SUMMER SENTATIONS - Cool Waters !

A cool Aqua Flower Glass pendant looks like a flower floating below the cool water. The pendant is accented with white carved Coral, white Shell heishe beads, aqua millifiori and cat-eye beads and crystals. This 21 inch necklace is finished with a Hook and Loop clasp. The set is finished out with matching French Hook drop earrings using similar flower under glass drops.

Corals are marine organisms typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps. The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans, which secret calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton. Coral tissues become colorless as they reveal the white of their calcium carbonate skeletons, an event known as coral bleaching and most corals are found in the white form. Other colorations also exist depending on chemicals and algie in the water in which they grew. Corals are highly sensitive to environmental changes. Scientists have predicted that over 50% of the world's coral reefsmay be destroyed by 2030; and as a result most nations protect them through environmental laws, especially the black corals. To overcome the shortages for jewelry and other ornamental uses, coral farms are now being developed and used for non-ocenaic purposes. Currently many species of Corals, especially reef building varities, are being considered "endangered" and are under consideration for banning for use in jewelry and other decorative uses, following in the footsteps of Ivory. Sponge Coral, however, is not on the endangered species list, plus it is a sustainable product. Sponge Coral is a farmed product and thus is not removed from the Coral Reef and does not cause the environmental damage associated with traditional corals.

Millifiori is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words "mille" (thousand) and "fiori" (flowers). Apsey Pellatt was the first to use the term "millefiori", which appeared in the Oxford Dictionary in 1849. This type of bead was called mosaic beads before then. While the use of this technique long precedes the term millefiori, it is now frequently associated with Venetian glassware. More recently, the millefiori technique has been applied to polymer clays and other materials. Because polymer clay is quite pliable and does not need to be heated and reheated to fuse it, it is much easier to produce millefiori patterns than with glass.


Shell and Crystals are also used in this set.

GEMSTONE JEWELRY - From the Sea !

"From the Sea, From the Sea, From the Beautiful Sea" or however that song goes and depending on where one travels, it is possible to find jewelry that comes totally from the sea. Most is faily inexpensive, but designs that contailn items such as Black Coral can run hundreds, even thousandss of dollars.
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In this design, shells from the sea that have been cut into large 30mm rounds highlight a necklace of Poppy Jasper ovals, Black Agate (Onyx) barrels and heishi shell beads. A copper lobster clasp can connect to a copper chain to allow for varying necklace lengths. Two styles of French Hook dangle earrings complete the set.
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Seashell - Jewelry made from seashellsd are absolutely stunning, and so calming. Seashell jewelry continues to grow in popularity, especially since no two shells are alike, so each piece is as unique as you are! There are millions out there to choose from, so getting some to even match a little bit can be an exciting discovery and bit time consuming.Seashell necklaces and Mother of Pearl (MOP) are quite the favorites, along with some pretty Sand Dollars. Shell jewelry tells everyone you love nature.
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Black Agate (Onyx) which is truely a died black Agate, is more common and perhaps the most famous variety, but not as common as natural Onyx. Onyx is a crypyocrystalline form of Quartz. The colors of its bands range from white to almost every color (save some shades, such as purple or blue). A picture of a true Black Onyx specimum is seen at the left. True specimens of Onyx contain bands of colors of white, tan, and brown. As stated, the pure black form which most people know as Onyx, is not a naturally occuring variety. Black Agate or poorly colored Onyx is heated and dyed black to come up with the pure black form so well liked within the jewelry industry.
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Poppy Jasper is found in two places - Spain and the Morgan Hill area of California. Poppy Jasper exhibits stones of brick red mingling with shades of brown or black. These beautiful gemstones also often show shades of golden yellows, cream, or white in a single bead. Poppy Jasper is a famous, but increasingly rare orbicular jasper with red and yellow dots of "poppy flowers". It is a brecciated jasper, meaning it probably came from sun-dried and oxidized iron-rich clay. The cracks were filled in by other substances. Jasper, a form of Chalcedony, is an opaque impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color. Blue is rare. This mineral breaks with a smooth surface, and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone. It can be highly polished and is used for vases, seals, jewelry and at one time for snuff boxes. When the colors are in stripes or bands, it is called striped or banded jasper. When the colors are in circles or long tubes it is called plume jasper. Jasper is basically chert which owes its red color to iron inclusions.
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Heishi - The literal meaning of heishi is "shell" and specifically refers to pieces of shell which have been drilled and ground into beads and then strung into necklaces. More and more frequently, however, heishi (pronounced hee-shee) has come to refer to hand-made tiny beads made of any natural material. The origin of heishi is fascinating indeed, and is inescapably linked to the ancient history of the people most proficient in its making, the Santo Domingo and San Felipe Pueblo Indians. It is safe to say that this is the oldest form of jewelry in New Mexico (and perhaps in North America), pre-dating the introduction of metals. Centuries ago, the shells used by the Pueblo Indians to make beads were obtained in trade from the Gulf of California. When one looks at a string of heishi, the first reaction is frequently "how on earth can a person do that?" or "to be so perfect, it must be done by machines." The truth is, if it seems exquisitely perfect, it was most likely made by the hands of a highly-skilled, extremely patient craftsperson. Knowing the steps involved in the creation of a good string of heishi can help a potential buyer distinguish—and appreciate the difference— between excellent hand-made jewelry and imitations. First, the raw materials are chosen. The most commonly used are seashells of all kinds—dark and light olive shells, spiney oysters, mother-of-pearl, melon shell. Coral and stones such as lapis, turquoise, jet, pipestone and serpentine are also used to create exquisite contemporary heishi necklaces.
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