Monday 21 July 2014

My Love Affair With Turquoise.

I think one of my favourite stones has always been turquoise, whether it is the real deal, African "turquoise" or turquoise dyed howelite there is something about the colour, veining and texture that  always calls to me.  It is almost a neutral in that you can pair it with almost any colour and it will look great.  It looks especially spectacular paired with silver which is my favourite metal.

Last week I had a lunch date down town with a friend and headed to my favourite treasure hunt bead store: Lenus Beads.  They always have rows of un-named semi precious stones that even if they don't have a pedigree I still love and they always seem to inspire. This time I was smitten with these turquoise stones, they are either African turquoise or dyed howelite but either way they sang to me. I sat down right away and made three pieces........



First I paired this gorgeous stone with prehnite, amazonite, labradorite and pyrite in this statement crocheted wirw necklace.  $35


 Then I combined it with large silver plated jump rings in this bold stretch bracelet $30


I loved the look of the bracelet so much I made this beautiful necklace with the same stones and jump rings adding a sparkly silver plated chain. $32

I still have some turquoise left...who knows what it will become!

Just to round things out a bit I pulled out some glass pearls in the colour of the year and created this crocheted necklace....
Orchid glass pearls, flourite and fire polished crystals. $25