Red and gold shimmer

Happy Monday! Here are a few rings I finished this weekend: an apple-red jade in sterling and a gold pyrite druzy in sterling. Love the richness of the colors in both.

The red jade is from Fabby Dabby Stones in Norway (again!!!) and the druzy comes from Julez7JewelzCabochon Thanks to these great suppliers, both to be found on Etsy. I'm definitely loving saturated, rich color these days....Fun to work with and set in something simple and understated in contrast. More to come....

Have a great day!

Moonstone ring

Here's a shimmery moonstone ring I just made. Big enough to make a statement, but reasonable enough to wear everyday!

I love the white-blue iridescence. The silver is oxidized, and I brushed most of it off to leave a very subtle patina.

Comfort band & kiwi earrings

Yesterday, I did this inside-out comfort band in sterling. I'm tempted to hand on to this one, it's so comfy and nice to wear...

Also made these kind of whimsical kiwi jasper drop earrings. I love these stones - the pale bluey-green with little black accents. I've hung them on a very modern and fun jumbled earwire I made in sterling 20 ga. wire. Sturdy, but lightweight.

One more thing....

Before I forget, here's a sterling ring I made today with a beautiful round coral bead, which I tube-riveted to the shank. Very minimalist and modern!

Some colorful earrings

I put together two pairs of earrings yesterday: a tiny sterling pair with 4mm round coral cabochons and a slightly larger pair of sterling with Czech glass beads - lovely, rich, warm reds and greens in these faceted donut beads!

Druzies

Fellow Etsy seller BikBik & Roro has included my pyrite druzy ring in today's post on her lovely blog: http://bikbikroro.blogspot.com/2012/02/druzy.html

Check out her blog; she makes some phenomenal dolls and more!

Here's the ring:

Tiger iron stone from Australia

Here's a really pretty stone that hails from Australia, via Unique Gem in Ontario/Buffalo. I've bought some great cabochons from that store too, including this beauty. I love the swirls of red, brown and grey. It's 20x30mm so had made for a great cocktail or statement ring. I may just have to keep this for moi....

Sparkly blue druzy

Happy Saturday! I finally had a chance to make a ring out of this incredible blue agate titanium druzy yesterday. I love these stones and I think this one works really well in its very simple, satin finish sterling setting:

Love the contrast between the deep blue sparkles and the sterling! This stone once again comes from fabbydabbystones.etsy.com in Norway, who's fast becoming a favorite supplier!

Faceted garnet earrings

These 5mm faceted garnets are very pretty and a gorgeous deep red. I set them in sterling tube settings and formed and soldered graceful sterling earwires to them. I gave the silver a high polish et voila!

Emerald City ring

I've had this lovely chunk of rough emerald kicking around for some time now, and finally got to build a suitably rough ring for it. I hand-forged the fine silver bezel and put that on a recycled sterling base plate and a wide, textured sterling band. I'm loving the results! Makes a definite statement and is comfy to wear...

Hope you like it too. I have another similar emerald nugget that I'll use to do a variation on this ring. Stay tuned...

Gaze into the crystal....

This faceted crystal quartz cab is all natural sparkles! I love the domed shape of it. It's also a sizable 10mm across, once set in its hand-formed fine silver bezel. It sits on a square sterling wire shank - very comfy and delicate.

I gave the silver a satin finish - I like the contrast with the shiny stone. A fun ring to make and to wear....

Colorful Czech glass beads & sterling

These beads arrived in the mail yesterday and I was so excited to get them I had to make something from them. So, here you have it, my Czech glass Picasso mix and sterling earrings:

I just love the colors and variations in these beads. They're puffy, faceted 7mm rondelles on hammered and hand-formed sterling ear wires. A rich blend of red, yellow, white, turquoise and sky blue. Rich and yummy!

White topaz & sterling

Today, I made these lovely little faceted white topaz and sterling earrings. The tube bezel setting allows the light to shine through and really makes them sparkle!

They're really delicate, easy to wear earrings - a favorite design of mine. I definitely prefer simple lines, minimalist esthetic. Working on a prong setting for a rough emerald. I keep progressing, then something messes up....Takes more patience than I have today, I guess! Going to walk dogs instead. Another spring-like day!

Shades of spring

I finally got to it today, somewhat! First, I made a sterling prong setting for a really pretty free-form aquamarine I've had in my studio staring at me for some time. I melted balls on the ends of the prongs and formed the top one into the bail before bending down over the stone. It's rough and interesting - I find, at least! I like the contrast of the setting with the smooth delicately pale stone. It's a really pretty blue with a slight purple cast to it.

Also made a sterling and peridot ring with a 5mm faceted round peridot. Used a tube setting with a nice round sterling shank. Very comfy and it definitely brings spring to mind! The lovely green of peridot is so fresh and zingy!

Reminds me that spring is not too far off. We've had some very spring-like days in Toronto recently - the poor trees and gardens are getting very confused....

Back at it...tomorrow?

So happy to have finished a very intense editing job that kept me away from my studio for the past three weeks - most of the time, at least. Some extremely long days last week, so spent the weekend recovering. I think by tomorrow I'll be good to go. Spent the day trying to whip my studio into some kind of shape. My new Smith torch arrived from www.contenti.com. I'm very excited to give it a whirl! My Gentec was pretty good, but I think this one allows for better control. We'll see.

Also got some lovely faceted topaz, peridot, green quartz in the mail. Very pretty - can't wait to turn them into things.

Off to make dinner - pasta with cilantro/walnut pesto and salad. Have a good evening!