Essence of Sandalwood -- Earrings

The beads used in these earrings are acrylic, but they are deceptive -- they look very much like carved, antiqued wood. Sandalwood, really. They hang as inverted teardrops from gold fill ear wires, and gold fill findings. From each one them hangs a lustrous, creamy freshwater potato pearl. They're very lightweight, and have the ability to dress up or down. They are 2" long, including the ear wires.

Your jewelry will arrive in a glossy black box with an Adorn Me jewelry label outside and a folded burgundy-colored note inside, written in silver metallic ink on nice card stock. If your purchase is a gift for someone, you can send us a Conversation and tell us what you would like hand-written on the card. This is then boxed and wrapped up in a sparkly silver ribbon, all ready for gift-giving! If you prefer we can leave the ribbon untied, so you can peek inside to see the gift you're giving and then tie the ribbon yourself, just include that in your Convo. You can see more photos in Adorn Me jewelry's store at Etsy.

Over the Moon - Swallows For Good Luck

Swallows have long been a symbol of good luck, because they tell sailors they were getting closer to land, as they do not fly far from shore. Their presence lets farmers know that Spring is coming, and they also eat a lot of insects.

When it comes to these earrings, they are also beautiful birds that fly gracefully over iridescent freshwater coin pearl 'moons.'

These earrings are made with sterling silver wire, though the swallows are silver over brass. They hang from long sterling kidney ear wires that are just over 1.5" in length, for a total earring length of almost 2.5" long. You can get a sense of their scale next to a quarter (Canadian and American quarters are the same size).

These earrings can dress up a little, and they're also great worn with casual attire. These earrings sell for $29.00, plus a reasonable shipping fee, and can be purchased by using the contact form at www.adornmejewelry.net.

Custom Design - Pacifica

This set is named after the ever-changing moods of the Pacific Ocean: the light blue (amazonite nuggets) for warm, calm days -- those summer days where the heat and the cool breeze almost seem dreamlike together. Then the dark teal (apatite nuggets) for colder, less calm days, where the water is choppy and it looks cold. Finally, the greenish (butter jade nuggets) for the roiling, angry sea the Pacific was after the 2006 tsunami. It was green. A shade of green I had never seen before.

Our client had an 8-strand neckace of gorgeous little freshwater pearls -- very tiny. It was given her by her husband and it had been too small for years, so she wasn't able to wear it and wanted to. She wrote me asking if the pearls could be re-strung, making the necklace longer. I offered her the option of adding stones to it to add some interest. She liked that idea and said she wanted stone nuggets water colors, and that she'd also like the accent of dragonflies here and there. I sent her photos of the various nuggets, telling her which ones I felt would work best, and she approved them.

So, the necklace is now 36" long, and has side details of the various nuggets at differing heights, as well as small 2mm silver beads, and on one side, little bali silver dragonflies. It also has a lovely little drop at the back toggle clasp, where hangs a pearl and one nugget of each color -- with a top drilled apatite at the bottom, sharing space with a dragonfly.

It was evident that there was enough pearls left for either one more strand or a matching three-strand bracelet and earrings. She liked the second option, so a bracelet and earrings were created.

The bracelet is really a miniature of the necklace in many ways, down to the matching bali silver toggle closure and the drop hanging from said closure, as you can see from the bracelet close-up.

Our client's preferred earring length is between 1 and 1 1/2 inches from the drop, and they use, a bit differently, all of the elements of the necklace and bracelet. They are suspended from sterling ear wires.

Of course, it's always great fun when a client who knows what she wants gives free rein in the creation of a piece, or set, of jewelry. This set was so very satisfying to create, and that she loves it so much is the ultimate goal and pleasure for this jewelry designer.

More Abundant Veni

A couple more Veni to add to the collection.

The first is black agate with a nice long sugar druzy. She has a sterling silver wire bail that includes a fresh water iridescent silver pearl, a montana swarovski crystal (kind of a dusky gray-blue) and a small hematite seed bead. These same elements are used on her silver belly bracelet. I used on the silver pair of tulip earrings, as well as some montana swarovskis, and tiny little hematite seed beads. It is strung on black faux suede cord with a sterling S clasp. It can be whatever length you like. It sells for $31.50.

The next -- the one I call the Lemon Cream Venus -- is a bit more elaborate. My inability to really capture it well with the camera is frustrating.

The Lemon Cream Venus is a yellow and white goddess, though it looks like it has more and brighter yellow than it actually does. Its companion stones are yellow quartz (with a very slight green tinge) and clear, diamond-shaped glass beads, as well as AB large Czech glass seed beads and four little chartreuse round pearls. Her belly bracelet has butter jade and clear quartz.

Sterling silver, of course, is the only metal used. There is chain for the back part of it, which can be removed if it's too long at 27 3/4", and it would then be 21 1/2" without the chain. This lemony Venus sells for $75.50.