Ruby, pearl, 14k gold-filled hoop earrings

These hoops are made with 14Kt gold-filled wire, and I have wrapped fresh water pearls and genuine Ruby briolettes using sterling silver wire.

I hear that hoops are the "in things" in earrings these days. Unfortunately, unless the hoops are really teeny tiny, they don't look good on me. But I am sure there will be someone else who will look really good in these luscious Ruby hoop earrings :-)). I do love making hoop earrings. They look so lovely....something really delicious about hoops that are laden with yummy gemstones.

Emerald, freshwater pearls, 14k gold-filled wire, earrings

After a few days of really horrible pain, my doc doubled the pain-killer dose...he explained very nicely too, "Don't be afraid to take more painkillers...this is temporary". I was a little worried about taking more painkillers because it is after all narcotics. But this one sentence from him was a huge relief. Yes, its just temporary, even though I am feeling like this is going on and on and on. It will end.

Yesterday I felt really good, so I made 2 pairs of earrings. The one I am showing here in this post is made of 14k gold-filled wire, emerald beads and briolettes, and fresh water pearls. They are simple to make, but took me a long time to complete. It took me the whole day to make these. I really like them, and my daughter loves them too. I will have to make her one pair like this one.

Bird's Nest Pendant

I haven't been doing any jewelry work for a while, mostly because of a muscle injury in my right shoulder blade. The pain is in my right arm too. It was really bad, but many painkillers later, I can type a bit now, and I decided to make this cute little bird's nest pendant for my 11 years old. The eggs are fresh water pearls, and the nest is made of brass wire. Its not my original idea...the bird's nest is made by many as pendants, earrings, rings etc. I always found it really cute, but got around to making it only now. This is the only thing I can do at present because it is not tough on my hands....easy to make.

"Flame of Divinity": A cold connections, sterling silver, fine silver, Rhyolite, fresh water pearls necklace

If you want to see the image enlarged, click on it. This piece is based on the spiritual journey of a beautiful person I met online. She said she felt she was asleep for a long time spiritually, but has awakened now. She has been having beautiful spiritual experiences...her words glide like poetry...gently...as she expresses her thoughts to me in emails. I see this piece as the flame of re-awakened spirituality or Divinity in her...burning steadily, brightly. The old, battered feel of the antiqued silver around it, cold connected with brass tubes represents her human journey so far. Often even the most gentle human journey can be quite hard on the free Spirit that is used to no limits. The fresh water pearls are wrapped up with fine silver which has not been antiqued, to represent the pure glory of the awakened soul pouring out of this steadily burning flame. The pearls have different hues of earth and gold tones....very soft and gentle...very softly divine...very pure in their feeling. This piece represents you dear Cynthia.

I still have to make the clasp. But I am leaving for the weekend...be back on Sunday and will complete it then :-).

I had this Rhyolite Cabochon with me for sometime. It looks like a perfect flame. When I saw it I loved it...it looked like the perfect flame of Divinity. Each time I had tried to pick it up, it said, "No, not now" to me. But when I heard Cynthia's story, I knew the Rhyolite was for her. This time when I picked up the Rhyolite, it did not refuse.

An interesting thing happened in the meantime. The stone disappeared while I was working with the other orders. I looked everywhere. Made my hubby look too. Finally I asked the supplier if he could cut a stone exactly like this. He did his best to help. And he did cut an excellent Rhyolite cab...only, it didn't have the flame. So then I was gong to email Cynthia and apologize that I lost her stone..when I heard very clearly within my mind to go look in my dresser. I thought, "Yeah well, I have looked. So has hubby. So many times. It wasn't there". But the voice was firm, and yet gentle that I looked once more over there before I emailed Cynthia. I thought it didn't hurt to look. So I did. And to my utter surprise...it was right there!!! Not even hidden under things. It was right there in plain sight in the middle drawer where I had looked so many times before. Hubby had looked too. We were both mystified....but I was very very very thankful!!! I guess the stone was truly meant for you Cynthia! :-)))

Fine silver leaf

Oh if I could make and post flowers, then I think its time to make and post a leaf as well. :-) This leaf is made with PMC...which is 99.9% silver. The stone is a Blue Zircon. The little blossom on the leaf is the one Jennifer (my PMC teacher) made when she was showing me how to sculpt flowers like the ones she made in one of her famous necklaces. The leaf is from one of the trees near my house. I had always been wanting to make a leaf with PMC...ever since I first heard of it years back. Finally gott he nerve to try it out. I have 2 more leaves I need to finish.

My fabulous Pink Topaz, Citrine & Sterling silver pendant!! :-))

Click on the pictures to see them enlarged.

Okay, I know its not very polite to blow your own trumpet. You must let others do that. LOL! But I really really really like this pendant I finished today! :-)))))))))) Took me ages to form and weave this flower. The Citrine is just GLORIOUS! The Pink Topaz looks GREAT! And for once I like the picture I took of my jewelry! LOL!! I guess the trick is in taking it in the highest resolution possible. Ever since I did that, I started liking my pictures. I'm still not sure what kind of chain I should put on it. But for now...that thin delicate chain it is! :-)))

Wooohooooo!!! :-))) I'm happy!!!

My new lapmwork beads!! :-)))

My cousin bought me some lampwork beads from my favorite lampworker: Jennifer of Sky Valley Beads & Designs. These are the first ever glass beads I have acquired....and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!! When I got them yesterday, I couldn't stop staring at them. I spent a lot of time just touching them and staring at them. The photos are GREAT, but the beads are even more magical in person! I spend a lot of time at Jennifer's shop, just drooling all over her work. It seems like I have many talented Jennifers in my life. In my last post I talked about Jennifer who taught me PMC classes...and how I love her work! And this post is about yet another extremely talented lady called Jennifer who makes the most amazing lampwork beads. She also gave me a free bead which is absolutely amazingly gorgeous!

Something about the swirls and her colors and designs...they take me to a fantasy land of streams of colors that move gracefully and mix into amazing swirls every now and then. And then Jennifer told me something about where she lives, and what she does with her beads that tickled that part of me that lives in a fantasy world forever. She said her house is in the forest, and she makes lots of beads, and often goes and throws many of her beads in the forest. The people who go to the forest to visit and walk by those places find the beads and feel happy to find this treasure! That must be soooo cooool! I would love to go for a walk in a forest and find a treasure of such LOVELY beads scattered on the ground!! It will drive my hyperactive imagination in all directions!! LOL!! I will surely imagine forest fairies flitting around and waving their magic wands and voila! Beeeyooooootiful beads appear magically with a mist of sparkle, and settle gently down on the ground. The fairies then bless these beads with good wishes for anyone who finds them. And when a human does pick up the beads, the fairies (of course invisible to the humans), dance around on the flowers and giggle...sparkly fairy dust flying all around! Oh yes...I really actually do imagine these things! LOLOLOL!! Even Jennifer's description of where she lives makes me wish I had a house there too. This is what she writes about where she lives, and what she thinks about her creations:"My name is Jennifer Setters and I live in chilly chilly northern remote part of British Columbia, Canada. I work from my studio SkyValley here on my acerage. The name SkyValley comes from when I look out my windows of my studio all I see is sky and the huge valley. It takes my breath away everyday. I absolutely love to create with glass and silver. It is a passion that drives me everyday. I create beads and jewelry because it comes from within me and when I am gone I feel that there will still be a part of me still out there." This is taken from her profile from her Etsy shop (link at the top of this post). Wouldn't it be awesome to live where she lives? :-))) I will surely be buying more lampwork from her. Not only are her beads just breathtakingly lovely, something about her, her energy, her creations, her words...they make everything sound very magical and fairytale like :-))). Go visit her shop and see for yourself! :-)).

My first PMC pendant: "Compassion & Gratitude".

I am SO excited! I finally got to try my hand at PMC as well. PMC is 99.9% silver in clay form. When it is fired, the clay part is gone, and 99.9% silver is left.

My teacher Jennifer was REALLY sweet. We had been trying to get together since forever. But I have lots of limitations on my time because I have 2 little kids, and then I have to wait till hubby has enough time to drive me to wherever I want to go. I do very limited driving because I have absolutely no sense of direction. Not even a bad one :-P. So Jennifer said she will come to my place and teach me! Wow!! People really do such things for others? That was so absolutely AWESOME of her! I was overjoyed, and very very grateful. She didn't even really know me. She had "met" me online at a jewelry forum, and I was always in awe of her work. Her work is not very typical PMC work. The "typical" PMC work is lovely too...I have nothing against it. But what I am saying is, her work is VERY different from most other PMC work I have seen. Anyway...so she didn't really know me. I was practically a stranger to her. But because she understood how much I had wanted this class, and yet could not make it to her house for some reason or another, she said (so easily) that she will bring everything over to my place and teach me. And she reassured me that she understands what it is to have little kids...she has raised 7.

So to me, this pendant symbolizes kindness, compassion, generosity...the qualities that Jennifer displayed with such ease. And it also symbolizes gratitude....what I feel for her. She had no need to do what she did. But she did it anyway.

She is an awesome teacher! I highly recommend her to anyone! I think this is a fabulous piece...and its just the first project I did with her! Do go through her website:

http://wearablebydesign.com/Wearable_by_Design/Welcome.html

You'll see amazingly beautiful pieces. And do contact her if you want to learn to work with PMC.

This pendant is 3/4" in diameter. A 4mm lab created Ruby is set in it. I have antiqued this pendant using silver black, and then polished it, so that its beautiful design can be seen. The back has a pattern too.

Agate and sterling silver pendant

This is for a young woman and a young man whose origins are from countries, and religions that have been clashing with each other forever. But they rose above all that, fell in love, and got married...setting a beautiful example of peace, love and beauty. Below is part of my letter to them, I have removed their names and the names of their countries of origin, religions they belong to, to protect their privacy. And changed it so it doesn't directly address them.

The silver beads at the bottom of the pendant signifies the dormant souls of the world who are moving up to awaken to who they really are. The colors at the bottom of the stone (an Agate) stand for the very different kinds of people in our world. Different because of race, color, nationality, religion...and so many other divisions. The colors green and red are very different from each other...but they combine into beautiful patterns in this stone, they do not clash. They do not even change each other. They simply accept each other for who they are, and harmonize with each other. Just like this young couple.

The colors, as they rise up in the stone lose their differences and become “one” by turning white. Just like people...when they rise above their differences, and move more towards their Divine Selves, realize they are not different really...they are just “one”.

I spent many many days to find the perfect stone that represented the story of these two beautiful people. When I saw this one., I knew, this was the one.

The designs around the stone show an upwards movement, showing the rising of human consciousness when they rise above their seeming differences, and only love one another...just like these two people did.

I weaved the bail of the pendant with silver wire, as a prayer of blessings that their lives be woven with each other's in complete love, harmony, and beauty.

The young man told his cousin (who commissioned this pendant), that one of the special moments of their lives was the time when they both saw a movie called “Arth”. “Arth” means “meaning”. And they have certainly showed by example the “meaning of life, and the meaning of love” through their beautiful love for each other. This is what I have hand stamped behind the pendant, to not only remind them of that special moment, but also to honor them for showing us the meaning of life and love.

It is through people like them that our world will change, and will know peace. For many, it is unthinkable for people originating from country X and country Y, of A and B religions to unite in matrimony. You both have shown that not only is it “thinkable”, it is completely normal, and completely loving to rise above outward differences and acknowledge our inherent divine One-ness. Their union will change many, their love will change much.

This pendant is one of a kind. There will never be another pendant just like this one, because this pendant tells their beautiful story.

Blue Sapphire Stamped Sterling Silver Ring

This ring is made with sterling silver and opaque dark blue Sapphire. It has been stamped with the names of the twins I wrote about earlier in the Sapphire pendant. Here is the letter I wrote to the grandmother for whom this ring was made..it explains the meaning behind this ring:

Dear XYZ,

Your nephew and neice-in-law asked me to make a ring for you for your 60th birthday. You are very special to them, so they wanted this ring to be something that is meaningful to you...they wanted to make your special birthday memorable, because you mean so much to them. They told me about how you are always there for the family, and how much you have done for everyone.

I thought about what would be most special for you at this time, and immediately thought of dear Deeya and Aarya. Who can be more special than them at this time to you? Beautiful twin grandchildren...they must be the highlight of your heart! So this ring signifies your beloved Deeya and Aarya. Their birthstone is Blue Sapphire, so I set a pear shaped opaque Blue Sapphire on this ring to signify them, and stamped their names inside the ring shank. This way their names will always touch your hand, and your blessings will constantly be touching their lives.

The metal is sterling silver, which develops a patina over time, giving it an antique look. If you like the antique look, you could keep it that way, but if you prefer it to be white for a longer time, then when you are not wearing it, wipe it and put it in its box and put the box in a ziplock bag. This prevents tarnishing for a long time. Keeping it away from chlorinated water will also help in preventing tarnishing.

Ruchi and Siddharth give you this ring with all their love and admiration for you. Wishing you a very Happy 60th Birthday!!

Love,
Swati

Sterling silver and Citrine earrings

I found these gorgeous Citrines in my stack from my gemshow loot a few years back, and wondered why I hadn't used them! So out they came from their packets, and I pulled out some sterling silver wires, and set them in these prongs to make these delicate earrings. My handmade earwires have tiny Citrine beads wire wrapped on them.

Blue Sapphire, sterling silver pendant

This sterling silver and Blue Sapphire necklace is for a very sweet grandmother with very special grandchildren. She is celebrating her 60th birthday, and her cousin got this made for her, for her birthday. Her grandchildren...a beautiful boy and a beautiful girl, are twins. Their birthstone is Sapphire.

So I designed this pendant to represent the twins. The sterling silver circle is divided into two by a sterling silver wire in the shape of the yin-yang. And I bezel set two pear shaped opaque Blue Sapphires in each half, facing opposite directions. I added texture to one half of the yin-yang, to show it is different from the other half. The Sapphires are the twins, in the same womb (circle), but still separated to have their own space...connected, yet individual...equal, and opposite (yin-yang space in the circle).

I have stamped the words, "my pride, my joy, my deeya, my aarya" behind the pendant to represent their grandmother's feelings for her grandchildren Deeya and Aarya.

The chain is a sterling silver rolo. I made the clasp with sterling silver wire, and wire-wrapped a tiny pearl on it to represent motherly/grandmotherly love. I hope she will like her gift :-).

A ring for a girl named Anna...

This sterling silver spinner ring is for a very special person called Anna Taylor. She placed an order for a sterling silver spinner ring with these words to be stamped on it:

"I love, I dream, I believe, I sing, I share". These words speak a lot about who she is, and how she is.

I know her through a spiritual forum I go to. And I see her generously devoting her time and energy to as many people there as possible, replying to their requests for prayers, wishing them happy birthday, taking part in everyone's joys and sorrows. You can see how she genuinely LOVES everyone. Loving comes easy to some people, and Anna is one of those special people.

She has a dream, which is to reach many many people through the songs she writes and sings. The words of her song are such that they touch the hearts of anyone who reads them or hears them. She also has cerebral palsy because of which she needs crutches or the wheel chair. Yet, when you talk to her online, you will not always be aware of what she faces on a daily basis. She is always listening to people, responding to them, praying with them, laughing with them, holding them when they cry. She is just 29 years old. This beautiful young woman (beautiful to look at, and beautiful within) wants to be a successful singer, and reach many many lives, and let people know that even if they are "different", they can succeed. This is Anna's dream.

And she has faith. She totally believes that she will succeed, and will be able to help many hearts heal.

She sings like an angel. She sings from the depths of her heart. Anna's had a life - long love of music and singing and has shared her voice internationally, with performances in London, Dublin, California and Hawaii. She is currently raising funds to record her debut album with her co - writer and producer, Robert Berry, at his Soundtek Studios in San Jose, California.

On June 4th 2009, her local newspaper featured an article about her and her story. To view the online version and video of Anna, (which includes details of the 'Wall Of Love' where for $US 111 people can sponsor one of 111 hearts and have their initials added to this special page on her website and CD booklet), click here:

http://www.midsussextimes.co.uk/videos/SINGER-ANNA-Taylor-is-hoping.5335003.jpg

To know more about her songs, and her upcoming CD's please visit: http://www.AnnaTaylorMusic.com.

She generously shares of herself, her time, and her wisdom with everyone. Anna is an ANGEL THERAPY PRACTITIONER® certified by Doreen Virtue, PhD. She is also a Theta Healing™ Practitioner. She offers sessions in person in West Sussex, England as well as via telephone and email, and holds monthly Sound Healing Telecalls where she connects with the Angels to offer healing through her voice.

To know more about her, go to her website: http://www.Anna-Taylor.co.uk.

When she asked me to make this ring for her, we thought for a while what words would be most appropriate for her, and when she came up with, "I love, I dream, I believe, I sing, I share", I was thrilled! Because I know Anna, and I know that these words speak a lot about her.

I added a 14K gold-filled spinner ring on top, because gold helps in manifesting dreams. And the spinner ring concept itself comes from the Tibetan prayer wheels where they spin wheels and pray. This action is supposed to help in manifestation too.

I pray that all your dreams are always fulfilled dear Anna! (((hugs)))

This ring is for $70. Plus shipping and handling. If you want such a ring made for you, please contact me.

Blue Topaz Ring

I had made a similar ring long back which got sold. A lovely lady saw its picture on my Facebook album, and placed an order for it. So here it is, a beautiful emerald cut Blue Topaz, wire wrapped in sterling silver, made into this open, free size ring.

Stamped Silver Stacking Rings

I am now making sterling silver stacking rings. These rings are 2mm wide, and 1mm thick. I stamp messages on these rings. The rings pictured here is a set of 4 rings I made for myself. They have the 4 agreements from the book "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz stamped on them. Each ring carries one agreement. I love this book, and it helps me keep my sanity when things get tough. The book has 4 very simple "agreements" that it says we should make with ourselves:

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take anything personally.
3. Don't make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone who ever has had a tough time with another person. When you read this book, it dissolves all hurt and pain into understanding, stillness and peace. It really works like magic!

I cannot go into details on each agreement here on the post, but I wanted a constant reminder of these agreements at my finger tips so they could always help me. So I made these stacking rings for me to always be reminded of these 4 very important principles.

If you want certain messages that you would like to remind yourself of, or if you want to have stacking rings with names of your children, grand children, your family, or any other affirmations or messages, please let me know your ring size, and the words you would like on these rings. Each ring is for $18. You could start with one ring, and add a collection as time goes by, or you could have a bunch of these rings made together for you.

Lost my blogroll in this "url move" :-(

I had such a nice list of blogroll here, but in changing the url, I seem to have lost my list :-(. Will need to make it again, and I hope I will remember all the links I had. And I hope I'll remember everyone who has given my link in their blogs, so I can do the same for them. I hope I still have the other list (blogs I "follow") intact. Will go check now.

Amethyst, sterling silver, wire wrapped prong ring

To buy this ring, go to my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25176190

I have a few of these really pretty emerald cut Amethysts that I bought at Intergem show a couple of years back. Its been a while since I have worked with this particular wire working technique. I had learnt making wire prongs of this kind from Robbie Ward. And when I first learnt it, I was so in love with itthat I made many pieces with prongs of this kind. Then I moved on to weaving wire. A few days back when I was uploading pictures to my facebook account, I saw some of my pieces which were made using this technique and I wanted to make more. Also, I got an order through Facebook from a very sweet lady to make a similar ring in Blue Topaz (a design I have sold before). So while I was waiting for her ring size, I made this ring. My daughter was very happy to see me use this technique again.

The shank is made from square and half-round wires. The ring is "open" and adjustable between sizes 6 and 8.

If you want to a similar ring in another stone, please contact me.

Garnet and Gold-Filled Wire earrings.

Got sold today itself! :-)) I wrote this blog entry this morning, wrote about it on Facebook and Twitter, and a wonderful gentleman on Facebook bought these and my bio-lemon drop earrings :-)). Thank you Andrew! :-))

I was going to make hoops, but then 1/4 way (yes, exactly 0.25 of the way ;-) ) I decided I wanted to try a spiral earring instead. So I first made these spiral earrings in 14k Gold-filled wire, hammered it, and was going to leave it at that. It looked pretty good that way. But 2 days later I changed my mind (of course), and now we have Garnet beads woven/coiled on the spiral frame. These are beads that I totally fell in love with. They are absolutely gorgeous, and one of those things I went over my budget to buy.

AMETHYST: physical, chemical and metaphysical properties

Description & lore:

This is a transparent stone, mostly purple/violet in color. Its crystals are pointed, and they can be found as cluster, as geodes or as single points in various sizes. They are found in a few different colors like various shades of Purple and Violet. Some are pink in color, and then there are green ones too. The name Amethyst means "not drunken" in Greek :-). It used to be thought of as an antidote for drunkenness.

There are many variations of the mythical story of Amethyst. Here is one. The story goes that the Greek God Dionysus was really upset with a mortal. So he got very revengeful (as Gods in stories are supposed to get often! lol!), and swore that the next mortal he sees has had it! That poor mortal would be eaten up by his tigers. I wonder though, why he didn't go after the guy who made him angry in the first place. Anyway, back to the story. The next mortal who came in his path happened to be a lovely damsel called "Amethyst". She was on her way to pay her respects to the Greek Goddess Diana. Now Diana, being the smart woman she was (or is?), knew the damsel Amethyst was going to be in much distress if she didn't help. So she turned Amethyst
into pure crystalline quartz. When Dionysus saw this absolutely gorgeous crystalline statue of a very lovely damsel, he cried...and he cried tears of...WINE! Cool, isn't it? ;-) So this wine he wept was purple in color, and all his tears flowed all over Amethyst's statue...turning Amethyst completely purple. And that's how my friends we have Amethyst to make jewelry with ;-).

I wonder...did Diana ever change the poor damsel back into human?

Physical & Chemical properties:

Amethyst is the most valuable variety of Quartz, and it occurs in crystal form. The color purple of Amethyst is due to the presence of Manganese and the variation in the coloration is due the Iron content. It has a specific gravity of 2.65, and its hardness is 7 at Mohs' scale. The chemical formula is SiO2 (Silicon Dioxide), the crystal system is Tetrahedral. If you heat Amethyst, it turns colorless or yellow. Most commercial Citrine is made by heating Amethyst to yellow color.

Metaphysical properties:

It is the birthstone of people born in February. Amethyst is said to raise consciousness and intuitive abilities. It is a powerful stone to use in healing and protection. It opens, clears, balances and stimulates the throat & the heart chakras. It clears auras. It is protective and transmutes all lower energies like anger, fear etc. Amethyst inspires creativity. It gives rise to divine, selfless love, love for God, and promotes loyalty in relationships.

It helps relieve one of physical and emotional pain. And it is said to balance the production of hormones. If you have trouble sleeping, keeping an Amethyst crystal under your pillow is said to aid in having a good restful sleep. Keeping Amethyst around when you sleep also helps in having out of body experiences. You might also get intuitive dreams.

If you are injured, it is said to help reduce bruising. It heals hearing disorders, digestive problems, and headaches.

Amethyst opens a conscious channel between your earthly self and your spiritual self. It calms you down and makes you more at peace. It makes you compassionate and heals troubles from this life as well as the past lives.

It aids in contacting your spirit guides and angels, and helps in channeling divine messages.

This stone also helpful for people who are about to cross over to the other side. Amethyst is said to help with mental disorders, but it should not be used in cases of schizophrenia and paranoia.

Amethyst is a great stone for using in jewelry because of its strong healing powers and high vibration. It is especially helpful as a pendant that hangs over the throat chakra or the heart chakra.

Sources of Amethyst:

Brazil, Canada, East Africa, USA, UK, India, Mexico, Russia, Sri Lanka, Siberia, Uruguay.

Credits:

Over the years I have read many books, internet articles on gemstones because I just LOVE gemstones. And I have collected points that I found interesting, in my notebook. I don't remember all of these sources because there are so many. But some of my favorite books on crystals and gemstones are "Love is in the Earth", "Gems and Astrology", "The Crystal Bible".

Tourmaline, Green Gold, sterling silver, gold filled, woven, wire wrapped earrings

To buy these or to see more pictures, go to http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24908216 I am offering free shipping during May and June for celebrating the opening of my new Etsy shop for wire jewelry.

These earrings are 3" long from the top of the ear wires to the bottom of the green gold drops. They are 1.1" wide at their widest part. The green gold drops are 15mm long, and beautifully faceted. The tourmaline beads that border the frame are micro-faceted and glitter in light. I have blacked the sterling silver wire, and used 14K gold-filled wire for design inside, and for the hand made ear wires. The combination of black and gold looks very dramatic.

The stones are so beautifully faceted and of such high quality that when you wear them, they catch and reflect light absolutely divinely! To me this is very important when buying most faceted stones. They should reflect light really nicely.

I have tried them on with regular dresses for the day time, and really "dressy" party dresses for night time, and strangely they look perfectly great on both kinds of outfits. They give a very feminine and elegant look.

PLEASE NOTE:
----------------
I always change the ear wires to new ones before selling them.

I am still learning how to photograph gemstones properly so my photographs really don't show how remarkable all these stones are.

Healing properties:
-------------------
Tourmalines are said to enhance understanding, increase self-confidence and amplify psychic energies. It is also said to dispel negative energies, fear and grief. They help with concentration and communication. They energize you, and also relax your body and mind, and relieve you of anxiety. It is said that Tourmalines help with arthitis pain and heart disease.