December stone - Black Onyx Defence

What is Onyx?  It is a semi-precious stone, Chaldedony, which in nature, is found mostly in  brown, red, white, and black. Chalcedony is a large range of stones formed from silicon dioxide better known to us as quartz. 

Here is what they have to say about what Onyx does to you- Have you had any feelings of anger lately? the kind  that makes you feel small and bitter against almost everyone who comes your way? You get up in the morning and you just hate how your partner drinks his coffee in the morning? you want to yell at your new neigbours in your apartment  building to stop slamming their door whenever they go out, ..but  know you have to restrain yourself and have a nice polite little talk with them and you simply can't get yourself to do it?....Or - your favorite pet has  passed away..or something  you have heard on the news which made you feel uncomfortable?...

Well, it is said that when you wear an Onyx stone on your body, it helps release all these negative emotions.  Do you want to end an unhappy relationship? Onyx will give you the energy to do it. It  guards you against negativity from others.. Onyx will defend you against your own bad feelings and of others toward you.

It is also said that as black means the absence of light - invisibility, the dark protects you. Therefore,  In the dark, your senses and awareness are sharpened. You love yourself more!

Model Maital wearing my Onyx and Silver Necklace

Well.......this is what they say about Onyx. I personally believe that when I get up in the morning, I should say to myself: "I am strong! I can control myself! I love myself! I love everyone and am able to accept them as they are! and..... I am going to wear these lovely Onyx earrings I left by my bedside because they go well with my outfit and will show everyone what a wonderful positive person I am!!!".......(?)

Between you and me - you should teach yourself to be positive if you wear Onyx or you don't. but one thing is definitely most certain - Onyx makes most women look their best!

I handcrafted a pair of Onyx earrings and a necklace.
Here they are for you:

1. Elegant Silver and black onyx necklace .Oval Onyx stone and sterling Necklace handmade by hammering flower shapes with  dispersed  tiny granulations which are soldered around a Silver bezel with a large oval Onyx stone. The result is a  romantic elegant pendant, which is hung on a thick industrial sterling silver chain.

size of the pendant: 50mm x 45mm (about 2" x1.8")
Length: 45cm (18")
2. Black Onyx and silver dangle earrings,  I used  13x16mm (about 0.10" x 0.12") bezels.  In them I set black oval rosecut Onyx stones. The bezels are of sterling silver and they dangle from elegant sterling earring posts too.The bezels are soldered to an oval flat oxidized silver plate 0.6 m"m thick . The  length from the end of the posts is 27mm.

So now that I've told you my thoughts - get up, wear your most charming smile and wear my earrings or  my necklace

Happy Holidays everyone!

Happy teardrop Earrings

I have searched the internet for the term  "Happy Teardrops", to find something suitable  for this  post, but there  were  too many sad teardrops.  The only "happy tears" I found were a title of a song and a play, but they  did not fit here. 

I guess the only really  happy tears, are the ones I intend to write about - My earrings. Why  HAPPY? because who needs SAD?

OK now. Enough with the blah!

Here are three pairs of teardrop earrings directly from my Etsy shop:

 Green Apple quartz earrings:

These stunning teardrop earrings are handcrafted from sterling silver with  a tiny 14k gold ball and Green Apple Quartz stones. I chose these unique rosecut stones, because of the exceptional colors.

Their length from top to bottom: 1.45"(about 3.6cm).
Stone sizes: 9mm x 13mm.
Thickness of the earwires: 0.8mm
Weight: about 2.4 – 2.7 grams.

The next pair are the ones I handcrafted with small round Amethyst cabochons

These earrings are created from sterling silver. A tiny 14ct gold ball was added, and on the bottom there is a 7mm diam.  Amethyst cabochon. There are hooks behind the earrings .

Length:0.70" from end of the ear-wires

The third pair are similar to the Amethysts but with the difference that they are set with Garnets

. 
My Garnet and Silver dangle earrings.

As I searched, I found a favorite country  song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2coalL7HsEI


Hope you all enjoy your holidays and if you must have tears, let them only be HAPPY ONES!

Affordable Quality Jewelry Gifts with Sterling Silver and Stones

I have a tendency to design my handmade jewelry, trying new ideas, not considering the cost of components but just go on excitedly to create  items which would beautify women. Of course not all these more expensive designs are popular with buyers. I just take a chance by using various stones, some more expensive and some - less.  But  then it gets to pricing. I realize I might have to give them a higher price, as there is more silver in them.( Of course, the more silver you add to an item, the more expensive the item turns out to be). Then I have to consider the price of stones and the work invested....so I have to go back down to earth and say to myself "think about your customers dear, after all, you want to sell this. Don't you?"

So here I am, thinking as a gift buyer: " I need to buy, say, 10 gifts. I want people to enjoy my gifts.  I cannot spend more that $25-27 for a gift. My girl friend likes silver earrings and stones, but I cannot afford to spend more!" 

As I know now how a gift buyer thinks, I decided to handcraft a pair of earrings which I would like to wear myself, and which would not be too costly!  I created two small triangle sterling posts and added small lovely Red Agate beads to dangle from their edges. A simple design but - sometimes the simplest ideas are the best!

I believe I have handcrafted  a  lovely pair of affordable earring studs with authentic stones. I can honestly tell you that if someone would have given these earrings to me on Christmas eve, it would make me very happy. I'd feel that the person who gave them to me, thought of what I would love to have. He thought of ME when he bought these.

Attached is a photo of a lovely model - Meital who is wearing these earring posts:

The same earrings can be made with other beads too, such as small fresh water pearls, mother of pearl beads and lovely Aqua Marine beads.

Thank you for watching!

Silver Gold and natural bead hoops on Handmade Artists' Shop

Silver Gold and natural bead hoops on Handmade Artists' Shop

Tourmaline and Silver Flower Earrings - Pink and Blue green

I have returned from my vacation, have rested for a few days and then decided it was high time I became creative again, as  my grand kids and creativiy, are the things which get me going in life. I began by thinkung "this is September. I will make September stone earrings with sapphires". I searched through my small  collection of stones, but could not find Sapphires which would go with earrings. As it was too hot and damp outside, I gave up the idea of going down to my favorite shop, where I buy stones for setting and between you and me - I've become a too lazy to walk in this summer's unbearable weather.

While searching through my stone collection I found a few Tourmaline cabochons, one was blue green and the other - pink. I had an idea of a pair of earrings in my mind. So I spontaneousely got to work at my table and this is the outcome:

The earrings are somewhat longer than the standard dangles, but not too long. I am a small woman and I felt that I could wear these earrings too, as they are in proportion with the length of my own neck.

As I like to search other people's shops too, I  have searched "pink and blue green" on Etsy and found quite a few lovely items under these tags. Here are a few of them:

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The last wonderful unique item comes from Finland, out of a shop named ForMyDarling where you may find mittens,bags,homedecor, owls , birds and wedding decor. The following
are a lovely example of the warmth and love invested in them:

The owner of "ForMyDarling" loves to work mainly with wool, she collects all her materials in flea markets, and creates her felt by using her washing machine.

I guess I could find many more beautiful items on Etsy under the tag "blue green and pink" but there are so many shops there, and I do not wish to tire you with a too lon post!

My visit to Venice

For many years I've been wanting to visit Venice in Italy. After having read  the history of  this wonderful unusual city, viewing a few movies photographed in it,  and reading a few books having to do with Venice, I decided it was high time for me to go and see for myself.

I therefore joined a group of people whose common interest was art in Venice, and travelled there. We arrived at Milano and on the way to Venice had visited Mantova where we viewed the palaces of the Gonzaga family. Then we drove on to Venice.

 The excited emotions I felt when approaching the city on the long bridge the "Via de Liberta" connecting  between the mainland and the city,  are beyond compare to any other I felt when arriving at a large and famous place.

The Ponte della Libertà, was designed in 1932 by Eugenio Miozzi and opened by Benito Mussolini in 1933. It is 4 km long and the only way one can arrive at Venice by car or bus. There is also a railroad which was constructed in 1846. Before this, one could get to Venice by boat only..... 

When the bus could not go any further, we took a boat to our hotel in the Giudecca Island in the Venetian lagoon and as it was late in the evening we started touring the city the following morning.

This postcard shows an ancient map of Venice from 1565.

As there is a lot of information in Google concerning Venice, I will only say in short, that there is the venetian lagoon and There are about 177 canals, 354 bridges and 118 islands connecting to one another in it . 

After a long walk through the streets of the Piazza San Marco, a visit to the Academia gallery, the Peggy Guggenheim museum, the Scuola di san rocco, the church of Santa Maria dei Frari (The Frari Basilica) and  churches with some of the most beautiful and amazing famous art pieces, (OK - not all in one day!!!) My friend Rina and I decided to sit in one of the many restaurants and cafes there and enjoy a nice cup of coffee.

I guess the waiters took a quick look at us, and rightfully assumed we were too tired to change our minds about sitting there, and had us spend some 63.00 Euro together on two cups of coffee,  apple pie with cream, a little music, a tip, and the visit of a cute pidgeon who wanted to share with us....Well as this was a once (or twice)  in a lifetime  experience we did not take it too much to heart).

I cannot show all the 200  photographs of Venice I took there, but here are a few of my favorites:

View across our hotel

Portrait of an old woman in the Academia Gallery in Venice by Veronese

Enlarged detail of a base of one of the pedestals in Piazza San Marco

Spiral house belonged to the rich family Cantini in 1499

We were luckily  permitted to enter the the Grand Teatro La Fenice in Venice. I've been to a few grand theatres before, but this is one of the most impressive:

This is just a small sample. One should see the place.
It drew quite a few "WOWs" from us when we entered.

An excerpt from a  column in the Doges's palace in Piazza San Marco

One of my favorite writers, Henry James, who enjoyed long stays in Venice  where he had written the novels "The Aspern Papers" and  "The Wings of the Dove" (which takes place in Venice, and which was  filmed and  nominated for an Academy Award) and  also completed there the writing of the novel "Portrait of a  Lady", wrote with regard to the statue seen hereunder in front of the church of Saint John and Paul:

Bronze statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni, the condottiere By Verrocchio (1435-1488)
Height of the statue is 395cm without the base.

One of my favorite writers, Henry James, who enjoyed long stays in Venice  where he had written the novels "The Aspern Papers" , finished writing "Portrait of a Lady" and  "The Wings of the Dove" (which takes place in Venice, and which was  filmed and  nominated for an Academy Award) wrote about the statue by Verrochio seen hereunder in front of the church of Saint John and Paul:

"The statue is incomparable, the finest of all mounted figures, unless that of Marcus Aurelius, who rides benignant before the Roman Capitol, be finer......he continued to look far over my head, at the red immersion of another day- he had seen so many go down into the lagoon through the centuries - and if he were thinking of battles and stratagems they were of a different quality from any I had to tell him of.He could not direct me what to do, gaze up at him as I might..." 

********

Many thanks to our guide Dr. Efi Ziv, who saw to it that we do not miss a single art piece of the great painters Tizian,Tintoretto,Veronese, statues of Donatello and more, and took care of every detail in our little trip.

Thanks to my dear friend Rina Karmoush who helped me remember a few almost forgotten details.  

I could write more about Venice and the genius grand art we saw and learned to appreciate there,  but this is only a post in my blog. I can only tell you  that it has not been my last visit to Venice, and I itend to go there again sometime in the future, as you can spend many days there and never lose interest.

On our way back to Milano we had visited Ravenna,Padova,Verona...but I shall leave these unforgettable places for  another post...perhaps!

August birthstone - Peridot

I have just taken a look at my last post and was rather shocked  - July 3rd! How the time flies! I feel as if it was only yesterday!..Where has the time gone?.. well, now it is already August, and as time cannot be brought back, I shall try to concentrate on the future!

August birth stone, as we all know, has a beautiful green color  -  the Peridot!.

Here are a few Peridot greens which I have found on the Etsylush team on Etsy:
Let me begin by offering my own Peridot earrings handcrafted with  gold plated silver and Peridot beads:

These earrings can be worn all year round, they are light and will beautify you all summer especially in August!
You will find my shop here:
http://etsy.com/shop/riorita

Melojane is the name of the Etsy shop owned by Melissa Jane from Melbourne Victoria in Australia. She is a full time university student who is studying visual arts. Her love for bright colors can be viewed in her beautiful quality  items created with various fabrics. Here is a favorite of mine. It is a flowers dots clutch purse:

AngsanaSeeds is a shop of some beautiful Nature photography, home decor, the city  and more. The photographs are  either in Black and White or in color. The owner enjoys travelling and and collecting memories in photographs. My favorite photograph is this:

It is Gorgeous! I hope you agree!

Now for the next shop OneRustyNail which is run by husband and wife Maranda and Arnold. The shop reveals to us some very special vintage treasures and finds. Maranda and Arnold enjoy goint to auctions and estate sales, and love to find strange colorful objects. As I love to roam in flea markets myself, I can easily  identify with the enthusiasm in finding special items. Here is one my  favorites from their shop. It is a Peridot alright!

What a lovely item! Just looking at it, cools off the exceedingly hot weather outside by 2 degrees at least. So refreshing it is!

Now let me hand you a lovely fresh flower! A definite Peridot for your August outfit!
You will find it in Stephanie Thompson's shop Stephanieh02. Stephanie is from Chelsea Michigan. She handcrafts original handmade greeting cards, fabric flower accessories and more.

I hope you will love all these items as much as I do. Have a pleasant, breezy and not too hot summer!