CRYSTALS, GEMS AND JEWELRY

[veronika23]

I know a few of us share a passion for crystals and jewelry as well as makeup so thought I would start a thread on this. Share your stash, finds, whatever!

[Titian06]

Wow!  That is stunning!

[liv545]

@veronika23 this looks like one of those thing my grandma would call a purchase made by "people with more money than sense" 😂😂😂 pretty freakin' fabulous imo. Me out of me would buy.

[Mcakes]

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veronika23 wrote:

Wow! But yeah the cleaning lol

Did you guys see this quartz tub?

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This is where mermaids come from 😮 !!!!!

[Titian06]

@Beadshopgirl - I'm with you!  But can you imagine trying to clean all those nooks and crannies!?  Not to mention all the damage the items we use in a bathroom sink would do!  I love the faucets too, though not the color I would put with a purple geode.

[tsavorite]

@Titian06, @Anonymous,   I so agree, but didn't want to say it!  Since you said it, I feel more comfortable agreeing with you!  I think it's like art, meant to be enjoyed with the eyes, but not used.  It wouldn't be practical to use.  I love amethyst geodes!  ❤️

[Anonymous]

Beautiful sink ♡ but I can't even imagine cleaning it.. haha

[k617]

So this year I picked up on jewelry making...mostly pearl knotting and simple wirework. I love being able to buy my own stones and rework pieces after I've gotten tired of them. I'm mainly working with craft wire for now until I get better, some of these pieces I'll probably re-do with gold-filled or gold wire once my skills are better and I waste less wire!

As previously mentioned, my favourite bead/gem to work with are genuine pearls...I've been obsessed with pearls my entire life (even before the birthstone project kicked off a full-on gem obsession) and it's also my birthstone 😄

Here is a rare Sea of Cortez pearl that I made into a pendant/necklace. This pearl is grown in rainbow-lipped oysters that only grow in, you guessed it, the Sea of Cortez. My dream is to own an entire strand of these one day but that'll probably run me $15k+!

Here's a Tahitian "dancing" keshi necklace, keshi pearls are little nucleus-less pearls that are produced along with nucleated natural pearls. They are typically smaller in size and irregular in shape.

 

This strand of unusual greenish rose-gold freshwater off-round pearls 7.5-8.5mm caught my eye. I LOVE metallic pearls and freshwaters have come a long way over the last few years to have beautiful colours and amazing lustre. I knotted this with light pink  Beaders' Secret thread and finished it off with a rose gold filled clasp:

This is a super long 72-inch Mermaid Strand made with baroque blue Japanese akoya pearls, moonstone rondelles (another birthstone of mine!), faceted stones which I suspect are chalcedony, silver beads, two kinds of lead-free crystals, and faceted aqua glass chicklets. This strand took a LONG time, probably one of my biggest projects to date. Every stone is individually knotted, save for a few with holes slightly too big to knot. It took a lot of time to procure the right stones, sort the stones, plan layout, string and knot. I'd say it probably took me anywhere from 16-20 hours to do, and I did it over the course of about a month (little things here and there)

This is actually a project that I did for my mother in law. She had a triple strand of graduated faux pearls from her mother (hubs' grandmother) which was broken and needed to be reknotted. She was OK with me saving the original layout or making it into something she'll wear more often (a long necklace). Since the strand was broken, pearls were everywhere and I didn't want to have to sort out the graduated layout, so I used the pearls to make a long 32" necklace, earrings and a bracelet set. Took me awhile to pick the right clasp to get the look I wanted. She was thrilled with the result and so was I!

These are two loose pearl strands (unknotted) that I currently have. The top one is a metallic peach pink freshwater pearl strand, about 8-9mm in size. The bottom is an AMAZING 10-11.5 mm metallic white Edison pearl strand (nucleated freshwater pearls) that DH bought for me in May for our 5th wedding annivesary. I have yet to knot either one but I'm looking for that perfect 14k gold clasp for the anniversary strand, so I'm taking my time 🙂

[Tamara76]

@k617  Your work is so beautiful!   I especially love your mermaid strand!   You've got some major talent, girl! ❤️

[tsavorite]

@k617,

I love your work!   I love the baroque blue akoya pearls in the Mermaid strand.  All the pearls are so lovely in every strand.  I haven't seen a collection like yours and I love it!

Keep up the good work. 

[jesscheems]

Your work is so beautiful! 

[blackkitty2014]

Wow @k617.  You are so artistic!!! I love all those jewelries you made! I love pearls.  I dont have any in my lil jewelry collection yet.  Need to save up for some Tahiti ones.  They are so expensive though.  Sigh.

[k617]

Yes, Tahitians are very expensive but if you don't mind some baroque ones, you can get a strand just as beautiful for considerably less $$. I actually really like baroque pearls, I find they're easier to wear than perfectly round ones which I feel are much dressier 🙂

[txcatx]

Gorgeous! I love pearls, too.

[Beadshopgirl]

@k617 Want to come over and play? 😉My pearl bead collection. I'll use them all eventually!

[liv545]

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 @Beadshopgirl soooooo pretttttttyyyy!!!!!

[tsavorite]

@Beadshopgirl,

Just Wow!  How gorgeous!

[Beadshopgirl]

@Mcakes I'm such a sucker for pearls! Once a year, the store where I work has a huge sale on pearls, so I end up picking some up, and I've been there 15 years so.... Lol! I definitely hoard more than I make. 

[Mcakes]

Holy Mother of Pearl @Beadshopgirl 😮 !! That is an impressive collection you've got there. You definitely live up to your name 😄 I've never even seen pearls in that green color on the bottom left before. I'd love to see some pieces that you've created too!

[k617]

YESSS @Beadshopgirl!

[Titian06]

Nice collection @Beadshopgirl!

[ElleElleG]

What a beautiful craft @k617; these pieces are lovely!