Ancient sea lily for a special pesce

One of my last projects in 2010 was the creation of this necklace showcasing a crinoid fossil. The piece was a gift for a special friend, and it enabled me to practice a few more techniques that I just learned this year: Forming with sheet metal, utilizing riveted prongs to hold the piece to the metal, and soldering rings.

All of the silver is sterling, and the back plate of the pendant is brass, which picks up on the warm tones of the crinoid fossil and frames the piece.

The piece has a double bail that hangs from brown leather, with a hand forged clasp.

As you may see from the sketch, I decided to orient the fossil opposite of what I originally planned. That is part of the beauty of the creative process; being able to change and adapt as I move toward the final product.

Turquoise Treasure on Leather

My friend gave me a bead that she got from a music festival over the summer and asked me to do something with it. I revisited the wrapped wire frame design that has figured prominently in my previous work.


I created seven loops to attach the spike details. All of the wire and findings are sterling silver. I really rather like this side of the piece as one can see the carved detail of the bead more clearly as it is not obscured by the coloring of the stone.


I opted to use a graceful "S" clasp design to add more interest to the back. I can't wait for her to see what I have done with her bead!

A trio of Blue Druzy Quartz Crystal Necklaces

Late last year I picked up a strand of Blue Druzy Quartz briolette-style pendants from a local bead store in Watervliet called Tradewind Beads. I purchase most of my gemstones from trade shows, but when I saw these beauties, I had to get them because of their luminous blue and white coloring, and twinkling crystalline structure. They are unusual. I have seen a fair amount of white Druzy quartz, but not in blue.


These are the first series of pieces that I created out of this find - From left, counter-clockwise to right: 16" sterling chain with hand-worked clasp and pendant bail, 18" sterling chain with hand-worked clasp and pendant bail (both antiqued and buffed out), and an 18" doubled leather with handworked clasp and bail.


Blue druzy comes from Chrysocolla. Chrysocolla is associated with tranquility and peace, intuition, patience, and unconditional love. It is thought to offer gentle and soothing qualities. The Cluster formation of the quartz crystal can be used to bolster group energy, enhance harmony and peace in a group, and other social/business relationships.



The pieces certainly are lovely and soothing, even if one knows nothing about their intrinsic properties.

Simplicity lets your style shine through

This is some of the latest work that is now for sale at Chartreuse. The earrings are hammered sterling wire with wrapped functional detail. From left to right, the briolettes gemstones are labradorite, African prehnite, and onyx. The earrings are perfect for summer; light, open, and full of great energy.


Here I paired the onyx earrings with a Tibetan Quartz crystal on leather necklace. The necklace is a personal favorite of mine. I love the hematite inclusions in the stone and the double terminated crystal formation.
Tibetan Quartz Crystals hold sacred energy frequencies and the wisdom of the ancient culture. This crystal can be used to enhance, amplify, and intensify transformation, releasing self-limitations, disease and disorders. Tibetan Quartz Crystals gather, hold and release a very high energy and tend to contain a very powerful "OM" vibration. It is also an excellent enhancer and activator of other crystals. {http://www.mythnlynx.com/MP.html}


Citrine and amethyst crystal necklaces were also created in this series.

Fun and naturally funky dalmatian jasper

I have been in the process of working with components that have been sitting on my bench for a long time. I tend to lay out a lot of things as I am working as they catch my attention; but then they tend to pile up because I don't necessarily work with them right away, as I tend to whatever task or whim comes along. I finally returned to this lovely piece of jasper that I had drilled who knows how long ago. The piece is hung on an 18" piece of doubled black leather.



The jasper swings freely on the sterling detail. The necklace has a real organic, free form quality about it, which fits the energy of the stone, as jasper helps us release our tendencies to over think or over analyse things.

Beach Glass for the Bat Mitzvah - Life's Cycles

This is a commissioned piece for a young lady's Bat Mitzvah. It features a piece of beach glass from the givers personal collection.




While the spiral detail works well as a design element, it also functions as a significant ancient feminine symbol. In ancient Britain, the spiral seems to have been associated with the feminine as the doorway to life. It has been associated with the cycles of time, the seasons, the cycle of birth, growth, death, and then rebirth. The cycles of time and nature are the cycles of life. This imbues the piece with many levels of significance for the the girl who is making the transition to young woman.

Back to Black

These are just a few of the pieces that I have made in the past couple of days. I have definitely been working a black linear motif. Most of these pieces are are coral, with the exception of the third picture, which is a pendant created from lavastone. The capped pieces utilize a herringbone wire wrapping technique.

Rough, cool, ethereal kyanite on leather

This weekend I succumbed to the urge to work with the green kyanite that I had gotten in December. I was inspired by my own kyanite necklace in my collection. This is the first of several necklaces in this style that I will be showcasing in Etsy. I will make others in blue kyanite and other gemstones. But I have to say that this green kyanite is spot on with what I am feeling right now.