Lovin' my Labradorite

I've blogged about this before, but I just can't help help myself! I've loved labradorite since the first day I saw it. (yes, my addiction to labradorite and moonstone is almost as bad as the pottery addiction) I was in our local bead shop, Jane's Fiber and Beads, and had picked up a funny little gray bead I didn't recognize. They said it was labradorite, and that sometimes the stone had flashes of blue in it. This one didn't, but oh how I wanted to see one that did. The search was on!

I found some gorgeous little round beads and made myself a bracelet. Shortly after I found some bigger beads and made myself another bracelet. I still wear these two bracelets, and I'm happy to say that I can actually bring myself to sell some of my labradorite stash now. (It's hard, but I force myself, ha ha).



I've had this fabulous gem-quality strand since last fall's wholesale gem show, and am finally ready to start letting them go. I made earrings and a pendant yesterday with some of these stones, and posted them in my Etsy shop.



I'm thinking about a bracelet that would use most of the rest of the stones - of course, I'd want to keep that (I'm sooo bad), so maybe I'll just stick to the pendants and earrings.

Something I hadn't seen before - deep blue labradorite - caught my eye at the January gemshow, and this little pendant was made from one of the faceted teardrop I bought. I think these would look great with pearls, too, so I'm going to go up and check out what's in my beading studio. I've been so distracted with metalwork lately that I haven't been making any bead pieces at all. I need to get back to some of that, as I really do love it. Ha, and it's a whole lot warmer and nicer up there than in the basement, that's for sure!

I have some beautiful flashy cabochons that are perfect for rings, too, and am currently working on a big ring with the largest of the ovals I have.



I think I'm going to accent it with a garnet - I love the way garnets and rubies look with labradorite. Hope to finish this one today while I'm working on a custom ring order. (That's you, Jen!)




Then I'll be starting on a design for the 3 small ovals that I have. I'll be posting that one with the extra cabochons for custom sized orders. Since I've got three of these cabs, I am making one for me, too. Well, it's definitely time to get off the computer and down to the studio now - talk to you later!