First Day of Down Time

I’ve run out of hours for my seasonal job. Whew! I must say, I was sooooo ready. I really do love this break. Other than Halloween, some gigs with the band, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and our trip to Prague, Vienna, Salzburg and Munich in January, I can be very devoted to the needs of my clients and you, my adoring fans. You are digitally showering me in roses, thank you!

To celebrate this first day off, I have some new products to show off. Peridot. Finally. I’ve had it in my drawer forever it seems. It really is a hard bead to work with. There really are few options with peridot. Shapes are seriously limited. I believe this is because peridot is a brittle material. I have to be really gentle with it. I can muscle the agates and jades without trouble, but peridot was so easy to splinter. This is odd, because its hardness on the Moh scale is in the same area as jade. Must be because the pieces I’m working with are so small.

The first three are all pretty simple pieces. There are two front close (I love the convenience of the front close necklaces); one with peridot and blue agate, and the next with peridot and green adventurine. The third one incorporates peach adventurine and a new chain I’ve fallen in love with. The figure eight chain is going to be the easy adjustable answer for necklaces that I made too tight and are a pain to rework. I’ve also added a photo of Colleen and me at Oktoberfest at Kelly’s house. I really can’t remember why we were making those faces. Just check out the necklace I’m wearing. It’s Halloween colors!

I’m very pleased with the fourth item, but it tends still to slide around because it’s not perfectly balanced. I’ll work on that for the future. I’m so pleased how the flower came out.

All images link to the product page of the website. Thank you for being such a lovely audience. Stay tuned for matching earrings and bracelets. I’m also getting a wild idea for hair jewelry from the peridot briolettes. I’ll be getting even more ideas from some new books I have coming from the library. Love your local library!