jade returns

As soon as I thought of that title, I kept thinking Return of the Jedi.  Moving on from my dorkiness...last night I listed the jade piece that I first posted in my gemstone blog carnival post last month.

It's available here.  It was really tough to find a good coordinating background color for the jade chips.  They look all right against the white and music backgrounds, but they're better against the gray.  The tan seed beads still look harsh next to them.  You'll have to trust me that the beads and chips coordinate perfectly in person.  I won't go into much more detail about this piece since I talked about it in the gemstone post.  But it's a great little piece.  It's very light weight and versatile. You can dress this up or down for any occasion.  I don't have any more specific plans for jade right now, but I'm sure that I will return to it at some point.  For now, you can also check out the other jade piece that I have currently available here.

I linked this post to Erika's Creative Friday Features and Link Party post.

favorite gemstone - EtsyBloggers Carnival

One of the March EtsyBloggers carnival topics is to talk about one of your favorite gemstones and why you like it.  Aside from my wedding ring, I don't wear a lot of gemstones myself.  If I do get another high end ring at some point, it will almost definitely also have diamonds.  I don't work with a lot of gemstones in my own jewelry making either, but I do like incorporating chips or small rounds sometimes.  In the last year, I've made several pieces with jade and malachite.  I've always loved the look of malachite and have really enjoyed working with jade recently.

I finally listed one of my new green pieces.  At least I'm getting them up while it's still spring!

This piece is part of my rock garden series and is available here.  This newest green version has some wonderful Czech glass components from Art Beads, vintage green leaf beads from Shannon (beadsandbabble), and of course malachite chips.  I am still working on the rock garden pattern.  I'm not promising a projected date at this point with everything going on with our move in a couple months, but it will be up at some point.

And here are my jade pieces.  I sold the first one.  The second one is available here.  And yes, the clasps for the first two are Lisa Peters buttons (LisaPetersArt).  I made the third one shortly after completing the first two back in the winter but still haven't listed it.  I am VERY tempted to keep it for myself because it looks awesome with a dress I got when I was in my cousin's wedding party a couple years ago, but I will most likely part with it.  I already have a cuff that I specifically designed go with the dress so you know...how many coordinating bracelets do I really need?  If you'd like to claim it for yourself, please let me know.

And as always, if you'd like to see anything else with jade or malachite or have any specific requests for similar pieces with other gemstones, don't hesitate to leave your suggestions or contact me.

working with jade

My mom got me some jade rounds in China a few years ago.  I have most of mine strung as a bracelet on a simple stretchy cord.  I haven't wanted to part with the remaining few.  But I finally got them out again a few months ago and found some Czech glass and ceramic buttons that I wanted to pair them with to make a couple bracelets.  I ended up making one of them with the intention that it would be a birthday present from my mom for my grandma.  It seems like my mom will be keeping it for herself...and I'm not sure what my grandma is going to get haha, but here's the first one.

I made the second one, which is slightly longer, at the same time and listed it on Etsy last night.  It's available here.

This one doesn't have any strong copper/bronze colored components like this first one does, but it is still awesome.  It took me a long time to find the jade chips that I wanted and decide what Czech glass I wanted to pair with it.  A lot of the Czech glass is from Shannon (beadsandbabble).  The primary mix that I used is right here.  I added the ceramic buttons from Lisa (LisaPetersArt) on a whim at the last minute.  I cannot believe that I forgot they were in my stash.  The color coordinates perfectly.  I have one more left over, too.

I still had a lot of jade chips when I'd finished these pieces so I made a lighter weight jade piece with seed bead accents that I'll have up soon, too.  It's a similar style to to this little coral piece.