semi-precious stones

Bead Soup Party 2011 Official Site is

http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/

Well its finally here…Bead Soup Blog 2011 Party Day. In the end, I made two necklaces out of my wonderful ingredients sent by Jayne aka Boot C . The first necklace was my effort to be symmetrical. I wrote about my need for symmetry in my last blog. I would actually call this reverse symmetry… I was challenged by how to use the hammered piece of copper and ended up using my new wire wrapping technique to make it a pendant. Then I used the ribbon Jayne sent to connect her wire wrapped semi precious stone flower in front. But there was still one more centerpiece that I could not fit into this design, so I designed an entirely different necklace for that. I used Bead Weaving techniques. Jayne had wire wrapped a lime green pearl in the copper. I played upon those two colors in choosing my seed beads and glass pearls. I ended up using Jayne’s clasp as a connector on the first necklace, so I used a button to clasp the second necklace. Let me know what you think please. I wish every party was this long and fun. Thanks Lori.

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Necklace 2 started off as a bracelet, but it was too big for my wrist, so being a fan of symmetry, I repeated the pattern on the other side and voila, it was choker.

Moonstone versus Sunstone

Moonstone

I am an Earth Science teacher by trade, so when I go into my favorite bead store, Bab’s Beads in Fort Myers, I always ask Kerry,the owner, to tell me exactly what each stone is and the chemical compostion of the stones. He had recently picked up some gorgeous moonstones and sunstones. “So what are they made of?” I asked. Flippantly, he answered, “The sun! The moon! Why do you need to know?” “Look it up please,” I insisted. When he read the chemical composition of moonstone, it contained elements that made up the mineral feldspar. When he read the chemical composition of sunstone, it sounded like the mineral quartz was part of it (aluminum silicate). How ironic, the sun and the moon— quartz and feldspar. It has long been debated in earth science circles which of the minerals… quartz or feldspar is most common in the earth. They are both incredibly abundant and its fascinating to me just how many different beautiful gemstones are in the quartz family or in the feldspar family. I know it sounds science geeky to be excited about such things, but it was my interest in the earth and its beautiful rocks and minerals that sent me in the direction of jewelry design.

Sunstone

Moonstone versus Sunstone

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