Coral Jewelry

Coral or Precious Coral as it's sometimes called is not an actual stone as some may think, it's actually the skeletal branches of a marine coral species. That means the beautiful polished "stone" that many of us have in our jewelry box was actually a living breathing organism at one time, thriving and multiplying in earths vast and beautiful oceans. In my mind this makes coral just as special and unique as a luminous pearl. The skeleton of marine coral is naturally a pink or red hue however it can also range in hues of orange, brown and white. Precious coral is usually sold in it's natural hue not dyed only cut and polished. Non precious coral beads are usually a less rare species of coral or dyed stones that are found more commonly around the world like chalcedony and is usually the type of coral most people own. This season is the time to bring out those coral pieces especially if they are an orangery hue as orange is all the rave this season.

The above beaded necklace was made with coral barrel beads, Swarovski crystal bicone beads, clear seed beads, spacer beads, coral pendant,

Costume Jewelry: Rhinestone Rings

Rings have always been a staple in my collection, I love them big and flashy as well as small and conservative. I tend to buy more costume rings than precious metal rings because they are a lot cheaper which means you can add more to your collection. Flea markets are a great place to buy costume jewelry and rhinestone rings are always a popular selection, you can usually find nice size rhinestone rings of all colors and styles for under 5 dollars. I know many women think costume jewelry is cheaply made therefore it doesn't last long and not worth the money but that is not always the case. I've had costume jewelry pieces that have lasted for years and still as pretty as the day I bought them, its all about taking care of your jewelry no matter how cheap or expensive it is. Learning proper storing techniques will also increase the life of your jewelry and keep it looking sparkly. Also picking the best days for wearing your jewelry will help keep it like new. If its a very hot day silver tone jewelry especially rings are not your best bet, when you sweat it will cause the material to break down and eventually turn your finger green this is also true on rainy days or days when you want to go swimming. There are many ways to increase the life of your costume jewelry so you can keep them looking like new for years to come.

Glass and Crystal Beaded Bracelet

I love working with glass and crystal I would guess the majority of my pieces of jewelry feature glass, crystal or both. Summer in my opinion is the best time of year to wear crystal or glass because once the jewelry catches a ray of sunlight it will sparkle and be very dazzling grabbing the attention of those around you. I guess you can say I love "bling" and anything that has a little sparkle or glitter so most of my beaded jewelry will reflect that. If one were to raid my bead collection they would be amazed at how many glass beads I own, foil lined glass beads dominate my glass collection followed by faceted and bicone crystal beads.
A lot of cheap costume jewelry that I have bought over the years are made with cheap plastic feeling fake glass beads that look nice but feel horrible so when I started recreating vintage style costume jewelry I wanted to keep the same look but use real glass and crystal beads and the results turned out to be very popular. Above is a picture of a bracelet I made with blue foil lined glass beads, light sapphire Swarovski crystal beads clear glass beads and foil lined seed beads.

Beaded Jewelry: Quartz

Quartz is one of the most abundant minerals on earth it comes in many different varities, agate, rose quartz, amethyst, jasper, aventurine and onyx are a few popular varieties of Quartz. A lot of the beaded jewelry that I make and wear contain some type of quartz mineral. I love all types of gemstone jewelry but rose quartz is usually my go to stone, I like to wear pink all year long so I find alot of my beaded jewelry consist of rose quartz with some type of crystal bead or glass bead accent. One of my favorite pairs of dangle earrings that I made were rose quartz with pink glass pearl beads and pink rose Swarovski crystal bicones (pictured above) I wore these a lot last summer.

Good Lighting For Taking Pictures

I have found that during the winter months my beaded jewelry pictures don't come out as vibrant and colorful because artificial light doesn't come close to natural sun light. During the late spring and summer months I find that I spend a lot of time beside my window trying to take advantage of the huge amount of light that comes through. Late mornings are usually the best for me because of where my room and window sit and I love every single ray. If your taking pictures of your beaded jewelry in the winter months one thing that helps me is of course putting my camera on macro mode and going to the room with the most light. My kitchen has a good light source and even though it's not as good as the sun I still manage to take nice pictures so I'm still happy. Now if only this snow will melt. The earrings above were made with aventurine stone, smokey topaz glass barrel beads, gold glass pearls and topaz Swarovski crystal bicone beads.

Costume Jewelry

I think every women owns at least one piece of costume jewelry, it may even be a colorful rhinestone bracelet. Costume jewelry is so popular because its usually very affordable and often trendy. Vintage costume jewelry is considered treasure to jewelry collectors and often come at a hefty price. I've seen signed vintage pieces selling for well over 1,000 dollars and in antique world that's some what cheap. Many costume jewelry pieces are made with materials like lucite, glass, crystal, enamel and rhinestones. If you want a little edge to your outfit try adding a long triple wrapped strand of faux pearls. The necklace above was made with hematite round beads, howlite round beads, clear seed beads and white glass pearls.

Beaded Jewelry: Glass beads

Glass beads come in a range of different colors and sizes from faceted to foil lined, glass beads have been popular among beaded jewelry designers for many years. Whats not to love about them? They can add sparkle to anything they are strung on and for that reason they not only make great accents but also dazzling focal beads. Lamp work and foil lined beads are also very popular they can turn a dull bracelet into something unique and interesting. If your trying to make your beaded jewelry pieces pop try adding a few glass beads I'm sure you will be very pleased with the end result. The bracelet above was made with round jade stone, green foil lined glass button beads, round emerald green Swarovski crystal beads and opal Swarovski crystal bicone beads.