Isn't It Charming? Aquamarines, rubies, and Swarovski Crystals

I am a great fan of charm bracelets. I personally prefer them in gold with weighty charms, some encrusted with gemstones; they are especially endearing when the charms have been collected over a long period of time and have a special or sentimental value for the wearer. The charm bracelet above is gold and has gemstones, but compared to those sentimental trinkets, it was put together rather quickly. Still, my favorite gemstones are in here, and the bracelet is rife with 14 karat goldfilled components so that it gives a nice golden glow on a wrist.
Below is a combination I'm quite fond of. Swarovski crystals in mocca, golden shadow and Indian sapphire combine to make this Swarovski crystal bracelet a real "shiner"! I've mixed it with 14 karat goldfilled accents to complement the colours of the crystals - and best of all - I made 2 of these! They are quite fetching when worn together for maximum sparkle (see the next picture). The first bracelet has larger elements than the second, but, boy, do they look great together!


Below, I so enjoy creating with aquamarines, especially when they are the true aqua blue colour. The aquamarine bracelet below is a true aqua blue; it would be a simple bracelet, but the special reticulated Bali beads of sterling silver and the many little aquamarine charms going around the bracelet give it a special status beyond simple. All sterling silver, of course!
I'm still working with rubies and have two offerings today: a sterling silver ankle bracelet with rubies for some lucky girl, and a pretty ruby bracelet with 14 karat goldfilled elements that is the epitome of simple elegance. It's small enough to be worn everyday, elegant enough to wear when you are dressed up!Yes, I'm working hard and will have more to blog about soon. Meanwhile, stay cool, but enjoy the summer days. I'm hoping to go kayaking on the Potomac tomorrow!

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Ruby: The July Birthstone

Rubies are wonderful! Most of the rubies that I get are an opaque colour and usually a dark red or a pinkish red. I wish that I could find more rubies in different sizes (especially larger sizes) and shapes, but I do jump on any opportunity to get some that look out of the ordinary.
Rubies belong to the corundum family of gemstones and are generally the most valuable of that type. They register a 9 on the Moh's scale (with ultimate hardness a 10), so they are a perfect gemstone for jewelry. Almost every ruby is enhanced in some way (unless you are dealing with very rough natural stones), and you can assume that most rubies are heat-treated.
The lore surrounding rubies is legend. Rubies are believed to be able to ward off evil, to protect health, and to imbue a warrior with strength and courage. A ruby under the pillow is supposed to ward off nightmares (I love that one!) And of course rubies represent romance and passion to this day.
The first ruby bracelet features a hexagonal ruby at its center and lots of sterling silver as well as a ruby cabochon bezel-set in the toggle clasp. The ruby bracelet, below, is quite simple and symmetrical. Below the bracelet are three pairs of ruby earrings featuring shield-shaped rubies, faceted rondelles (with great drum-shaped sterling beads), and smooth teardrops.
Lapis bracelets, below, are as deep and intense blue as the ruby bracelets and earrings are red. The first lapis bracelet is an especial favorite since it features 2 strands of variously shaped lapis stones and a Karen Hill Tribes strand dangling sterling silver charms. The second lapis bracelet features large, beautifully coloured lapis nuggets, smoothly polished and matched perfectly to some lampwork beads I commissioned from artist Robin Weber. Its pretty bird clasp makes it really special!

Stay cool, and stay tuned; my family, including my darling grand-daughter have left the country to be abroad. I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands!

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Happy Fourth of July!

It's July and that means working with rubies - those red gemstones that I dearly love. Rubies are great in jewelry alone, but it's most fun to mix them with other stones, especially those that may seem an unlikely mix as in the bracelet above where deep blue turquoise has been mixed with dark pinkish-red rubies. I love this combination; it's very Victorian, but also very versatile and goes with a lot more colours in your closet than you may realize. And yes, that is a cabochon ruby toggle clasp also - the perfect finishing touch!
The bracelet below is a good example of how versatile rubies are and how well they mix. Here the rubies join aquamarines, lampwork beads, and kunzite, one of the rarest of all gemstones, a light pink. The lampwork beads here are slightly "dimpled" which gives them an interesting look, and they combines all three colours of the gemstones in the bracelet. The sterling silver toggle clasp here came to me straight from Bali, and it has its intricate raised design on both sides! A very elegant bracelet.

Below, rubies show off their beauty accompanied by intricately decorated sterling silver and borosilicate beads that glow in the light. A second strand of this ruby bracelet is made of one of my favorite Karen Hill Tribes chains dangling little ruby charms. I've used the pretty lavishly decorated toggle clasp again here.

Aquamarine is a perrenial favorite, and a gemstone that is especially beautiful for summer; it looks great with clothing in summer colours and beautiful against lightly tanned skin. The bracelet below is accented by complex borosilicate lampwork beads with little "bumps" on them for texture. The aquamarines are a pretty light blue.
The last bracelet is made of blue lace agate and blue chalcedony and features little charms around the bracelet. It's another combination of stones that looks great for summer!
I'm hoping that we'll have a grand view of the D.C. fireworks this Saturday from my apartment. If we do, it's going to be wonderful to sit in the living room and watch the fireworks flash across the sky without having to park and walk to find a viewing place. It will be my new grand-daughter's first Fourth of July and while the significance of the holiday is lost on her, the fireworks should get her attention.

If It's Not One Thing, It's Another.....

This rhodochrosite bracelet really cheers me up, and wow! do I ever need cheering up! While I usually don't get into personal issues here on the jewelry blog, this last week (and it's been some kind of month, too, but that's another story) has really been rough.
Orders, orders, orders, and I have lost the person who does the packing/wrapping for me. Unfortunately, I'm not the fastest wrapper/packer in the world, so I'm behind on getting orders mailed out - tomorrow I plan another marathon day to catch up finally.
On Tuesday of last week, I ate some lemon frozen yoghurt. Sounds delicious, right? But even though it looked as though it could have melted and refrozen and there was a slit in the top, it was late, and I wanted, really wanted, that lemon yoghurt. Food poisoning is not fun. I had salmonella once in India, and this ran a close second to that and lasted almost as long. This food poisoning, like salmonella, makes you feel bad all over; all you can do is lie as still as possible - not that easy since no position is really comfortable and you feel too bad even to read.
In addition to everything else, Startlogic, the company who hosts my website, has put in a new server that is supposed(!?!) to be wonderful. Today, my site has been offline almost all day. In the last 2 weeks, my site has been offline more than it had in the 4 previous years totaled. I still can't check my e-mail through the site at this moment, and just when I thought it was back on, it's down again! Sometimes I hate "improvements."
But I do like the bracelet above (there are 2 different views of it) made with rhodochrosite, rubies, and the lampwork of Lynn Nurge. I've also been looking at a lot of Georgian and Victorian jewelry; the ruby bracelet below features rubies and tuquoise, a combination I found in a Victorian brooch and liked. The colours complement each other very well - I can't wait to try the combination with gold.
Aquamarine is featured in the jade earrings in the shape of lilies. A small smooth nugget of aquamarine forms the stamen of the lily. The earrings hang from sterling silver posts with a good-sized white freshwater pearl cabochon. Very elegant earrings.

The tiger-eye bracelet below features a focal carved oval tigereye surrounded by genuine aquamarines, a large aquamarine slab, and once again, the lampwork beads of Lynn Nurge.
Now if my website will just stay online, I'll be able to get these posted!
And keep your fingers crossed for me that this week will be a significant improvement over the last one!

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Ruby - The July Birthstone

I love rubies! One of the pieces of jewelry I remember from childhood was a faceted ruby pear (glass, of course) pendant that hung from a gold chain. I loved it; it made me think of fairy tales and India and other exotic places that, at the time, I didn't know if I would ever get to see. Now that I have, rubies still remind me of India, Turkey, Egypt, and Spain. I love working with them, and I'm always on the lookout for rubies to put in my jewelry - and the bigger they are, the better! (See links to jewelry at the end of this post.)

Rubies are a folklore staple, part of their exotic mystique. My favorite bit of ruby lore is the belief that putting a ruby under your pillow will ward off nightmares. Also, the ruby is associated in many cultures with an increase in prosperity, fame and accomplishments. Wearing a ruby was/is said to protect one from danger, and various diseases of the blood. According to Aryuvedic traditions, they strengthen the heart, restore balance in both love and spiritual relationships, and help to prevent miscarriages. Of course, rubies are thought to represent passion when a man presents one to a woman as a gift.

In Arabian lore, the ruby (also called the jacinth) was used to describe the beauty of the houris in paradise. Another name for the ruby, widely used in the 17th century was the carbuncle although it was more common to use this word to indicate a garnet. In India, it was known as the "Lord of the Gemstones". In Proverbs 31:10, a virtuous wife’s worth is “far above rubies.”

Scientifically, rubies are known as corundum (as are sapphires) and are a 9 in hardness on the Moh's scale. Only the diamond is harder. Many of the best, dark red rubies are known as pigeon's blood rubies. The best rubies were always thought to come from Burma. However, rubies also come from Thailand, India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and even North Carolina in the USA.
It's hard to beat the richness of rubies, even with my favorite - the emerald. The ruby has luxury, mystery, and romance all rolled into one fabulous gemstone!
Ruby Bracelets Ruby Earrings Ruby Necklaces All on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website.

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