Jewelry makes a Great Gift
Adrian Fudge is now 4 weeks old and I can’t wait to get back to Seattle to hold him. Take a look at my last blog post and you will also see that I am not going to be able to have my yearly pre-holiday sale this year. I am already missing it but made the right decision for the present time. I am still making jewelry, as you will see below, and would still love to show it off.
If you are considering purchasing jewelry for gifts (or for yourself!) please don’t hesitate to contact me. You can come to my home to see it or I can pack it up to show at your house, a coffee shop, etc. It is fun for me to just show it off; you don’t have to feel any pressure to buy.
The turquoise necklace below is made from the stones I bought several years ago from a roadside vendor in New Mexico. The cut of the stones and the way they are graduated in size makes them unique to the 60’s/70’s when they were shaped.
Kingman Turquoise & Karen Hilltribe Silver
Garnet is my birthstone so I am particularly drawn to it. These tiny garnets are faceted and shiny so I put them in a beautiful tiny chain of sterling silver along with sterling silver droplets.
Faceted Garnet & Sterling Silver
In contrast to the tiny garnets, I found several beautifully set ammonite fossil slices from the Cretaceous Age (found in Madagascar). The chambers are really well defined in all of them. I placed one of the single ammonite pendants on braided leather with sterling silver leather ends and clasp. Others are on sterling silver chain. The second photo is of an ammonite slice paired with a large fresh water pearl and faceted smoky quartz. I think this looks great with a rolo chain of sterling silver and additional smoky quartz.
Ammonite pendant on braided leather
Ammonite slice, fresh water pearl and faceted smoky quartz
At least once a season I make a necklace from semi-precious stone nuggets because I love the colorful, larger size. They aren’t easy to find and I am always on the lookout. These green chrysoprase stones are one of my favorite “finds” at the Tucson Gem Show last winter. I think they look really good with the Java brass links that pull the rust colors out of the apple green
Chrysoprase & Java Brass
I highlighted the next 2 pendants in my last blog because I found the stone pairings unique and interesting. The first has a large, faceted, green amethyst, a moonstone and a druzy. A druzy is a coating of fine crystals on a rock fracture surface or within a geode. There are green amethyst earrings to match (see last blog). The second pendant has a larger moonstone with a fresh water pearl and faceted amethyst at the bottom. I have this hanging from a sterling silver chain at the moment. Never hesitate to ask if I can change the length or style of a chain, etc.; sometimes it is very easy to do.
Green Amethyst, Druzy & Moonstone
Moonstone, Pearl & Amethyst
The last necklace featured here is very different, for someone who likes a long necklace and an “earthier” style. I have made several necklaces from similar pieces of lapis lazuli set in silver and imported from Afghanistan and they have been very popular. The silver content is unknown but it is tarnished, giving it an antique look.
Lapis and Silver from Afghanistan
So enjoy the season, take extra time to sit in front of your fireplace, and let me know if you want to see anything “in person”. The colors are always better, you can feel the coolness and heft of a real stone, and you can try them on!
People’s “Finds”
It is always great fun when people bring me things they find on their travels to see if we can come up with a way they can be worn. Sometimes it is a special bead they have been saving or a broken necklace that grandma owned. Often it is something found in travel and brought back to make into a necklace.
Deb traveled to Africa and returned with some gorgeous beads. She had the following designs in mind for them and they turned out beautiful….and I learned a new way to make a versatile necklace that can be worn long or short!
Deb was also in the right place at the right time when she acquired these beads from a family friend. These amethyst stones were featured in an earlier post from May titled “Behind the Scenes”. Here is the finished piece.
Another friend was hanging on to necklaces from her teen years that had stones she really liked but that were too tight. We came up with these designs so that she could wear the turquoise and amber again.
One of my more challenging orders was from my daughter Dana who found these dinosaur bones in a fossil shop. They had already been polished, shaped and drilled but the trick was how to show the pair off in a necklace without other stones. This brings back wonderful memories of my road trip with her through New Mexico.
This last necklace was designed around a beautiful piece of Red Rock that a Utah native had hand carved, polished, and drilled using primitive tools and techniques. My friend brought it back with her from a memorable hiking trip in Utah’s famous canyons on Utah’s famous red rock. A few very nice pieces of turquoise and a decorative sterling silver bail add to the design.
Garage Gallery
Jim came up with some really cool shots of my latest necklace designs – this time in his garage! He is storing the “decor” for his new biology classroom in there so his garage is quite interesting.
I particularly love these, taken on his vintage Corvette.
Check out the gallery section to see more.
New Treasures
I did some traveling in early June, spent some time with family, and snagged some treasures. You can expect to see these used in my designs over the next few months. If something catches your eye feel free to contact me to make it your own.
First stop was Boulder, Co. and my sister Gail…..
Hi Gail
….and I stopped to see some cool rocks displayed on a blanket along the river. The young couple was homeless by choice, living out hippie dreams and digging for their own gemstones. I thought the wire-wrapping particularly interesting and picked out this nice piece of copper wrapped quartz.
Our next walk took us to a little bead shop…..I can’t pass a bead shop without going in! I think these lampworked borosilicate glass pieces will make very fun earrings.
Then it was on to San Francisco to nanny for my grandbaby while the rest of our families presented at a Sports Medicine Conference. Claire and I toured a great deal of downtown San Francisco on foot with a big red stroller.
Chinatown was a favorite stop with all of its shops and colorful signage. I found these nuggets of tourmaline there, a size and shape I have not seen before.
My husband and I then drove up the coast of California to look at the ocean cliffs and the redwood trees. A flea market was a “must stop” in Guerneville and there I found fluorite, a favorite stone of mine, in unique shapes that I think were popular in the 1970’s.
May 12 Sale featuring New Designs with Java Brass
I will be out in my driveway with my jewelry on Mother’s Day weekend (Sat. May 12, 1 to 5) to show off what I have been making this spring! If you live in Minnesota stop by and see what can be done with Java Brass. It is beautiful; the chain and findings are handmade for our local Bobby Bead shop by a silversmith in East Java and I have been having a lot of fun working with it. 
One of the best reasons to stop by is to have the chance to hold the necklaces so you can feel the weight and coolness of real metal and real stones. My necklace prices are comparable to the lightweight ones so prevalent in the malls.
To make a day of it in the White Bear Lake area, check below for some other Saturday, May 12 events:
– Pottery Sale by Brian Mielke (15 Birchwood Rd. just down the street from me)
May 10 – 13 9 to 5
http://www.mielkewaypottery.com/
His pieces are gorgeous and his prices incredibly low!
– Mother’s Day Tea at the Fillebrown House http://www.whitebearhistory.org/UpcomingEvents.html
Saturday, May 12, 2012, 1:00pm until 3:00pm (reservations required)
– Visit Lila and Claudine’s across the street from me – just because it is the coolest yarn and gift shop around.. and you have to see their street art!
http://lilaandclaudines.com/
– Next door to Lila and Claudine’s you will find the Coffee Cottage http://www.coffeecottagemn.com/
Great drinks, really good food – stop in for lunch!
Travel Finds
Fall this year was filled with travel. I typically stumble on some great jewelry making finds when I travel, and this time was no exception. Go to my Gallery to see some of them in my finished designs. Jim (photographer) really outdid himself this time, setting up my jewelry around his cute little Duluth cabin.
In September, Dana and I made the most of our road trip to deliver her car to her home in Arizona. In Taos we found a gem seller at a roadside stand with many strands of variscite and turquoise. The stones were beautiful and the cut uncommon. It turns out that these stones are from the 60’s and 70’s!
Rhodocroisite is the Colorado state mineral, so of course I had to pick some up when we traveled through South Park.
Just past Albuqurque is the oldest continuously inhabited community in the nation, the Acoma Pueblo. We met an artist there, C Maurus Chino, who has recently added jewelry making to his passion for painting. He made the beautiful setting for the ammonite (a fossil) using sterling silver and gem quality lapis.
My most recent trip was to Salzburg, Austria where I picked up some Swarovski crystals. You will have to come to my home show on November 13 to see what I did with them, or ask me to email you some photos.
Flower Show
Jim, my photographer, outdid himself this time. Take a look at the new photos in my gallery to see what I have been having fun with since spring. The petals of these gemstone briolette flowers are of semi-precious stone. They seem to go well with copper and with summer!
Deb Roberts Jewelry 