The Beading Gem

Designers find their muses in different forms. Tammie's inspiration must surely come from her Caribbean roots.

She wanted a bracelet that reminded her of surf and sandy beaches. So she picked some sandy coloured diamond shaped quartz gemstones, a couple of tiny shells as well as shell discs. Green and blue beads represented the sea and nearest her finger a gold foil bead for the sun.

Tammie also adores Asian designs. The large round bead is a Chinese cloisonne bead and the overall style of the bracelet with the extension to the finger is Indian-inspired.

Beader Design #134
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The top four gemstones of all time have always been the ruby, emerald, diamond and sapphire. This exquisite Cartier flamingo brooch displays all four. It was a 1940 Easter gift from the Duke to the Duchess of Windsor (nee Wallis Simpson).

These highly desirable coloured gemstones were rare because they came from very few and distant sources. The most prized were the deep red ones like the pigeon's blood rubies from the Mogok mines in Burma. The true ruby is sometimes called the oriental ruby to distinguish it from the spinel ruby which is an entirely different gemstone. The most famous spinel is the Black Prince's Ruby which is prominent on the British State Crown. Back then, all red coloured gemstones were called rubies such was their desirability.

Rulers sought to possess all these rare gemstones for they were a marked display of luxury, and a way of exhibiting their power and might. Cleopatra did it in spades with emeralds. Cleopatra's mines were once the only source of emeralds. After these mines were exhausted, emeralds had to come from Spanish mines in South America. Sapphires have always been a royal favourite, gracing crowns including the same crown mentioned above. The Ancient Egyptians even imported them to place in the burial chambers of their dead. Sri Lanka, is the chief (and oldest) source of sapphires. But cornflower blue Kashmiri sapphires are considered the loveliest.

Today, their relative order of descending popularity has switched to diamond, emerald, ruby and sapphire. What happened? Diamonds were very rare as India was the only source until a few centuries ago. But they were not that captivating until the late 1700s when lapidarists came up with the clever brilliant form of cutting enough facets to really show off their sparkle and fire. The production and marketing of diamonds are also now tightly controlled by the De Beers Company through a diamond cartel. This results in artificially high prices even though diamonds are not that rare. Their 1947 marketing "A Diamond is Forever" campaign was so successful that it totally changed bridal expectations. Different gemstones were favoured for engagements ring before then. But now, four out of every five engagement rings are set with diamonds.

References
Ernle Bradford (1967). Four centuries of European Jewelry. Spring books.
Michael Bloch (1996). The Duchess of Windsor. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Victoria Finlay (2006). Jewels : A secret history. Ballantine Books.
Sotheby's Auction of Magnificient Jewelry, 1987.

Jennifer likes pink and what could be more pink than cherry quartz? She used three long rectangles with beveled edges as her focal point and further emphasised the area with two frosted bicones. She then added pink silver-lined seed beads for the rest of her simple, sweet necklace.

Cherry quartz is a man-made gemstone, an ultra fancy glass, and is not to be confused with other quartz gemstones such as amethyst. However, cherry quartz gemstones are still cut, faceted and polished just like natural gemstones. The process of making cherry quartz is not easy but the resulting pink swirls and streaks are very attractive indeed. Other "fruity" colours are available including a yummy blueberry quartz which is also in my collection.

Beader Design # 133
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These are the longest earrings I have ever come across! They were designed by Erin who loves the drama of big earrings and really enjoyed making earrings from the get-go.

The beads she used are a mixture of seed beads, rice shaped crackle beads and crystal beads. The large round beads with swirls on them not only echo the hoops used at the top of the earrings but unifies the design.

Erin is definitely a beadaholic-in-the-making now that she knows she can design something that cannot be bought - one of a kind earrings to suit her taste. Earrings cannot be seen by the wearer but their movement can be felt, a phenomenon that probably accounts for the popularity of chandelier earrings. Not only can Erin feel them swinging from her ear lobes but she will also feel them touching her shoulders!

Beader design #132
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Cleopatra (69-30 BC) lived in perilous times. With the powerful Roman Empire practically at her gates, she managed to secure her position as supreme ruler of Egypt by forming an alliance with Julius Caesar, and after his assassination, with Mark Antony, one of his successors. She had to impress Mark Antony and the one sure way with a Roman was with pearls given their obsession .

Cleopatra bet that she could host the most expensive dinner in history. According to the Roman historian, Pliny, she dropped one of her outrageously expensive pearl earrings said to be worth ten million sesterces into a cup of wine vinegar until it "melted" and then drank it. For comparison, a common Roman soldier around that era earned roughly 900 sesterces a year so that was a lot of money to be throwing away!

Picture : "Anthony and Cleopatra" Oil Painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema(1885)

If she did, then she had to have swallowed it whole. Dissolving it would have taken too long. Vinegar is mainly acetic acid and chemically reacts with calcium carbonate which constitutes pearls, to form carbon dioxide and water. Victoria Finlay, the author of Jewels: A Secret History actually did the experiment to show how long the process took. She purchased a centimetre round, badly flawed natural pearl and placed it in wine vinegar. Nothing much happened at first. But overnight, she detected a greyish film on pearl which came off in her fingers. It took another day before the pearl broke into two. At 32 days, it floated at the top of the vinegar and was the consistency of unappetizing mush.

Update (July 24,2010) : Further experiments recently carried out by Prudence Jones, a classics professor at a US university found like Victoria Finlay, a 5% solution of acetic acid (about the concentration of vinegar), a 5 carat test pearl takes 24- 36 hours to dissolve. Stronger acetic acid solutions actually slowed down the reaction. If Cleopatra had boiled the vinegar or crushed the pearl, the dissolving process will take only 10 minutes. So that would have made swallowing the pearl a whole lot easier.

Whatever. Cleopatra won the bet and went on to have three children by Antony. But ultimately, her effort was in vain. After Mark Antony lost the civil war between himself and Octavian (the future Roman Emperor, Augustus Caesar), they both committed suicide. Soon after, Egypt fell under Roman control. Her son by Julius Caesar was executed because he was a succession threat. Not much is known about the fate of her three children by Mark Antony.

References
Cleopatra and the Pearl
Roman currency
Cleopatra's Cockttail Recipe Revealed

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Carly made some clear crystal earrings so she just had to have another piece of jewelry to go with it. Here is her clear faceted crystal rondelle bracelet simply spaced with silver beads.

What stands out is the single large pewter cross that Carly chose as a charm. One advantage of designing one's own jewelry is selecting the clasp one likes. In Carly's case, she did not care for the bar and toggle. Instead she opted for a trigger clasp which meant she could have a slightly snugger fit to her wrist.

Beader Design #131
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Ruby rather liked a multi-gemstone chip necklace design in a magazine. That was just the inspiration she needed to create her own unique piece.

The small USB flash drive for backing up computer files or transferring them is a godsend compared to older ways. However, if you have worn one or seen someone wear one, you would agree that whilst useful, it does have that G-E-E-K-Y look about it. I confess I hide mine in the drawer or in my purse rather than wear it.

So, I was intrigued to see the first Active Crystals offerings from the partnership between Philips and Swarovksi. The Heart Wave and the Heart Beat pendant offer high tech style without sacrificing function - the drive itself is cleverly hidden in what looks like a regular necklace at first glance. Notice that the necklace mounting is on the side for practical reasons as the heart locket opens at vertical centre.

They offer 1 GB storage and will cost closing in on US $200. They will soon be on sale in August so check out the high end retailers then.

Sources : Hub Pages and Crunchgear.

This delightful combination of milky light turquoise beads with brown picasso beads is sure to please everyone including the designer, Susan.

The abstract swirls of the picasso glass beads live up to their name and Susan was quick to spot the flashes of blue which gave her the idea of the contrast colour. I particularly like the irregular shape of the blue beads which hints at the artistic theme of this bracelet and is a perfect match to the brick shaped brown beads. Tiny burnished bronze rondelle with matching clasp and seed beads complete the design.

Beader Design #129
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Amber is unlike any other gemstone being the fossilised resin of one species of prehistoric pine tree, Pinus succinifera. So jewelry made with amber beads is uber antique - some 50 million years old. Amber has a long and rich mythological history as well as many uses. Roman mothers placed amber amulets around their children's necks for protection. Ground amber was even used as medicine to treat asthma.

The most famous and one of the oldest sources of amber is the Baltic region. Today's Baltic amber comes from mines but on wild, stormy nights in winter, the Baltic Sea still churns up nuggets upon its shores, for the Baltic Sea covers what was once an ancient forest.

Gathering amber in the old days was a miserable job on par with pearl diving. The dislodged amber nuggets, barely float and get tangled up with loosened seaweed. Rather than wait until the mess washed up on shore on someone else's stretch of beach, the men would wade into the water and fish using large nets. They worked in bitterly cold conditions and their leather and wool clothing soaked through and froze. They risked not just hypothermia but also drowning as the violent waves could sweep them away. They often worked leashed together like mountaineers.

Amber gatherers also fished from boats in calm waters using spears to loosen the amber nuggets from amongst rocks and nets to scoop the nuggets. Later on, the more costly dredging method was used.

The amber fishermen in the old days were little more than slaves, bonded to the Teutonic Knights, a German religious army. Their monopoly on amber which made them rich was founded in terror. They ruthlessly hanged any peasant caught stealing "their amber".

You could say that Deidry was "spot" on with her bracelet design which demonstrates effective use of contrasting elements.

She boldly put together red beads with stripes with brown spotted beads. The round beads alternated with square beads and yet, there were unifying features. All the beads except the end ones were large and all were flat. The smaller but complimentary coloured beads at the end were a nice tapering transition to the clasp.

Her bracelet reminds me somehow of retro jewelry from the 1930s and 1940s.

Beader Design #128
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Purple has got to be Charlotte's favourite colour. She was again drawn to beads of this colour after she made her first one. But colour was the only thing in common with her first design.

For this creation, she used hand-made purple glass beads in different shapes for a slightly eclectic look. These were spaced out with coordinating seed beads. Seen as a group, each purple bead is bracketed by seed beads tapering down by size. She kept the rest of the necklace as bare wire.

There is no such thing as too many purple necklaces for each is unique and therefore special.

Beader Design #127
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Rhonda loves jewelry and really, really needed something with pearls. Anybody who enjoys wearing jewelry can relate!

She chose natural coloured freshwater cultured pearls and mother of pearl beads contrasting them with pearls that were dyed a light brown colour. However, she used small pearlised seed beads for the rest of the necklace. The shell pendant was added for a focal piece and it completed the all pearl theme of her design.

The colour combination suited her complexion and the necklace will thus be flattering whenever Rhonda wears it.


Beader Design #126

Malachite jewelry is not a favorite with many women today. This is unfortunate as malachite has long been considered a woman's gemstone. It was dedicated to Egyptian, Roman and Norse goddesses.

In medieval times, it was even called the midwife stone because it was believed to lessen labor pains.


Photo information : Malachite from the Congo, National Natural History Museum, Washington DC

References

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Kathryn Riechert is an American metalsmithing artisan who specialises in one of a kind sterling silver jewelry designs which often feature words. Her traditional tooling techniques and her inspirational sources result in simple clean designs with the "stamp" of hand-made charm.

Like me, Kathryn is also inspired by long ago jewelry as shown here with her modern take on posy rings. Posy rings, also known as posey, poesy, posie, were popular lovers' gifts in the 15-17th centuries with terms of endearment inscribed on the outside, and sometimes on the inside. They were a form of promise or betrothal rings which themselves date even further back.

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England has a collection of posy rings. As JRR Tolkien was a professor at Oxford University, he was likely aware of posy rings and they were possibly the inspiration for the One Ring in his Lord of the Rings books.

Photo with kind permission from Kathryn through her Etsy Store here.

Kimberley has made jewelry before so she knew not only what she wanted to design but how to go about it. Dainty jewelry is more her style so she made this tiny earrings using very small tube Chinese cloisonne beads.

What stood out about her design was the use of different metallic colours. The earring findings were all sterling silver. She also used tiny seed beads in between which were silver and copper coloured. The bugles were copper and bronze and the metal portions of the cloisonne beads were gold toned. Kimberley shows that it is possible to combine a number of different colours but they were all unified by their metallic basis.

Beader Design #125

Photo by Reta, one of the models pictured above

These three lovely ladies wore traditional Malay bridal costumes at a fashion show in Singapore.

The Malays are an ethnic group with rich cultural traditions located primarily in South East Asia including Singapore where they constitute about 14% of the population. This family not only shared pictures of a real Malay wedding but also explains the ceremony itself.

Malay brides wear various costumes for their wedding. But the brides during the Bersanding ceremony are surely at their most gorgeous when they wear their traditional bridal costumes called kebayas and the sanggul lintang - the bejewelled hair adornment.

Sanggul is the Malay word for chignon or hair knot and lintang means horizontal. The sanggul lintang consists of several pieces assembled in the hairdo in stages. A royal Brunei princess naturally has hers made in gold and decorated with real gemstones.





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Twelve-year-old Helena loves the orange and lime green colour combination so much so that she was actually wearing those colours on the day she designed her necklace.

These two colours work because they contrast each other in warmth - coolness colour wise and yet, they are complimentary in that the orange and lime green are neither dark nor light shades.

Helena used a green drop glass bead as a pendant with more green flat square clear glass beads in the same focal area. Orange seed beads in two different shades and sizes were used for the rest of her necklace.

Beader Design #124
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There are indeed parks for rockhounds where you can, if you know what you are doing, find gemstones that you are allowed to keep.

If you think it might not be worth the effort, think again. Associated Content reported that earlier this year, eight-year old twin boys found a 2.5 carat rough diamond at the Crater of Diamonds Park in Arkansas, USA ! The Park's February 7 news release reported that Jim Gatliff of Arkansas found a 2.67 carat yellow diamond (picture) in the same park. The Crater of Diamonds Park is the world's only diamond mine open to the public. It's really finders keepers regardless of value. More than 600 diamonds are found there each year. Other gemstones there include amethyst, agate and jasper.

The Eagle Creek Agate and Opal Beds, about 6 km from Burns Lake in the geographic center of British Columbia, Canada is also another site where mineral collecting is allowed. Agate and common opal can be found here. Rare fire opal, too if you are very fortunate.

For the true adventurers, try rock hounding for lapis lazuli in Katannilik Territorial Park , Nunavut, Canada on southern Baffin Island.

This bracelet has an antique look about it - like jewelry that Jane Austen might have worn!

Susan designed this purple bracelet using irregular and diagonally drilled mottled purple glass beads as well as lamp work beads of two different sizes.

I especially like the combination of purple, a cool colour with burnished copper beads and gold tone findings, both warm colours. Tiny little topaz coloured seed beads helped group her main bead sets. It is the warmer elements of her design that gives it the antique appearance.

Beader design #123
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The French Revolution (1789-1799) began when France plunged into a deep financial and food crisis and its people finally had had enough and overthrew their absolute monarchy. It decimated the ranks of the aristocracy. For those who managed to escape the attentions of Madame Guillotine, they either lost their estates and privileges or took their riches with them abroad.

It was a hellish period for French jewelers. Their livelihood depended on their rich clientele who vanished literally overnight. Further more, the ensuing decade of turmoil and terror saw a suppression of extragavances associated with the upper classes. So much so that apprenticeships in goldsmithing were abolished and jewelers were reduced to melting down confiscated jewelry to fill Revolutionary coffers.

In stepped the lovely and charming Creole, Josephine de Beauharnais, mistress to several top Revolutionary leaders. She married Napoleon Bonaparte, a Revolutionary general in 1796. They were eventually crowned as Emperor and Empress of France in 1804. Josephine loved clothes and jewelry with a passion. Wearing jewelry became vogue again under her influence, much to the relief of the French jewelry trade. The beautiful emerald and diamond drop earrings shown here were chosen by her for a gift.

It is always a pleasure to see beaders design jewelry for a specific occasion. Jennifer created this pretty in pink set for her prom.

Pink fibre optic cat's eye beads provided the main colour of her design. She also placed bigger rose quartz beads in the front of her necklace on either side of an even larger faceted clear Czech crystal bead. Tiny silver lined beads as well as bugles for the earrings were used as intermediate beads. The pewter beads were used in just the right amount to "pop" the design.

Jennifer said that the weather did not sparkle for the occasion but her jewelry certainly did!

Beader Design #122
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The design jump-off point for Carly were the crystal slider beads. They caught her eye and she went on to create earrings in clear and silver tones that are certain to match everything in her wardrobe.



Beader Design #121
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