Jewelry Set - for Summer !

The Big, the Bold, the Heavy jewelry that has been so popular these past few seasons needs to now be overcome by sparkle and light weight jewelry pieces for the hot Summer season.

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In keeping with the colorful and light weight theme, Gayle has come up with a selection that joins together clusters of varying colors of Freshwater Pearls that are accented by sparkling crystal beads in a set that mates the necklace, earrings and bracelet into a colorful and lightweight Summer selection.

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GEMSTONE JEWELRY - using Mother of Pearl !

Mother of pearl is the common name for iridescent nacre, a blend of minerals that are secreted by oysters and other mollusks and deposited inside their shells, coating and protecting their bodies from parasites and foreign objects. Although pearls are popular today, some past cultures regarded colorful pieces of mother of pearl as more desirable decoration for jewelry and other objects. Jewelry made from mother of pearl is in the group called organic jewelry, which includes all jewelry that originates from a living creature, plant or other living organism. Mother of Pearl has made a big comeback in jewelry in the past few years, and is today rated almost equally with many forms of pearls.
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This necklace and earring set is constructed of a Copper Heart pendant, 16mm Mother of Pearl round balls and multi-color crystals with matching crystal earrings.

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This second design uses Mother of Pearl pebbles and polished rounds with gold plated link chain. Matching French Hook earrings complete the set.

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Mother of pearl, also called nacre, is an iridescent layer of material which forms the shell lining of many mollusks. Pearl oysters and abalone are both sources of mother of pearl, which is widely used as an inlay in jewelry, furniture, and musical instruments. Mother of pearl comes in several natural colors, and is often bleached and dyed for decorative use. The dye retains the shimmering layers which make mother of pearl so sought after. Depending on the shell the Mother of Pearl is taken from, it may be processed into large flat or curved pieces, small pieces sometimes call nuggets or processed as polished beads.

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Two substances actually combine to create mother of pearl. The first is plates of aragonite, a material which is secreted by the mollusk. Aragonite contains calcium carbonate and conchiolin, a natural protein. Alone, the plates are very hard, but also very brittle. As a result, the organism also secretes organic material similar to silk to layer between the plates. The result is a strong, flexible material which can withstand hard use.

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Mollusks create mother of pearl to protect themselves. In addition to forming part of the shell, mother of pearl also insulates mollusks from bacterial infection, and reduces irritation from organic material which drifts into the shell.

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Use mild soaps and water on mother of pearl to clean it, and avoid storing it with jewelry which may scratch it, wearing away the luminous layers of nacre.

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GEMSTONE JEWELRY - All in the Name !

Again varying textures make for an interesting mix in this necklace and earring design. This time we have polished gemstone mixed with ceramic a the metalic silver.
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A colorful Mixed Agate shield shapped pendant becomes the highlight, with large polished Ivoryite barrels combine with Ceramic rondels and silver highlights to complete the set. The necklace is asemetric in that silver plated links extend along one side with a large decorative clasp and the Ceramic pieces are color staggered to highlight to asemetric look.

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The set is complemented with silver French Hook earrings of matching Ceramic rondels and silver highlights.

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Since many times there is a bit of confusion when it comes to what to call the white or ivory colored stones in this design and that many times accompany many Turquoise designs., the following is a quick explanation of the differences of this white or ivory colored material. In most cases the names are used interchangably.

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Ivoryite is a unique variety of an extremely fine grained mineral called Magnesite. It is a naturally occuring mineral and not man-made. It is found in Arizona and quarried by hand. Ivoryite has the creamy color, smooth texture, and satin luster of natural Ivory. It is slightly harder however than natural ivory.

Magnesite is a compound that substitutes iron for magnesium with a complete solution series with siderite. Dolomite is almost indistinguishable from magnesite. Magnesite is normally stablized and color shot except for that which is left white or ivory in color as a substitute for Ivory. Many vendors sell Magnesite as stabilized turquoise. Also the famous Wild Horse Turquoise sold throughout the Southwest is predominately Magnesite dug from the same mines as Turquoise and many times has Turquoise as well as other minerals mixed through it to make for the beautiful designs.

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Howlite, named for its discoverer Henry How is one of those minerals that is more famous for imitating another mineral than being used for itself. In most cases the other mineral is Turquoise, a phosphate gemstone. Although natural Howlite is always white or gray, it can accept dyes fairly easily and be dyed a turquoise blue. The look of turquoise is so good that dishonest dealers have been unfortunately successful at this hoax. In more honest circumstances, dyed howlite is an affordable substitute for turquoise carvings, beads, polished stones and cabochons. It accepts a nice polish and its porcelaneous luster is attractive and enhances even undyed beads and carvings. Unfortunately it has low hardness, but it still has a distinct toughness. California is the source for most all of the howlite trade where nodules of up to one hundred pounds have been found.

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But no matter if you like real Turquoise, turquoise colored Howlite, Magnesite or Ivoryite or what is called Wild Horse, the choice is up to the buyer and what the buyer wants to pay for the item. Just make sure what is being bought and the price paid is for what the material really is and really wanted.

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SABOS SPRING BEAD BAZAAR - May 1st & 2nd

The San Antonio Bead and Ornament Society, better known locally as SABOS is holding the Spring Bead Bazaar, this coming Sat and Sunday, May 1st and 2nd, at the Live Oak Civic Center off of Pat Booker Highway, near the intersection of I-35 and Loop 1604.

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See http://www.sabostx.com/ for additional information.

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Jewelry by CnC will be participating, so look us up and stop bye and say Hello. In addition to our unique hand-made and one-of-a-kind jewelry, we will also have a special selection of gemstone beads and pendants, for you to use in your own creations. Or if you prefer, purchase the pendant and beads, and Gayle will make up a special jewelry set for you.

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Check www.twitter.com/jewelrybycnc for any last minute announcements or updates.

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Deep In The Arts Of Texas ROSC Show !

Crazy Lace Agate and Jasper

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As we move out of Summer into the Fall season and watch the colors within the leaves on the trees as they change, it is apparent that the color of jewelry that highlights the seasonal change is an interesting way to go. For the upcoming "Deep In The Arts Of Texas" ROSC Show, here are some designs that show the colors of Autumn.

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Turquoise Agate & Ceramic..................Multi-colored Baltic Amber

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Carnelian ............ ..............Agate Jasper & Ceramic

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Pipestone & Yellow Turquoise... .....Banded Onyx & Sardonyx

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The "Deep In The Arts Of Texas" Show is being held at the

Live Oak Community Center

Pat Booker Rd in Universal City at the junction of I-35 and Loop-1604.

The Show runs from 9 to 5 on Saturday the 10th of October.

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We hope to see our San Antonio area friends.

Don't forget to bring your Discount Card

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Not so Common of the Feldspars !

The first Feldspar, seen below, is a very popular healy-feelie stone found in California with a close cousin from China. The stones from both locations have the same name. Now, contrary to very popular beliefs, it is not a black stone with Andalusite crystals embedded in it. That is how some web sellers offering this particular stone describes it. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

So the question becomes -- what kind of Feldspar is it? Like Unakite, this stone is a composite that features lightly-colored 'calligraphic-like' feldspar crystals called 'phenocrysts' enclosed by a dark matrix of Basalt called the groundmass. Since the helter-skelter arrangement of the crystals rightfully reminds one of Chinese calligraphy, this rock was named "Chinese Writing Stone" in 1980. How these Feldspar crystals got mis-identified as Andalusite in unknown.
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The second Feldspar type stone was originally said to contain four types of Feldspars. In actuallity, only one of its constituent minerals – anorthoclase – is a Feldspar. The other three minerals are two amphiboles (riebeckite and arfvedsonite) and a pyroxene (aegirine).
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Feldspar is a rather expansive group of stones having many members that could one day qualify for ornamental uses as an increasingly eco-minded public begins to discover and delight in the dirt-cheap (pun intended) glories of the earth’s crust. But our Nebula Stone, shown above, is more of a hanger-on than a full fledged membern of the Feldspar grouping, unlike the fully accepted Feldspar gemstones called Sunstone, Moonstone and Andesine or more lapidary type stones like Labradorite, Amazonite and Larvikite, to name a few.
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Thanks to Colored Stone Magazine for info and pictures.

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Encino Park Craft Fair !

For those of you that because of the lousy weather, but boy did we soak up that good rain today, or other reasons, miss out on the Encino Park Women's Club Craft Fair, remember you still have one more day to come and indulge. Being held at the Encino Park Community Center, 1901 Encino Rio, 9 to 5 Sunday the 4th.

Nice slab of Laguna Agate as well as some others, were well appreciated

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Encino Park Craft Fair !

Well it is the first weekend of October, so it is time for the Fall and Holiday 2009 Shows to start.
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The first this year is the

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Encino Park Women's Club Arts & Craft Fair

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Located at the Encino Park Community Center

1901 Encino Rio (the old Fire Station)

(right off of US-281 North out of San Antonio just north of Loop-1604)

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9 to 5 - Sat Oct 3rd and Sun Oct 4th

Our 2008 Encino Park Set-up, come and find us again !

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Some new designs have been created for the show as well as some old standbys.

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Magnesite Intarsa Pendant, Turquoise and Obsidian with Copper Clasp

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Red Stem Coral Pendant, Coral, Turquoise and Onyx with Silver Highlights and Clasp

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Dichroic Pendant, Amber Chips with Golden Highlights and Clasp

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Coral, Jet and Onyx with Silver Clasp

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And for those not wanting a necklace, a Red Stem Coral Pendant and Earrings

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We hope to see our San Antonio area friends and customers this coming Saturday or Sunday.

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Pendants from Natural Stones !

There are many many ways to use natural stones as pendants. Of course probably the best and most well known is that of using a faceted gemstone and it being placed in gold, silver or platinum mounting and then strung on a chain or incorporated into a complete necklace. However, the use of natural gems and stones is becoming more and more popular and there are several mounting methods that allows them to be used as pendants.

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The simplest is drilling a hole and hanging the stone from a bail like has been done with these sliced Agates.

and sliced Druzy Geodes.

Another method is to surround the stone with a very thin strip of brass, bronze, plated silver or gold and "pound" the metal into the edge surface of the stone, and then attach a bail for it to hang from a chain or lanyard.

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The following pieces of quartz have been finished in that manner.

And then for those with wire-wrapping skills, the various stones can be incased in various types of metal and held there by the simplest or most complicated styles of wire-wrapping.

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This is an Indonesial Coral Fossil Stone in a basic wrap.

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Pieces of Pietersite and Obsidian are held in place by a slihtly more complicated wrap.

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Here an Amethyst Geode is held by a simple wire-wrap.

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While this Crazy Lace Agete is held by a more complicated wire-warp.

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Thanks to several who provided pieces or pictures to use as samples.

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