Swapping out Leather for Stones

I tried my hand at using leather but had mixed results. Everything seemed bulkier than I wanted and the leather I ordered was not exactly what I had in mind. I liked this at first, but ended up going back to gemstone roots. 

I removed the long leather strand and added silver chain on one side and wire wrapped the other for an asymmetrical look. I wanted to accent the orange hues of the carnelian drop so I decided to use hessonite--A type of garnet that ranges from yellow to orange to brown. 

Which do you prefer?

Jade Straight from China

When my husband travels internationally he always buys us (me and the boys) gifts. For me, he seeks out the local gemstone in a beaded form. Yay!!! So off to China he went and he came home with bags and bags of Jade. 

These rich blue green grey stones are kinda big so I thought to make a statement necklace. I simply strung them on a stringing wire with some tear shaped pearls and closed with crimps. 

Sometimes I should just leave my creations alone. In this case, I thought I'd upgrade the stringing to silk and knot it in between. Sadly, after I started the project, I realized the string would not fit through the pearls. The end product came out much simpler than intended. I think I will remake it again on the stringing wire and put back the pearls. 

At least I learned a valuable lesson. Test out the hole size first. 

Earrings to a Bracelet and An Update to a Simple Carnelian Necklace

Moonstone and tourmaline earrings turn into tourmaline and Pearl bracelet.

Carnelian necklace w pearl center to carnelian necklace with cluster drop