New Jewelry for the Last Downtown Market

Well, I have a sale going on in my Etsy store until Wed (the prices shown are already reduced)... I'm heading off to GA (and then the UK and then back GA) on Monday... Tomorrow is the last Downtown Salt Lake Arts & Crafts Market of the season AND, I have a Jewelry Party tomorrow night too... I've been a leetle crazy busy this week.

So... Sorry for getting these up so late today:

Couple new Cameo Pendants


Natural Peridot, Rubilite Tourmaline, and Andalucite GF Pendants


Natural Amethyst, Rubilite Tourmaline, Andalucite, and a big lab Sapphire Sculpted Argentium Sterling Silver Pendants


Stones I found myself and tumbled: Rose Quartz from NC, and Agates from Utah (and a faceted stone I didn't find which is also the next picture)


A Natural Oro Verde Citrine in Argentium Sterling Silver - you really can't tell how lovely this stone is in the this photo either...

Ok. Got at least another hour of getting ready for tomorrow to do (got to get up at 5am and I'm going straight to the party after the Market so I have to bring clothes to change into and everything I need for the entire day).

Hopefully I'll see some of you tomorrow - either at the Market (8am to 1pm) in the usual place - or maybe at the party after.

Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you next week on my trip out East.

Last Winter Tight Knit

If you were planning to come out to see me at this winter's Tight Knit Craft Market in Troy, but just haven't gotten around to it yet, well... this Saturday is your last chance.

This Saturday will be the last Tight Knit until Summer, the final craft market for the Winter, and you know I won't be back in Troy this Summer for that version because I'll be in Park City, Utah again this Summer.

In fact, I'll be leaving for Utah mid-May so, you also might want to think about scheduling that Jewelry Party you've been thinking about too... Mother's Day is coming up fast.

Just added some new Amethyst rings to the Etsy store too. Plus one with Amethyst and Aquamarine. That one is just the thing for the woman who only celebrates her birthday once every four years...

Getting all the stones laid out to work on the Sterling half of the U Rock collection too. Hope to have that mostly finished by the end of the week.

Um, what else? Hmmmm... sure there was something else but it's not coming to me...

Hidden Gems in Griffin...And Hiddenite

Griffin was fun - of course - how could it not be? The Next Chapter is a great used bookstore run by wonderful ladies with amazing customers who have spectacular taste. You must go next time you're in Griffin... of course, it won't look quite like this unless you go next time I'm there (which might be in March, but I'll keep you posted)

I swung by the Cowee Ruby Mine drivin through Franklin on my way back up on Saturday and found a few, not very nice, Sapphires and pretty much nothing else in my one sifted bucket so I decided to high tail it back to Hiddenite and try my luck there again.

Got there a little after 3pm (they close at 5pm this time of year) and it was already getting just about too dark to see what you were looking at. I got a native bucket and found a few nice pieces. Nothing like in the bucket on the way up though. So after running through that, I ran down to the creek and started looking around. Obviously, it pays to be there early cause it was pretty much picked through. I found a couple here and there and mostly quartz and then ventured across the rocks to the other side and just as I was getting ready to turn around and head back (it was getting pretty dark by then) I looked at the bank and saw some pretty colors poking out of the sand. Pay dirt! as they say. Started moving the leaves away and brushing stones from the dirt. Wound up finding a fairly good couple of handfuls of nice stones in about 10 minutes and then headed back just before closing time.

Wound up finding a really nice Garnet, larger than any of the three I found on the previous rummage on the way up but just as clear and dark. Some nice Rutile, another small ok Sapphire, some Blue Aventurine, some smaller Moonstones, amazingly clear pieces of Smoky and Rose Quartz, some more Moss Agate, Bloodstone, and Red Banded Jasper. Plus a few nice stones I have no idea what they are.

I wound up with a lot of pretty "just rocks" as well as a lot of actual gemstones in my two day, 4 or so hours of sluicing and creeking. See:

That's a 3/4 length bath towel covered in gems... well, the bottom left is a bunch of not so great quartz, quartzite and such like that - up to the blue in the middle, which is where the Aventurine is...

This is a closer look at the more valuable stones:

Flourite in the foreground with Amazonite just behind and Moonstone and Sapphires to the left of that and Garnets above the Moonstone and the little Tourmalines next to the Garnets...

There wasn't a lot of sun today so those two pictures don't really show off the stones that well. Phil took some close ups of the stones he liked yesterday when there was sun though. He thought this was the best Rutile, but I might have better ones:

One of our many lingering lady bugs joined in for this picture... then crawled over to the stones I was cleaning and sorting on the towel. Gives a good scale for the Rose Quartz, don'tcha think:

[We have a lady bug infestation every year, twice a year - Spring and Fall - and we still have a few left from the recent outdoor explosion that wound up inside our windows.]

That's not the really clear one I found on Saturday either. That one is smaller and shaped almost like an arrowhead. I've never found Rose Quartz so clear. It's almost like glass. In fact, Phil asked me if I was sure the large, clear Smoky I found wasn't glass.

Those are Phil's manly fingers, not my tiny girly ones like with the Rutile:

It's a good size Smoky and the picture doesn't really show how clear it is since the light is refracting off of all the surface fractures.

So yep. I'll probably be heading back down in early Spring to do it all over again. Should be a great time and hopefully I'll come back with Rubies and Emeralds next time! Going to have a longer stay at the Emerald Hollow Mines on the way down too. Bright and early creeking and sluicing!

I have so many stones now, I guess I'd better break out my tumbler and find someone to teach me how to cut the ones that would be better faceted or cabochoned. One more thing I have to add to my to do list...

Speaking of which, I have a whole table of jewelry that needs getting made... oh, and I gotta get dinner started first.

Rock on til the next installment!

Fun in the Dirt!

Oh, Hiddenite was FUN! Digging around in the dirt looking for pretty rocks, what could be better than that? I'm definitely going back next year when I swing back down!

Sorry, no pictures right now; since I'm using someone else's computer and my phone isn't that sophisticated... I didn't find any emeralds but, I did find a sapphire; a dark purple one. Also found some garnets, a black tourmaline, tiny green tourmaline, amazonite, tree agate, green moss agate, red banded jasper, rose quartz, smoky quartz, amethyst, orange calcite, bloodstone, peach moonstone, flourite, blue aventurine, green aventurine, red aventurine, some really great 'just river rocks' and some other stuff I don't know what it is yet, and probably some I just forgot to tell ya.

I sifted through one bucket (where I found the sapphire) and then tooled around the creek a bit. Well, moved big flat rocks into the creek to retrieve a lot of them actually. Found the garnets and moonstone in the creek. Well, the moonstone IN the creek, the garnets next to the creek actually. If I'd had more time, I would have stayed there all day looking through dirt and water!

Even still, in just a couple hours I found a pretty good haul. Which is to say, I have a fairly heavy bag of rocks to take home and clean up and look at and wrap up into pretty jewelry for all ya'll. Looking forward to it in a big way!

Also really looking forward to the reason I came down to GA this week: tomorrow's Jewelry Party at The Next Chapter Bookstore in Griffin, GA (see last entry and the link on the where I'm at in the side bar for details and map). Going to be a beautiful warm, sunny day and a good day for one of a kind bargains in Griffin! Maybe we'll see you there?

So that's going until 7pm and after a good night's sleep, I'm off to Franklin the next morning to sift through dirt once again. Looking for sapphires, rubies, and emeralds ostly. Maybe this time I'll find rubies and emeralds in the dirt? More sapphires would be cool too.

I'll have pictures next week. Probably look like a pile of rocks, but I'll try to get some good close ups of the best finds.

So, hope to see you tomorrow, or in the next week at another event or somewhere on the road... or maybe I'll run into you while looking for pretty rocks?

Hope everyone had a lot to be thankful today!

This Weekend's Festival That I'll Be At...

This weekend I'm going to be at the 8th Annual, Skyland, New Jersey Botanical Garden's Harvest Festival. Both days, Saturday and Sunday (10/3 & 4) from 10am to 5pm. Rain or Shine! Which is going to be fun cause I haven't gotten around to re-water proofing my tent... So, repeat after me: Rain rain... I'll be there anyway!

Um, and that's pretty much it.

Oh, wait, I'll also have a necklace at the Benefit Auction at the Mount Beacon Fine Art Gallery at 155 Main Street in Beacon, NY on Saturday the 3rd. Proceeds benefit the Aubrey Chibbaro Youth in Arts Scholarship so get out there and bid!

I'll have a picture of the item up for bidding right here on my blog by tomorrow evening... I'm still making it ;}

Oh yah. The MBFA Gallery is also going to host an, open to the public, Jewelry Party on Sunday the 11th. That would be with me, and my jewelry...

Trekking Cross Country, Wanna Meet Somewhere Along the Way?

Hey Everybody!

Just a week before I leave for the vast expanses of the great SouthWest. Stopping in Arkansas for Bethany's wedding and then on to dig up diamonds and get a good scare! Yep, dig up diamonds. Crater of Diamonds Park is just a short (relatively speaking) drive south from Fayetteville and they let you dig in the dirt and keep what you find (for a small fee) so Wish me Luck!

If I find anything good, I'll make something out of it... I like the look of raw diamonds. Oh, and if it's really good, I might just pay off some CC's... That would be nice too.

Then, we're off to Colorado to spend a night at the Stanley Hotel and see if we can get Phil to see a ghost. I've already seen a few and he says he won't believe it til he sees it, so Wish him Luck too.

Then, we're across to stay with my sister for a couple days in Park City before my first, ever, Park Silly Sunday Market. If you're around there on the 26th, I'll make sure to say hi! ;}

Phil has to leave to come back to work right after that and then I'll be on my own - with just my family and friends - for two more weeks before driving back. One more Park Silly before I go and then maybe I'll be stopping at your place for a Jewelry Party?

Somewhere inbetween I might even head NorthWest a bit more and join my dad for a day of opal digging too. Have to get the rest of my Utah party schedules finalized before I know if and when though.

So, what's up with you?

Oh, and here's a picture Phil took of some of the jewelry I made with his miniature watercolors - all originals and some are going to Raindance in Beacon and the rest are going with me to Park City:

There's Still Time to Schedule a Party...

Well, it's getting down to the wire for the big trip cross country.

Met a couple people in the last few weeks at the Hudson River Market who live along the route from NY to Utah who were interested in hosting a party on my trip back. So, if you happen to be one of the people who wants to get some free jewelry and have a lot of fun with your friends, make sure you get in touch to schedule your day before I head West. That means get in touch before the 15th of July. I'll be heading back from Utah on August 10th and plan to be back in NY by August 15th.

So. You have exactly 3 weeks from the date of this blog post before I leave town. So, don't wait. Make your return trip party date today!

Oh, I made some new cameo jewelry too. AND, my first wire sculpture bracelet - with a cameo. They're fashion cameos (resin). That's always a good place to start out, since shell is infinitely more delicate (and much more expensive to boot). Brass and Copper and some vintage chain... and I made some earrings this week too.

Whatdya think:

Cuff from the front

Cuff from the side

Pendant with handmade vintage chain (1940's) I threw a clasp onto.

If you're signed up for my newsletter, you'll get to see the pictures of the earrings and the newer pendant (no chain). They're all pretty in salmon pink and blue...

Newsletter goes out next week. If you're not signed up for the newsletter, there's a link just to your right on the sidebar...

Oh, and I'll be at the Mower's Market in Woodstock this Sunday (June 28th) as well as the Hudson River Market in Beacon on Saturday. Hope to see some of you this weekend!

Back in New York and Rarin' to Sleep

Wow. I have to do more of those parties! 

It actually started snowing as we were driving to the hostess's house - and didn't stop until we left! So, the turn out was a little lower than expected but, it was still pretty good. And it was a lot of fun - a lot of work, but still - a lot of fun. And it was great to see everyone. And I sold a few things and took a custom order. AND, got some requests to come back later in the year for another couple of parties. It was a good experience. 

I did wind up bringing a lot more than I sold... Though, there were a lot of positive comments on even the stuff that didn't sell, so that was encouraging.