McFarland Designs - Ethical Jewelry Using Fair Trade Stones and Recycled Metal: February 2008

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Aah! More Beads...

Can you believe it? More beads. I think I am officially the labradorite and tourmaline queen... I still haven't listed all of the last batch, and here I am with more - eek! Hopefully you'll be able to find all of the old batch and the new in my bead shop within the next few days.

Labradorite heishi beads

Garnet heishi beads

Tourmaline button beads

Very big faceted labradorite rondelles

Large faceted rose quartz nuggets

Faceted tourmaline rondelles

Still big - but not quite so big - labradorite rondelles

Tourmaline heishi beads

Monday, February 25, 2008

Necklaces galore

Ah, it feels good to get somewhat caught up... although I still somehow have to find a bunch of time to list all these things in my shops, so maybe I'm not so caught up after all. Here are some necklaces I made while sitting watching movies with Carlos these past couple of days. I purchased the pendants (meaning I didn't do the metal work myself), so they were pretty quick to put together.

Pietersite & sterling silver pendant with sunstone.

Ruby & sterling silver pendant with multicolored sapphire rondelles & Bali silver beads.

Another ruby pendant, this time with pink tourmaline.

Rutilated quartz & sterling silver pendant strung on a strand of tundra garnet.

Faceted amethyst & sterling silver pendant strung on a length of multicolored spinel rondelles.

Uh oh, I can't think of the name of the stone in this pendant (can you tell my brain is feeling slightly fried tonight?)... but the little beads used in stringing the necklace are chrysoprase...

Kyanite & sterling silver necklace on a length of kyanite rondelles with Bali spacers.

Flashy faceted labradorite & sterling silver pendant with prehnite.

Spectrolite & sterling silver pendant strung on a necklace made of vasonite rondelles and cool little Bali silver beads...

...and another view of the same that shows the flash of the stone a bit better.

Oh yes, a few more rings

I promised to post these a long time ago, but just got them finished today. I employed a satin finish (which is new for me), which was done by hand while pushing Carlos on the swing today during one of his better-feeling moments. :-)

Pietersite & sterling silver

Pretty blue labradorite with nice markings

More of a greenish labradorite, with a partially oxidized finish

The same stone from a different angle - no wonder I find labradorite so endlessly fascinating...

Whew...

I am totally exhausted... Carlos has been really sick the past couple of days with a high temperature and the most persistent cough I've ever heard. The coughing has been keeping him (and me) from getting any decent sleep so we're all pretty wiped out. I took him to the doctor today and she said he has an ear infection and possibly pneumonia. He got antibiotics and cough syrup with codeine for night time; hopefully he'll be his usual self again soon. In the meantime he has been even more clingy than usual and I haven't had time to do much other than medicate and soothe him and watch movies with him. I think the codeine finally kicked in though so I'm trying to catch up on a huge backlog of work. Here are some beads I bought the other day - I have no idea when I'll get around to listing them in my shop but here's a sneak peek.

Ametrine marquis briolettes

Andalusite marquis briolettes

Fluorite briolettes

Faceted garnet 'rice'beads

Iolite briolettes

Garnet briolettes

Smoky lemon quartz marquis briolettes

Affordable tourmaline oval beads

Faceted prehnite beads

Affordable tourmaline 'brick' beads

Rose quartz marquis briolettes

Large multicolored sapphire rondelles

Even larger red/pink spinel rondelles

Faceted multicolored tourmaline 'rice' beads

I also bought some yummy labradorite cabochons...

These will go up for sale eventually...

...so will these...

...and these...

(another view of the same ones, showing the flash better on the lower right cab, which I think is actually spectrolite)

And these are the ones I'm hoarding for my own designs, so if you really love one of them and would like a custom ring, let me know.

My supplier offered me a smokin' deal on some gorgeous bezel set gemstone pendants, so I couldn't resist stocking up. I've already used some in my own designs (to be posted next), but I bought plenty to sell as well.