Natural Stone..There Is Nothing Like It

Well I just spent a wonderful week in Arizona. My annual trip to see family and buy beads and stone came and went too fast. I bought mostly stone on this trip and am adding to my collection that is starting to make me think that I might be a stone horder :), but I just cant help myself. I love, love, turquoise although I haven't used that many pieces in my store yet, it is just so hard to part with. One of my favorites is ribbon turquoise, like in the photo above..it is so gorgeous! I bought quite a few cabs and am anxious to use them. Ribbon turquoise is from the Royston mine and I am lucky enough that I get to hand select it from the miners that mine and cut it. I was able to get a new cab set too called Easter Blue, it is more teal in color than the clear turquoise that you see above. If you love turquoise you probably already have a  favorite. Most people love the robin blue turquoise that is a light sky blue, but my favorite is the darker teal or green shades. I will definitely have to take a few photos of my new gorgeous cabs and share in the next few days!

I met up with an old friend that I like to buy stone from, she has beautiful stone with A+ finishes, very high quality ( it makes a huge difference) and I was able to get some beautiful Apatite nuggets, Chryscola, Kyanite and Flourite I was so excited!! I love talking with people and learning new things, she showed me something that I dont think that I will ever forget. She asked me if I wanted to see something special and of course I said yes, she had something in a little baggie, cupped in her hand and as she opened the bag the sunlight grabbed the opal beads and glowed a vibrant glow of purple, unlike I had ever seen before. It was unreal...she had a string of BEAUTIFUL opals that were graduated and ready for someone to make into a beautiful one of a kind necklace..see I just get excited talking about what I saw because if you love stone or opals for that matter...you would appreciated how hard it is to find what she had. The color was so stunning that I brought tears to my eyes...I am serious..I have never had that happen to me before. She asked me if I was interested in purchasing them..at the cost of only $3200.00  :O what?? she said she would give me a deal but I just smiled and told here that she needed to keep them in hopes that she could and make herself something special with them. She said that she would have to sell them because she needed to :(  I was hoping that her husband was overhearing our conversation and would somehow try to surprise her with them, maybe for Valentines Day. Hmmm..Good Idea :)

I looked down at my pile of stone and noticed that I had picked blues and greens, mostly blues in all shades, which made me laugh at myself, I must be anxious for summer I thought, because it reminded me of the colors of the ocean, where I like to vacation.  I cant wait to get started on my new creations..and most of all I cant wait to share :) ...stay tuned

Color, Color And More Color For 2011

I finally found a minute to sit and write about some new things that will be happening in LittleGreenRoom for 2011. 2010 was such a great year, even better than expected and now that we are in 2011 I am even more excited to see where this year will lead and what surprises will come my way. I was just contacted about a week ago to do a second feature in Australia's Australian Beading Magazine. YAY! 2011 is starting off with a bang :) and I am in the middle of working out details of being a new featured artist in KY, at the art gallery, Studio Slant. I am soo thrilled!

For about the last month or so, in between orders,  I have been busy experimenting and trying new techniques with my metals. I have always been addicted to color. I say that because when I was working a cosmetologist, my favorite thing to do was hair color. I love color. I think that my love of color carried over into my jewelry making too. Before I was silversmithing I was stringing beads and making all kinds of unique color combinations with beads and stone. One of the compliments that I used to get while selling at craft fairs would be on my unique combinations of color. I love minimal lines and pattern and when touched with a splash of color that makes your eyes pop!... I know that I have made that piece come to life. 


The above photos are some of my first experiments with enameling. It is just one more way to add vibrant color to my pieces of metal. I am hoping to find more time to experiment with this technique and bring more unique pieces to LittleGreenRoom. I am enameling with the torch, love my torch, so I still need to play around with my enamels and see what I can come up with next. That is what keeps me going...not knowing what beautiful creation you might come up with tomorrow. 

One of my favorite sayings...I create because that is who I am.. :)


Happy New Year everyone !!