Summer means Turquoise

Nothing goes better with a tan, jeans a t-shirt that turquoise! This batch mixes tiny turquoise beads, brown glass seed beads, copper or pewter, and pretty picture jasper teardrops.

Turquoise brings happiness and good fortune.It is the birthstone for Sagittarius (Archer): Nov. 22-Dec. 21 and is a gift for the 5th year of marriage.

Healing ability: Guards against all diseases. Attracts healing spirits. Believed to assist in subtle body alignment & strengthening and the absorption of nutrients while strengthening the immune system and stimulating tissue regeneration.

Mystical power: Valuable amulet for travelers. Protective stone, worn to guard against violence and accidents. Warns the wearer of danger or illness by changing color. In the 13th century, turquoise was thought to protect the wearer from falling, especially from horses. Promotes gentleness, tranquility, comfort, and wholeness. Stabilizes and balance the emotions and is drives away evil spirits.

Care and treatment: The color and lustre deteriorate with exposure to sunlight, heat, or various weak acids. Avoid hot water and household chemicals. Relatively soft so avoid scratches and sharp blows. Make sure coatings are not removed.

As always this information is provided for curiosity only and is in no way meant to be medical advice.

Amazonite

These are perfect to go with jeans and a white shirt for summer.  

Amazonite is the birthstone for both Virgo and Aries    

For healing ability it improves general health, jump starts metabolism and aids in dieting. It is good for the skin. it is also thought to be soothing and calms your emotions while quieting the brain. 

It releases anxiety, fear, and stress.

As for mystical abilities it balances masculine and feminine qualities of your personality. It relieves negative energy blockages. Amazonite also aids in communication. It promotes self-love and improves psychic visions.it is also thought to make for a happy marriage.

*Stone trivia is provided for curiosity only and is in no way meant to be medical advice.

Kambaba Jasper

I am so behind in posting new work for you to see! 

Perhaps in the next few weeks I can get caught up.

 

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Kambaba Jasper (also called crocodile jasper) is a rare fossilized jasper from Madagascar. It is a stromatolite jasper, which means that it is composed of fossilized algae. Stromatolites, colonial structures created by cyanobacteria (commonly called blue-green algae) are among the oldest fossils on earth, being found in rocks over 3 billion years old. Once the dominant life form on the planet, Stromatolites are now found in only a few places, such as Madagascar. Cyanobacteria form these mound-like structures by growing through sediment, binding the particles together resulting in successive layers which, over very long time periods, may harden to form rocks. These structures may be from fractions of an inch to several feet in diameter. 

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Cyanobacteria were likely responsible for the creation of earth's oxygen atmosphere. They were the dominant life form on Earth for over 2 billion years. Today they are nearly extinct, living a precarious existence in only a few localities worldwide. Fossil stromatolites constitute our earliest and most pervasive record of life on Earth. Although many stromatolites are fossils, there are a number of locations on the modern-day Earth where Stromatolites are still forming.

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This stone calms emotions and brings balance and relaxation, and like all jaspers, it is a stone of protection and grounding. It promotes rational thinking and teaches the wearer to have empathy with the feelings of others. It aids in the ability to deal with difficult situations and helps turn thoughts into actions. It also works on stimulating creativity whilst encouraging self discipline to complete endeavors or projects which have lost their original excitement. In a healing capacity it aids the circulation and digestion and detoxifies the blood.

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Recent Work

I am busy stocking up for all of my upcoming shows. Starting next weekend I have 8 fairly large shows in a row!! Most require travel leaving only 1 or 2 days in between shows to restock. So that is why I am a beading fiend at the moment!

My new pendants have been popular. Here are a few more: 

 Left to right: Ocean jasper and labradorite, ocean jasper and African fire agate, ocean jasper and jasper, ocean jasper and freshwater pearl. All on a pewter hanger.

 Left to right: Ocean jasper and labradorite, agate, and two fossilized coral and freshwater pearl. The first on a gold plated hanger and the other three on a pewter hanger.

  Left to right:The first two are green opal on copper, green opal with quartz on copper and agate with quartz on gold plate.

  Left to right: The first two are red creek jasper on pewter, ocean jasper and peridot on pewter, ocean jasper and African fire agate on copper.

Left to right: turritella agate and freshwater pearl on copper, turritella agate and moonstone on pewter and turritella agate and freshwater pearl on pewter.

Experimenting - New Earring Designs

I have been trying out more new earring designs. 

All use copper. Once I have the designs mastered then I will create some in sterling. The first two use small faceted glass teardrops. The one on the right use a pretty pale blue stone, amazonite. I think this design might also lend itself nicely to a pendant.

Amazonite is found in Colorado, Canada and Brazil.It is the birthstone for Virgo and Aries

Healing ability: Improves general health. Jump starts metabolism and aids dieting. Good for the skin. Soothes and calms emotions. Quiets brain. Releases anxiety, fear, stress

Mystical power: Balance masculine and feminine qualities of your personality. Relieves negative energy blockages. Aids in communication. Promotes self-love. Improves  psychic visions. Makes for a happy marriage. 

As always stone trivia is provided for curiosity only and is not meant to be medical advice. 

Show Calendar Set

I just heard from my last pending show application, Issaquah Salmon Days in October - it was a yes! I have now updated my events calendar through the end of this year. Applying to shows is a fairly involved process. I recently came across this description shared by artist Justan Elk:

"Most don’t know it, but exhibiting at all Art shows is an involved and very competitive process that requires a lot of planning. The Art show application process starts about 6 to 9 months before show date when all artists who want to participate submit images of their work plus pay a fee so their work will be considered by a jury for a show. For well known shows, there are between about 3 and 10 artists who apply for every space available space. The jury scores each artist’s work and the top scoring artists in each category are invited to attend. Other applicants are either added to an alternate list, which is commonly called a "wait list." People on the alternate list are drawn from if selected artists don’t attend for some reason. The rest of the applicants are rejected. Due to the highly competitive process, many artists will apply for several shows which occur on the same weekend. That way artists have better opportunity to achieve their target number of shows.
When an Artist is accepted to a show, the artist pays a substantial fee for their booth space. Everything that goes on the booth space is provided by the artist. A 10’ x 10’ space is usually half the cost of a 10’ x 20’ space, and a space with a corner that can be used as viewing space is an added premium."  You can see Justans work on his Web site: www.justan-elk.com or Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justan-Elk-Artworks/142618685929898

I feel very lucky this year to have gotten an invitation to all but one of the shows I applied to. Part of that is due to better photos and knowing my niche. But as you learned above it is a very competitive process, even more so for jewelers. There are often sometimes special requirements for jewelers because there are so many of us. So luck does play a part!

Check out my calendar and come and visit me at one of my many events.

What is in a Name

Some jewelers come up with clever names for their designs. I have always struggled with that. I tend to call things by the things that are in them. Descriptive, but not very creative. Take these earrings. Introduced more than a year ago, I called them triple dangles. This year I have added a new twist by the addition of a hammered dagger. So now what do I call them?