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.

Biz of Art - Production Work

While I love creating individual, one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry, I sometimes need to do what I refer to as production work. To me this means taking a design that has been popular, is easy to make, and I have plenty of supplies for and then making many repetitions of this design. During the show season I am so busy that I turn over my inventory fairly rapidly. So production work is a necessity when you are trying to sell enough to pay your every day bills.

I still try and add some individuality to each piece by changing an accent bead, the color theme, or the metal used.  Here are some recent examples.

 In this first series I am using a small wedge of picture jasper as the focal stone. This batch is black seed beads and various pewter accents with pewter clasps.

 Next up I switched to using brown seed beads and copper or pearls with copper clasps.

 The last batch I went back to pewter, but this time with a grey blue seed bead.

 In this series I stuck with the same overall design, but used a wedge shaped agate. 

Here they are mixed with agate accents.

And in the last batch I used black glass beads as accents.

Recent Work - Picture Jasper

What attracted me to these stones was their shape. I knew they would make some sweet little necklaces.Picture Jasper promotes emotional balance and wellbeing. In a healing capacity it works on the immune system and helps to alleviate stress.

 Picture jasper with smokey topaz and glass seed beads. Pewter toggle clasp. 

This one is available in my online shop.

 Left: Picture jasper with pewter and dark brown glass seed beads. 

Center: Picture jasper with gold freshwater pearls and brown glass seed beads, pewter toggle clasp.