My new Handcrafted Sterling Silver and Kyanite ring




Recently I have acquired a few beautiful Kyanite cabochons,  with non standard sizes. I left everything I was doing and handcrafted a new sterling silver ring design with the stone. The ring design  is handmade with  a round smooth band and a bezel soldered on it , nicely finished in which I set the stone.

About Kyanite:

The name KYANITE comes from the word in Greek kuanos or "kyanos".  which means deep blue.

It is a blue silicate. It is a metamrphic mineral.


In Nature it looks like a bladed crystal  but sometimes it can be found  as  masses of crystals.  Many times it is  associated with other metamorphic minerals , for example:  the garnet.


The mineral was called in the past  DISTHENE  meaning  "two strengths". 

 Kyanite's known healing properties:

It is believed that it helps open and clear one's communication centers. The Kyanite mineral does not need to be cleaned. Known to carry a light energy which attracts spiritual beings such as spirit guides, angels etc.,,.

This is how the Kyanite stone looks when found in Nature , before it is cut for setting:

Beautiful,blue, mysterious and spiritual!

Link to this ring in my Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/82687284/sterling-silver-oval-kyanite-ring

More of my handmade jewelry designs:

http://etsy.com/shop/riorita

our home to yours: Saturday Shopping Link Up - decorate for fall

our home to yours: Saturday Shopping Link Up - decorate for fall

Boosting Etsy Shops Team

I am a newbie to the BEST Etsy team. I was accepted to the team with warmth and encouragement, and I have a feeling I am going to love it here.

In this post I shall introduce 3 shops from this wonderful group of talented people, add the links to their shops.

 I believe you will find that they are well worth admiring on Etsy, and even better- you will find here some great items which you can purchase as gifts for the very near holiday season. I personally always like to purchase my gifts well in advance, to save myself the last minute headache of what to buy.

The first shop is Cathy Tuggle's shop:
http://etsy.com/shop/Headpinwear
http:/headpinwear.etsy.com/


Cathy handcrafts's jewelry is created meticulously and with a lot of care and thought, and made from quality materials such as sterling silver and goldfilled combined with unique beads.
I hope you like her jewelry as much as I do:

The second shop is
http://www.etsy.com/shop/UpcycleRecycleReuse

The shop uses waste material and turns them into new lovely items to create better products with a higher environmental value.

htThe last of the three is the impressive:

http://theorangewindmill.etsy.com

Where you will find Hand-bount leather journals.The journals are handcrafted from leather for the covers and individually torn sheets pf paper. Then the papers are bound permanently into the leather.For closure a cord made of thick leather is used to make it easy to use.

And last, but not least here is a new pair of earrings I handcrafted from sterling silver and Peridot beads.
Your will find them here:

http://etsy.com/shop/riorita
See you again in my next post.
L O V E
Irith

My personal tips on How to store your collected handmade, or other, jewelry

I have been a jewelry collector, ever since I received my first heirloom from my mother. It was a gold heart locket and gold chain, with a photograph of my parents in it, and a tiny unpolished diamond on the front. I rweceived it when I was about 10 years old, and  many years later, these days, I still   like to wear it every once in a while

Some of the jewelry  we own has great sentimental  value to  us. They maybe  keepsakes from  a beloved person  or something you found in a jewelry shop which you love .Some of it may be valuable also for its worth in money , whether it is made of gold, silver and very prescious, or simply for the artistic value, when it was created by an a unique jewelry artist.

No matter, what the source of jewelry you own is worth, be it a gold pair of earrings, or a lovely cheaper pair made with beads, one should be aware that they should be protected from breakage, dust, humidity in the air, and tarnish. Handcrafted or industrial jewelry, can break easily, as it is fragile.

The reasons for this is that humidity causes your jewelry to look rusty which might lead to breakage. Imagine you wanting to wear a favorite pai of earrings you own and your dismay at discovering that it has become rusty. Not very pleasant. right? dust can contribute to this too. 

It is true the sterling silver  and gold jewelry can be easily cleaned, but why waste your precious  time on cleaning it, if you can avoid this?

The drastic changes of temperature between cold and warm weather, has an impact on your jewelry too., as metals have the quality of contracting. And expanding. This may "contribute" to cracks in your  favorite pieces. Therefore, it is well advised to keep your jewelry in a box where the changes of weather have no effect on it.

 The solution to this is very simple - just  keep your jewelry in a special box. Never leave it on a hanger near your mirror in the bedroom, even if this could seem very decorative. Keep a separate box for earrings. And one for your necklaces rings and bracelets.

There are many lovely jewelry boxes you can buy for very reasonable prices. They will serve you very well – keep your jewelry in a weather  protected place and do not forget that a cute jewelry box is a wonderful way to decorate your room,.

Here's a lovely jewelry box I have foun on Etsy:

You will find this handcrafted box in the  Etsy shopThedecorativebox. It is created from acrylic painted wood and decorated with rhinestones,silkflowers and more. I just love it. Looks perfect for storing jewelry in it.

My Etsy shop:

http://riorita.etsy.com/
http://riorita.etsy.com
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My new Blue beachglass jewelry ring and friends

very once in a while a customer asks me about a ring with beach/sea glass set in it. I then go to a box in my workshop where I keep all treashures of beach glass pieces, and search for a piece which may be suitable. I made the ring, then added tiny peices of 14k gold and a bezel and finally set the glass in it.

New blue beach glass ring set in sterling silver and gold

I was rather satisfied with the outcome, and so was my customer.

You will find more items with beach glass and more here:
http://riorita.etsy.com/





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As I looked for more Etsy shops with items whose subject would be the beach and sea, I found some very nice shops.The first was this one:

A beautiful print by a wonderful artist whose Etsy shop name is AlisaPaints.
The print is a copy of an original  painting  with soft pastel colors displaying two pretty girls seeking for sea shells on the beach.

 

Etsy shop name : AlisaPaints

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 I went on with my search and found those awesome pieces of what looked like broken pieces which the sea has tumbled for years upon years. The pieces were collected by two people, Sierra and Lonnie, who live on Kawaii and are the owners of the Etsy shop KauaiShellsandMore.

 They collect the pieces from the shores of Kauai in Hawaii.

Beach glass from KauaiShellsand More

Shop on Etsy : KauaiShellsandMoreEtsy 

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The third Etsy shop I chose for this post is that of carensilvestri.

  The owner of this shop lives in Southern California and specialized in landscape photography and enjoys photographing  the gifts of  Nature in Macro. She travels and practices her art mainly on the west coast. I love her !work and I am quite ceratain you will love them too.

Etsy shop: carensilvestri

More handmade jewelry designs:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/riorita

Round Pink and Pretty

I have recently searched through the collection of round stones in my Handmade jewelry  designs workshop. I decided to create a few new pairs of earrings with the same basic design, with various round colorful stones. I wanted to handcraft the kind of earrings which you may hurriedly wear in the morning before going out,  knowing you would look pretty in them, no matter what you decide to wear. Here is one these pairs:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/73893498/small-granulated-sterling-silver

The stones in these earrings are Cherry quartz and are set in two round granulated disks. They dance gently  whenver you move your head and make you feel as fresh as a daisy. Believe me you will. I made a pair for myself, and though it has been long since I looked so fresh myself (this is a sad joke - heh heh), it worked magic on me - I looked in the mirror and...at least it gave me that feeling!  Real magic! Yeah!

While searching more rounded colorful items on Etsy I have  found these:

The first is of an artist Etsy friend of mine - Yael Berger who  has some of the most delightful  water color prints I've seen on Etsy:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/66345117/blood-orange-study-archival-print-of-my

Here is a print she called:
"Blood Orange study, Archival Print of my original watercolor painting , limited edition"

It brings in a fresh breeze of spring with a warm ray of sunshine to your home. Watching these hot red and orange colors gives me a surge of optimistic energy which lasts to the end of the day!

Yael's shop:
http://thejoyofcolor.etsy.com/


The third of my favorite shops is Artiseverything's Etsy shop:

http://artiseverything.etsy.com/

Last Christmas I was at a loss at what to send my friends abroad, and when I found this shop I knew my friends would like what I chose for them. I was right - They liked it a lot and made immediate use of it.

Here is a similar beautiful and colorful item from this shop:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/70029671/new-designed-business-card-holder

"NEW-Designed business card holder printed retro popart colorful rainbow floral flowers design in turquoise,brown,orange,dark minty green,lemon light pale green"

I love the simple colorful design. Perfect for displaying your own card, or even a small photograph of a beloved person.

That is all for today folks, hoping to be back soon!
More handcrafted artisan jewelry from my shop:
http://riorita.etsy.com/

Special attractions on the way to my workshop

The last day of Passover, a couple of weeks ago,  was a beautiful sunny day. I decided to go and finish off an ordered  necklace in my handmade jewelry designs workshop, but on the way remembered that I was invited to Dvora Diskin's family picnic in her garden, and so I decided to hop in and say hello.

Dvora Diskin is a unique ceramic artist. Her creativity is amazing. When I look around  her garden I am always newly surprised by the vast amount of original items I discover there.  From every corner you can view these stunning ceramic creatures which she has created, and which are set among the flowers and trees there. At first - when you enter the garden you get  alarmed by a group of giant snakes. You relax right away though, as  you realize they are only made of clay! Then you stand there looking at one of the items, and feel someone's eyes staring at your back. When you turn around you find that it has been the stare of beautiful turquoise Iguana .You walk a little further and there is a mask laughing scornfully at your face from one of the walls of her house...

Dvora kindly permitted me to photograph her art and here are a few of her unusual pieces:




Ceramic frogs at Dvora Diskin's garden 

 



Dvora's ceramic  Family tree

 Iguana

Directly  from the Garden of Eden

ceramic sculpture  by Dvora Diskin

Ceramic sculpture - Dvora Diskin

 Mask - Dvora Diskin

 After this unique experience and after enjoying Dvora's coffee, cake and the company of her cheerful family, I left to my workshop to finish what I had in mind and a very fruitful day it was!!

Link to my handcrafted artisan jewelry shop:
http://riorita.etsy.com/