Lava Pearls

When I started this webite/blog I intended to put on it pictures of my designs and the things I would make when I feel like it. I like to have someplace to put the pictures of the things I make for my enjoyment and if others enjoy it too, then that is an added bonus. I never thought about the possibility that strangers would stumble across the site or if they did, they might enjoy the thing they see. But that is exactly what happened this summer. Ron contacted me regarding a Lava Pearl necklase he and his wife Karen had been looking at, here on my blog. They were traveling to Iceland in August and wanted to buy the necklace from me.

I was so honored and happy about their interest in my things that when they came to Iceland I included another necklace, free, with the one they bought. It was a little “Thank you” for their interest. That way Karen could choose from the different sizes of Lava Pearls.

These are the ones they got:

When Dorothy, Karen´s mother, saw the necklaces and she became interested in buying 3 necklaces herself and I made 3 (the smaller versions) for her and dropped them off at their hotel. And as a little “Thank you” I included a necklace that I particularly like myself with Lava Pearl and a Freshwater Pearl from the Canary Islands. This is a picture of it:

Freshwater Pearls on a snake chain

This summer I bought a few pearls. These were some of them and I think this is a very cute necklace. Some time ago I made the same kind of necklace with pearls in different color. These pearls are peach colored and look really sweet!

Necklace and earrings – 14 kt gold with diamonds

I wanted to make something really nice for myself. So I thought what kind of things I might like I got the idea of a necklace with matching earrings. A few years ago I bought myself a few diamonds but didn´t have the spesific idea to put them in. Now I wanted to make a necklace with one of the diamonds and make earrings with slightly smaller ones. I used a 17.5 point diamond in the necklace and a 10 point stone for each of the earrings.

This is how the necklace looks like

And this is how the side view is of the necklace

And this is the whole set, the necklace and the matching earrings

Turquoise necklace

At one point during my gemstone shopping in London I came across this square Turquoise stone and loved the shape of it. I didn´t have any spesific design in mind when I bought it so it has been in my gemstone box for a few years. I was letting my mind wander while my fingers were going through my treasure chest and when I touched this stone I knew I wanted to make something very nice with it.

So I made the setting with the silver sheet under the stone a bit bigger than the stone. The sides were a bit big and I took a bit off the corners of them before hammering the silver to fasten the stone. I really love the outcome. I think this necklace is very elegant and the stone color is bright and eyecatching. Since I put the black rubber cord instead of silver chain I think the piece looks very modern and there is something so bright and beautiful about this design that makes me really happy with it

Charoite necklace

When I was browsing through my favorite gemstone shop in London I came across this very interesting looking stone, Charoite. It´s wonderfully pale purple and has the look of many needles pressed together (the tiny crystal needles). This stone can only be found in Russia and I like the rarity of the stone. I only bought one stone so this piece I will never be able to repeat even if I wanted to

The handmade setting looks pretty cool and because I feel this is a rather delicate stone I used a delicate snake chain with this design of mine.

I did have some difficulty trying to capture the real color of the stone. I think you really have to see it with your own eyes to see the real beauty of it.

Pyretised Ammonite

A few years ago I bought this big black and pyritized stone. It was very expensive but I loved that it had a pyritized remains of an ocean animal at the center. So when I wanted to make something interesting a few weeks ago this stone interested me.It´s big and bold and I love it.

What I did to make a necklace out of this beauty is this: I made the setting for the stone out of 0.8 mm silver sheet (the back of the setting) and 0.5 mm silver sheet (the sides of the setting) and then put a silver sheet for the chain at the back. When the setting was finished and the stone hammered in place I thought the necklace would look amazing if it had rubber cord. I really like this necklace because I think the stone is amazing!

Front view

Side view

Silver necklace with Gilded Drusy

A few years ago I bought a stone that is different from anything I´ve ever seen. It is a so called Drusy. It´s a stone that has in it´s middle stone formation and when the stone is sawed open you see the tiny crystals that has grown in it. Then a part of the stone and the crystal formations are cut/sawed into smaller parts and this particular part was then gilded with 22 kt Gold.

The stone was ridiculously over priced but I´m “stone crazy” and therefore I just bought it. I didn´t know if I ever would make something out of it, I just liked watching it and feel a little hipnotised with it.

But then my jewelery making mojo went totally crazy this summer and I just had to do something that takes time and effort to make and this is the outcome:

I used a thick snake chain with the necklace and I love how it looks and sparkles.

This is the side view:

For Karen – Necklace with Malachite

My Forum friend, Karen, asked me if I could do something for her and ofcourse I could.

When I think of someone special I start with browsing my treasure chest and look at my stones. When I have someone special in mind there always is some particular stone that catches my attention and I have to make something with it for the person in question. I´ve been very lucky that the stones I pick are usually something that the person really likes.

What caught my attention for Karen was this very green and long oval shaped Malachite. I instantly felt that it would go very nicely with a silver sheet I had. Me and my friend were experimenting with her rolling mill and I wanted to use handmade paper in it with the silver sheet. And the outcome was very nice. So that was the sheet I wanted to use with the stone, to make it more unique.

I did have some problem with the chain. I wasn´t sure if I wanted a silver chain or a rubber cord but ended up with using a rubber cord that can be taken off the necklace and then a silver chain can be put in it´s place.

I hope Karen really likes her necklace and will wear it often.

For Fiona – two things

My Forum friend, Fiona, asked me if I could make something out of some stones she had. The had been picked up at the Red Sea and she´d had them for a long time. I thought this was very interesting and fun and told her to send them over and I would look at them and see what I could do.

I really liked one of the beautiful blues stones she sent me and wanted to make something nice out of it. I made a setting around the stone and then hammered the silver to hold the stone in place. There were some cracks in the stone so I didn´t want to break it so I hammered very gently and put the silver sheet not too tight up against the stone. Then I put a thick and longer than usual chain on the necklace so it should look fabulous with turtleneck sweaters.

This is how it looks and I think the stone is beautiful and the necklace looks very nice

Side view of the necklace:

I also got a small Rose Quartz that I found pretty cute and made this tiny 14 kt Gold necklace:

I know she wanted to give her niece this necklace.

I hope Fiona likes her things and are happy that I made them for her… otherwise the stones would still be sitting in a shell collecting dust