grey
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A Touch of Yellow: Keltainen väri, Jaune, Amarelo, Sárga

I love yellow. I like to wear yellow; I like yellow rooms. It is sunny and bright; it stands for the intellect (think sun=light=reason), and yes, it is mysterious although it often seems bright and happy. (Think of that ominous yellow glow that occurs sometimes after a bad storm - when you know that there is more to come.
In the turquoise braclet above, the darkish, but bright amber yellow really punches up the turquoise making you see it differently. I love this look!
Here is my overdose on yellow: yellow citrine, yellow lampwork beads with a creamy white, and yellow crazy lace agate which I love. Its wonderful swirls, patterns and colours are so beautiful that I like to play with them actually - trying to think of what I'll use them in. The yellow lace agate is so beautiful that I've been known to string some of just those gemstone beads and put them on my bedside table so that I can look at them. Okay, maybe that's weird, but they are that pretty!
In the last bracelet here, more yellow with just a touch of turquoise in the lampwork beads to punch up the yellow. More yellow crazy lace agate and also calcite beads. I really like calcite because it is the colour of clarified butter and is so rich that it is to yellow what rubies are to red.
The little dark yellow cubes on the second strand that hang as charms are also calcite. I added a generous helping of sterling silver since I wanted one of the strands to be a chain.
These will soon be on my website. You can find them by looking for Citrine Bracelets on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website. I am working on the website (it seems to be getting huge, and I still have lots to add to it. So if you see something that you like, but it doesn't not have a "Buy It" button, it will soon.

I do have some Ebay auctions running this week; check them out by searching for Cluny Grey or user id: chloemarie99.
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Bracelets, Bracelets, Oh, No, More Bracelets!

I'll start with carnelian, and the wonderful faceted orangey carnelian nuggets that I mixed with a carved flower of carnelian, lampwork beads, sterling silver and a bit of turquoise. The second strand has little charms hanging at intervals from the second strand.
I also got some great tourmaline faceted nuggets and decided to use those with these boro lampwork beads and vermeil. The chain is 14 karat goldfilled, and the other gold accents are vermeil (24 karat gold over sterling silver).
I really love sunstone, and peach is just about my favorite colour, so of course, I'm always trying to get my hands on good sunstone. This bracelet has 3 strands (one is a sterling silver chain). The wonderful lampwork beads are by Irene Collier.
I've been working on many different things this week, but I am still entranced with the Babylon Collection and have been making drawings that I may experiment with later this week. The basis for this collection is my love of lapis lazuli - especially when it is paired with gold. The lapis lazuli one sees on the ancient art in Egypt (beards are often rendered in lapis in sculpture) mixed with gold is opulent, the way you imagine rich gold and gemstones when you're a child. The museum in Cairo is like being lost in a fairy tale. One gets the same feeling at the University of Pennsylvania's small museum when viewing the Middle Eastern art with its lavish gold and lapis from Mesopotamia.

See the jewelry at Cluny Grey Jewelry . A few of the pieces may be on auction at Ebay this week: check for Cluny Grey or under the user name chloemarie99.
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Fluorite: It's Not Easy Being Green & Purple

I love fluorite because of the complexity of its colouring. Yes, it's green and purple --- and teal and lilac and lavender and azure and violet and mint and aqua and striped and mottled and transparent, translucent, and almost opaque. It's a very unpredictable stone!

It is a soft stone which is one reason that you don't see a lot of fluorite rings (too bad!). But if you don't wear it 24 hours a day and when you're digging ditches, it should be okay.
Whenever I am not sure what I want to do, I try to do something with fluorite; inevitably, it gets me in the mood (fluorite as aphrodisiac?). Anyway, here is what I've been working on this week.

The fluorite bracelet with the toggle clasp is up for auction on Ebay this week, and the fluorite nugget earrings do come with it. To see the auction, do a search for Cluny Grey or look for user id: chloemarie99.
Otherwise, as usual, you can find my jewelry on my website, Cluny Grey Jewelry where I'll soon have these up here: Cluny's Fluorite Jewelry

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Beads, Bangles, and Turquoise

I love bangle bracelets; I always have. There are sorts I like better than others of course; I prefer the thicker ones to thin - although I have had some thin ones I like. I love my David Yurman bracelets that so effortlessly combine gold with sterling silver that even I don't feel like I'm clashing (I'm Ms. Monochromatic when it comes to clothing). I'm really fond of these large rectangles. I first got the gemstone rectangles in carnelian, then jade, and now these blue quartz (not glass). This is really a heavenly shade of blue. I had to put some of Burt Gumeson's lampwork beads with it to make a bangle that really looked put together. I'm fairly happy with the result. It's not for everyone, but it is an especially pretty bracelet.

These lampwork beads were such a peculiar colour that I kept looking at them and wanting to use them. I don't really use copper (the metal) in my designs, but if I did, I think these would have done well with copper. The beads are a rather muted metallic coppery colour with orange and pink "bumps." Now I love orange and pink together (shades of the 'sixties) so maybe that's what drew me to these. One thing that I like about this bangle is that there is no disputing that the lampwork beads are the focal point of this piece of jewelry.


Summer just screams coral and turquoise to me - not necessarily together, but they do work together. I really like this coral and turquoise bracelet and am very happy with the way that it turned out! That probably means that it won't sell because half the time the pieces I am delighted with are not always the ones that are a hit with buyers. C'est la vie!
You can find the bracelets here at my website:Bangle Bracelets or here: Turquoise Bracelets, and both are on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website.


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Nights in Babylon

I've been working with my favorite for jewelry this week: gold. Or in this case, vermeil (24 karat gold layered over sterling silver) or 14 karat goldfilled.
The bracelet that you see above is from my "Babylonian" collection. I call it that because of the bright gold, lapis, turquoise, and carnelian which all remind me of the Mesopotamian art from Biblical times. The gold used in those works of art, artifacts, and jewelry is as pure as it can be and still retain its shape so that it is a dark bright colour like vermeil. I also used a bit of wirework with 14 karat goldfilled wire for something just a bit different. I love the look of gold with gemstones although I know that sterling silver is what is currently in vogue. Of course, I've had to incorporate some of my favorite lampwork beads as well.

Another Babylon bracelet mixes just lapis and carnelian together. I love the colours in this carnelian, and the lapis I've gotten lately is of good quality with just the right sprinkling of pyrite (fool's gold) throughout so that it has the glittery look in the light that I admire.

I also love sunstone - what's not to love. It's a peachy to coral colour and it GLITTERS because of chatoyancy or Schiller effect. Very good sunstone is so expensive, but I got some okay sunstone (it has chatoyancy) and had to play with it a bit.

To see this jewelry and more, go to Cluny Grey Jewelry or check for some on auction on Ebay under user id: chloemarie99 or do a search for Cluny Grey.

Another jewelry blog: If you are interested in Jewelry (yes, with a capital "J") check out Zsolt Balla's blog Modern Jewelry from Budapest, Hungary. It has lots of information on jewelry and jewelry styles and fashions.

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