Another Lovely Sapphire bead with pearls

Back in March I got two gorgeous sapphire beads. The first one found it's way into a pearl bracelet, and now I've made a matching necklace with a sapphire teardrop bead hanging on a hand-forged fine silver swirl, and nice big, white rice pearls between curved sterling tube beads.

Sapphires...

Sapphire is my birthstone, and I have always loved the classic deep blue gemstones. Until I started using semi-precious beads to make jewelry, I had no idea that you could get sapphires (or rubies, emeralds, or any "precious" gemstone) in any other form than the standard transparent faceted gemstones normally seen in jewelry. I have since discovered that often the "lesser quality" semi-precious versions of these gems are quite beautiful in their own right. A good example of this is the milky aquamarine that I posted about earlier. Another good example is this lovely sapphire bead - a deep rich navy blue with interesting "flaws". I think it is gorgeous with classic freshwater pearls. I dream of being able to afford an entire string of sapphire beads, but for now, this will have to do.

Romantic Red

I rarely ever design with red, probably because there just aren't many really red semi-precious stones out there. I've had some lovely little faceted ruby beads for a while, and just recently saw these great cubic zirconia pendants - they sparkle like Swarovski crystal, but they are as hard as diamonds! I had some fun forging and hammering a little silver heart, and embellishing with more rubies and a lovely little fairy. Just right for Valentine's Day!

Fresh Color

This necklace is another piece that was inspired by a WetCanvas! WAF theme-- one of artist Shannon Bowley's paintings. (shannonbowley.com)

I find that I really enjoy designing to a theme - it gets the mind going in new directions and gives inspiration for new collections. This one just might be the beginning of next Spring's new collection....hmmmmm.