I've always had a special fondness for gems and minerals...one of my favorite parts of any Natural History museum, I'd always make a beeline for that section with all the glittery mineral growths hidden inside/outside unassuming rocks. Anyway, like most of my interests/lusts I've been nurturing this for a while, and tracking all kinds of eBay auctions and etsy listings. I can't deny how attracted I am to beautiful gemstones, but usually not the most common ones (I'm pretty indifferent to diamonds etc.). My favorite of all time is Sleeping Beauty turquoise from Arizona, but the stuff is not cheap, no siree.
I came across this lady who does long knotted necklaces and thought seriously about dropping $50 for one of her creations, when I realized how simple her necklaces looked, and that I could probably figure out how to make one (or three) myself with less than $20 and just the right materials. I mean, her descriptions are so detailed that I feel like I have a ready-made how-to guide right there. So I started scouring eBay and other sources for some 10mm round gemstones, and feeling out what I needed in terms of threading material and clasps. Who knows, maybe I'll actually jump on the jewelry-making bandwagon.
Anyway, the first couple of things I bought included, in no particular order:
- Some creamy blue chalcedony beads (chalcedony apparently is not naturally blue, but has to be heat-treated to bring out its blue color...otherwise it comes in a plethora of shades from pink to green to yellow).
- Also stumbled across someone selling some gorgeous African blue opal nuggets. I have never seen this stone in my life, but I was immediately captivated by its beauty--sky blue with artistic gray/beige veins. From the same seller I bought some imperial jasper too.
- Since I want a necklace that looks similar to ones that woman sells, I've been eyeing aventurine in red and blue (see below). Both gorgeous paired with another favorite stone, smoky quartz (often mistakenly called smokey or smoky topaz).
- I also realize that one thing I need to round out my wardrobe is a dramatic long white necklace of some kind. For this I've been considering riverstone, white turquoise, howlite, and alabaster. I bought a big chunky plastic necklace from Old Navy and my coworker Brent said it looked "terrible and fake." After looking in the mirror I had to agree.
