Assembling Necklaces

These are like charm bracelets.  I love finding odd and unusual items to put together for my necklaces.  Things that have some relation to each other in color or texture or feel.   My first choice is for the focal link, in the center.  It could be a pendant I had made before but decided it needed something more, or a big foreign coin , anything interesting to grab attention.  The other links have to relate to that main one in some way.  Stone beads that repeat a color, perhaps.

Foreign coins really interest me!  They often have animals or other pretty images on them and , of course make you think of the adventure of travel.  This  one above is an example.   I think about the color of the metal when I put the links together.  Size and texture are important elements in the design, too.The little bead mosaics and colorful glass or stone beads give a little boost to the design.

In this one above, I just like to mix the different metals. The focal piece is wire formed into a

 flower shape, sligtly hammered.  I'm thinkin Spring!  I have a

new disc cutter, so it's easy to make these discs

and circles.  It takes a little muscle to hammer

them out, but at least I don't have to hand cut

them!  The mixed metals are a beautiful combin-

ation, I think.  It'a an adventure to find just the

perfect link that works with the next link.  End-

lessly interesting to me.

I've Returned!

It's been about 4 years since my last blog, and I think I may have enough ideas to do another one, now!  I'll try to do this more often!

I've gotten serious about the lapidary work since I last spoke.  That's cutting and polishing stones.  I don't really know a lot about minerals, but I love the colors and patterns of them.  Mostly I use jaspers and agates.  My rock hound friends tell me that those are the most abundant types around that I'll be using. 

There are so many shapes that people use for their jewelry designs.  I seem to like the long, narrow rectangle shape best.  I think mostly about the pattern of the stone and just do what seems to work best with that.  I like larger pieces than smaller ones.  I mean, if I'm going to do all this work, I want them to be noticed!!   It does take time. 

After selecting a slab of stone (somebody usually already has done this step for me), I draw on it with a sharpy pen so that I can then cut it into rough shapes with an electric saw that's made for that purpose.  When that is done, I sit down at the machine with 6 grinding/polishing wheels from coarse to very fine.  Water runs over the wheels while you work so that friction doesn't build up and the slurry is washed away.  I don't do facets, just the rounded cabochon shape.  I am using my rock club's tools, so can only go once a week.  It takes a long time to get the skills that are necessary, I've found.  At least for me, anyway.  So we are talking hours of work!

After the stone is perfectly smooth and just the shape I   want, I decide what sort of setting to make for it.  In the pictures I'm showing here, I'm amazed at how feminine and how masculine the designs are, depending on how I feel about the stone!  I'm not sure why that happens, but I definitely listen to the stone, and what seems appropriate for it.  I don't always use the bezel technique
to "capture" the stone. Sometime I like a heavier "frame" around the stone and use a heavy duty epoxy to hold in the stone.  

I'm hoping those who read this blog will tell me what shapes appeal to them and what they like so I'll have an idea what other people are looking for.  I want my customers to be happy, though I do love to go with my own ideas.   Hope this gives a small idea what cutting and polishing stones is like.