Nature's Harvest!

The gem show was amazing as always! This time around I focused more on finding cabachons and I feel like I struck gold. =) I am astonished that I didn't buy a single strand of freshwater pearls. I love, love, love pearls...and I have the stash to prove it! I browsed the heaping tables full of them on the look out for any colors that caught my eye. They were all lovely, of course, but I think I wanted to save my money for any lucky cab finds. I realized that I cannot leave the gem show feeling completely satisfied with out one really good 'guilty' purchase. Well, I found an incredible strand of teeny tiny turquoise beads I had to have; sorry, they're all mine!!! Here are some pictures and details of my trip:

turquoise nuggets, rainforest jasper, citrine, and aquamarine

nature's paintbrush, serpentine, moldovite, turquoise, rock butte, and labradorite

turquoise

rock butte (jasper, I think) the landscape quality of this stone is amazing!

nature's paintbrush (jasper?) I see an adorable little flower

moldovite (a type of meteorite)

This is actually what the moldovite looks like, beautiful! I think it is going to have to have an open back setting to show the amazing detail. They are all like this.

This is a rare hand-cut jade from South Central Asia, I am kicking myself for not writing down where exactly is is from. It is gorgeous, matte, and varigated...luscious!

Another one of those rare hand-cut strands, but this one is turquoise. It was very expensive (my guilt purchase). They are incredibly tiny... I knew that if I didn't buy them I would really regret it. They are also from South Central Asia (once again, kicking myself for not writing down exactly where they are from. I'll find out!).

This is what I did with my new teeny tiny turquoise beads. I made a teeny tiny silver pendant to dangle from them. It is very sweet and very simple!

My mind is swarming with ideas for how to use my stones. I am just finishing up a custom order and then I can play with my ideas. I am in the beginning stages of developing two new jewelry lines to compliment my seasonal lines. I cannot wait to spend some time in my sketchbook! This is a pretty busy week for me, I am looking forward for it to be over so that I can spend all of the time I want in the studio. Later!