Ruby in Zoisite Part Deux

Wonderful customer Ms. C is looking for something special, so here's a fun layout of my splashiest ruby in zoisite faceted teardrop briolette pairs (and two FAB surprises at the end!). This is purely for visual feasting; all stones are about the same size. The first four have larger holes and can be wrapped in the same style as the Mistress Antonia earrings in my shop (www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com), with double Celtic swirls. The next two would need to be wrapped in my Wild Celtic Abandon style, a sort of "messy" wrap that allows me to wrap barely the tips and let the stones shine on their own (the first four could be wrapped this way also).

The last two stones ... well, I'll talk about them when we come to them!

Celtic Swirl or Wild Abandon Wrap:

Yum! A little darker green, great ruby inclusions, interesting pale streaks.

Different! Ruby speckles and a very unusual blue cast on these beauties.

Yikes! One big fat ruby chunk; the other stone has a ruby chunk on its side, is a little more quiet. Beautiful base color!

Ruby specks, white zones; the second stone has lots of color on the base.

Wild Abandon Wrap Only:

Gorgeous! Plenty of gold, good ruby, and interesting dark zoisite inclusions surrounded by white.

This was a fuzzy photo, but still gets the point across: These are quite adorable, with their ruby along the base of the teardrop.

Pendant Beads (Hold Onto Your Heart!!)

For a very special necklace - can't wait to make this up! Wonderful markings, mystical swirls, outrageous ruby, too cool.

Yowzah! The photo doesn't begin to do this gorgeous stone justice. Chock full of ruby, there is even some translucency in the ruby zones, making this a remarkable find for a pendant (pricey...) (but worth it...).

Come visit me soon at www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com!

Chains, Cords, Christmas In July!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY SALE! My shop, www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com, is in the midst of a huge sale with terrific discounts all month. Come visit, and wrap up that pesky Christmas shopping nice and early!

Per a request from Ms. A, I've been off on the hunt once again! A green agate Dragon Tooth pendant, wrapped in aged and burnished copper, needs just the right chain or cord for a gentleman to wear.

There are many options, but here are four/five possibilities:

Beautiful medium-link copper curb chain. This is a bigger link than the more petite chain I generally use for ladies' neckpieces. The chain shown has not yet been aged, so it would be considerably darker, and match the already-aged pendant wire. With either my own handmade curly hook-and-eye clasps or a large lobster clasp (VERY masculine), this is probably the best bet for the pendant. (And my son approved it!) 20-22", with clasp. $15.00. Immediately available.

This is quite a nice option: shown is a slim woven cotton cord that mimics leather, and is a rich dark brown. The same look could be achieved with leather, though for a man I'd go a little thicker than shown, I think, with either the cotton or leather (I don't have the thicker cord in my workshop, so while this is a good look it will take a day or two extra to track it down). 20-22", with clasp, cotton: $11.00; leather, $13.00.

Antiqued brass! While this dense link is probably my favorite for a masculine look, there is a slight difference in color: the antiqued brass is a bit greyer than the burnished copper. With matching clasps - either my handmade curly hook-and-eye clasps or a big, solid lobster clasp - this would make a great chain, but I am a little concerned about that color. 20-22", with clasp, $13.00. Immediately available.

I thought this style of braided hemp cord might work, though for a man, and with this pendant, I'd do it in a dark, rich brown, and much thicker (the cord shown is quite dainty). Thinking about it overnight, though, I'm worried that even at three times the size, it wouldn't be heavy enough for the pendant. So unless the recipient has a special fondness for this very eco-friendly fiber product, as I do, I'd probably recommend against it this time. 20-22", with clasp, $18.00. Two-three extra days for finished product shipping.


You can contact me at www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com, and don't forget to visit soon for my Christmas In July Sale!

Huge Discounts All Month!!

Oh, Picasso II

Here's a look at some gorgeous new Picasso jasper diamond twist stones that have recently fallen into my happy clutches. Thanks to a note the other day from dear customer Ms. T, and with a little help from Mother Nature (we're experiencing several rays of sunlight today, I think, and as always, I'm griping about the weather hereabouts - spring can arrive any time it wants to, please) I've finally managed to get a few shots of these beauties. I've been on the hunt for tealy-blue tones in Picasso jasper, a color not often seen. These stones come closest.

These have the most blue-grey-teal in them. The stone on the right looks like a summer sky in the north of England!

Again, lots of blue-grey, not quite as teal, with areas of gold. Subtle, and beautiful.

These are more dramatic, with areas of silver-grey-blue, but lots of brown striations and creamy-gold light.

Yummy! These two are quite serene, with quite a lot of blue-grey-teal background, slender brown striations, and gold.

Now, these have some major fire in them, over the lovely blue-grey-teal tones. The stone on the left looks like an autumn scene in a maple grove. So striking!

These are a bit out of our target color zone, though there is some blue-grey showing, but I just think this pair is very special; the colors are unusual, veering into pinks and lavenders, heather, perhaps. The stone on the left sports an area of rusty-red that resembles the Japanese maple in front of my house, when it begins to turn from mulberry-colors to flame red in the fall. Just delightful!

Do enjoy looking at these pretty stones, and don't forget to pay a visit to my little shop, www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com, anytime you like!

All my best, Suzy

Fabulous Fluorite

Sweet customer Ms. M from my Etsy shop (http://www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com) is looking for a pair of my signature Fiona's Tiny Tears earrings, wrapped (with wild Irish abandon, or course!) in sterling silver wire. They are quite dainty, dropping about 1-1/4 inches with ear wire, and look something like this:

This pair sold almost immediately, so I offered to send Ms. M photos of other available stones that I would work up in the same way. I promised to rummage through my fluorite stash for similar matching pairs.

So you know me: once presented with a mountain of pretty stones, and especially after looking at them through the camera lense, I fell in love with them all over again, and decided that this was another perfect opportunity to share them with everyone right here.

These are fairly close in color to the originals - tealy-blue and palest green-blue - but have faint banding. For myself, I love banding and fractures in fluorite! The banding is barely visible in these; there are no fracture lines.

Palest, gorgeous, pristine green with very few internal markings. Like fresh little leaves!

What a pleasure this was - I found two pairs of palest pink in these tiny fluorite drops. They are absolutely beautiful (though not blue in any way!). I include them just 'cos I couldn't control myself!

These are very tealy and beautiful, a little deeper in color, and one has an area of purple. at its upper tip This would be almost entirely covered by wire wrapping if done up in the same style.

Yummy! Light teal with deeper blue banding, and one has a little patch of deep purple on its base. I love stones like this!

The whole family shows off!

Like most gemstones, fluorite has been imbued with meaning over the centuries, and is said to heighten intuition. Fluorite is also thought to bring order to chaos, and give special powers of discernment and aptitude to the wearer.

I have more of these, mostly with lots of beautiful banding and internal interest; my stash includes larger teardrops, as well, so if you'd like a pair for yourself please pay me a visit at http://www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com!

-Suzy

Lovely Nuggets

Oh, wow - hold onto your hearts! These lapis nuggets are to die for - rustic, irregular, chunky, raw. They are also loaded with pyrite flecks, and look like they've been dusted in gold. I have a limited number of them and several are already dedicated to a necklace, but I've been trying to pull together several options for a glorious pair of earrings for the Divine Ms. C. We're shooting for an earring length of 1-1/2 - 1-3/4 inches. I've placed the stones with their tops hitting the 1/2 inch mark on my trusty measuring tape, which is the approximate drop of the ear wire. Here we go!

This is the grouping that clarified everything about this project. These earrings are going to have to be single drops, because once I add a second nugget, they are HEAVY! And because they are so rustic and irregular, they look clunky as a double drop. I strongly recommend a single drop. Now we can concentrate on shape, and keeping the top wrap a little long, to hit a total earring length of 1-1/2 - 1-3/4 inches.

This pair is on the square side.

These have more of an arrow point look and are quite beautifully blue.

Truly, these embody the word "nugget". They have a more rounded feel (though not round by any stretech of the imagination). Gorgeous! Though the white seams are not an expected sight in lapis, I think these are out of this world!

Another arrow-point-like combo. Astonishingly, the stone nearest the camera has a light, crystalline patch on its tip that looks like aquamarine! So pretty!

Can we ever grow tired of beautiful things like this? I think not!

For more yummy sights, please visit me at www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com; I look forward to seeing you!

-Suzy

Oh, Picasso

Funny how things happen.

A pair of earrings made with what I considered a superb pair of diamond-twist teal-blue-grey Picasso jasper beads languished in my wee shoppe (www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com) for many months; they sold several days ago, and by the end of the same day I had any number of requests for more of the same.

This sort of thing happens with great regularity, almost as if there's an energy that builds up around a piece, sometimes slowly, sometimes very quickly, and then, as if they'd been hiding behind a curtain, they are revealed, and everyone wants them, for reasons I don't pretend to understand. It's fascinating, though!

To all of you who wanted a peek at my remaining stash of these stones, here they are, with a very special friend of theirs. I do have more on the way, so never fear if you don't fall in love today; these charmers always come through, eventually.

Picasso Diamond-Twist Sets 1 & 2

Set 3

Set 4

Set 5 (These are closest in coloration to the originals in my shop)

And...ta-dah... the loveliest labradorite heart pendant bead one can imagine. This will make up into an approximately 2"-drop (rather expensive!) pendant.


Come visit me soon at www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com!

Pendants, and Other Joys

So here's the necklace scoop from my shop (http://www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com/):

I have always labored to add appropriate chains, silk, leather, cords, et cetera, to the pendants I love to make. Although some pendants really cry out for specially constructed neckpieces, it often involves second-guessing what a customer might like or need in a chain, including such issues as length and clasps. When a month or so back my delightful customer, Ms. CB from a land far-far away, asked that I make a special pendant for her, I inquired about her preferred chain; she reported that she has lots of chains, so just wanted the pendant. A little light went on in my head: The People have spoken, give them what they want! (Are you listening, All Dictators??) I decided to offer pendants simply on soft, satin cord that can be tied at the neck, and set up a separate shop section for chains and clasps, some handmade by me, some antiqued by me, as well as some very standard items. This allows my customers to buy a pendant at a very reasonable price, especially if they already have their own chain; and if they want a chain, they get to pick out the length, style, and clasp, to match their desires.


How 'bout that!

Also in this instalment, a few interesting items for the Divine Ms. C to peruse, and you should peek, too, of course!


Here are some upcoming pendant stones:

Aqua terra heart - yummy! It will make up into around a 2" drop pendant.

A huge Picasso jasper elongated teardrop, will probably make up into a 3" drop pendant.

Also Picasso Jasper, with pinky-Southwest tones and terrific markings. Around 2" drop pendant.

Plum Blossom (Oolitic) Jasper teardrop (so pretty!); around a 2" drop pendant.

Mysterious sodalite! Delicious. This stone is around 1" long; haven't decided on exactly how to treat this one yet... (other than to say, very nicely indeed!)

Russian Topaz, and I have to say, this stone is so fascinating in person - there's a certain glow that the camera wasn't able to catch this afternoon. Grey-mustard-green and black, simply scintillating, I'm sure, in the right setting. Probably will work up to a bit over 2" pendant.

VERY interesting rhyolite triangles! I have three, one with many fascinating fissures and druzy-like pockets as shown; the other two are not quite as Yowzah, but similar. Around 1-1/2" drop pendant.

A beautiful green opal heart with tons of fire. Just lovely. Around a 2" drop pendant.

Colors from deep in the forest abound in this wonderful Picasso Jasper teardrop. Around 2" to 2-1/2" drop pendant.

Kiwi jasper, in its glorious dark teal tones with black speckles. Sweet! Maybe 1-1/2" drop pendant.

Another gorgeous green opal heart, this one is filled with autumn tones, and has wonderful depth and shine. Just FAB! Around a 2-1/2" drop pendant, made up.

Yikes! Absolutely gorgeous brown agate with fascinating dark brown inclusions and honey-toned clouds. Spectacular! Around 2-1/2" made up.

Blue lace agate arrow-point briolette. SOOO serene and lovely! I have matching earrings already up in my shop. These will probably make up into around a 1-1/2" drop pendant (there are two).

Wow - brown fire agate oval pendant. Very intriguing, with white-cream inclusions. 1-1/2" pendant when made up, probably.

One of my personal favorites: Chinese Painting Jasper arrow point briolette. Extraordinary, in black, honey and cream. Will make up to around a 2-1/2" long drop pendant.

And now, for the Divine Ms. C: Oregon opal earring sets, in tones of dark amber, honey, white, cream... pinks and reds even pop out occasionally. Beautiful, luscious, rich stones. Made up as earrings, they'll drop around 1-1/2".

And there are more! For you labradorite lovers, I'm awaiting some downright knock-your-socks-off pendant beads, and have fluorite, chrysacolla in lapis, and turquoise in the wings.

Don't forget to visit my shop, www.suzyrocksdesigns.etsy.com, or my new venture over at Artfire, www.suzyrocksdesigns.artfire.com. (I'm planning on different styles over at Artfire - so little time, so many stones...)

Have a great day!