Citrine and White Topaz - November Birth Stones

Late last year I was busy with a birthday project, and that project allowed me to indulge in buying some beautiful gem stones...

 

When I took them out of the box (wisely unmarked to go through the postal system), I was, as always, struck by how beautiful well cut gemstones are. It was a sunny day and holding the gems up to the window made the light splinter and dance in exquisite colours...it was genuinely wonderful.

The white topaz came in a mix of sizes, graduated from about 3mm to 7mm. They're drilled through the middle and very slightly doughnut-shaped, although that could be more of an optical illusion due to the many facets.



I chose white topaz rather than the more traditional and widespread blue as I was combining the gems for a November birthday, and felt that with the rich yellow of citrine, another November birthstone, they work better for the recipient than blue and yellow.



I only purchased four citrine gems, button shaped and nicely factetted. They're a beautiful rich autumn colour and I think much more than four would have been too many, although another two would have allowed the matching earrings I made to go with the necklace to match that little bit more...

Photos of the finished items will follow soon. Do let me know if any beautiful stones you've used in projects, especially if you have photos to share!

How to link to individual Tweets

Twitter is a big place with lots of opportunities to network and make friends and contacts and generally hang out and chat, but it's also a big place that's pretty confusing.

The first few times I was asked for a link to a particular tweet, I scratched my head for a while and then needed to hunt around to find the instructions on how to do this.

When you know how to do it, then it's pretty simple, but otherwise it's one of those things which isn't exactly that obvious... hence this little post about it.





1. Firstly, you need to click right on the particular tweet in question - not the user name of the person who tweeted it.




2. A little more information appears around the tweet - at the bottom you'll see the magic word 'Details' - click on this.




3. You'll then be taken to a page displaying the tweet and here you can simply copy the url in the address bar at the top of the page, and paste it where you need to.



Hope this is some help and comes in handy...!

Jewellery Book Wish List Fulfilment!

Since jewellery books and Lindt chocolate were both high on my Christmas list this year (and I even wrote a post about the former), I was rather pleased to open a carefully wrapped parcel on Christmas day and find The Art of Soldering for Jewellery Makers Techniques and Projects by Wing Mun Devenney.



The book looks as good as I hoped it would be. I've not finished it yet, and had to wait until after the Christmas rush died down a little to even have a good peruse, but the detail and quality of work it displays looks exceptional.

From getting started, to basic and advanced techniques, to a whole plethora of projects to practice new skills on, or refine old ones, it looks to be a cornucopia of soldering delights. I'm especially loving the gallery of different jewellers' works, each photo featuring a description alongside it of the soldering techniques the artists used - how often do I wonder such a thing when I look at jewellery... yes, I am one of those people who mentally deconstructs items to figure out how they were made (and if I could do it myself!).

When I've read the book in more detail I shall do a more detailed review, but it's enough to say for now I'm very pleased with this particular item from my Christmas list. And I'm also pleased to add that I received more than one box of Lindt chocolate. I couldn't possibly reveal just how many boxes though.

Christmas, New Year, Gales, Chocolate, TV...

So how was your Christmas and New Year? I hope it was good. Mine was busy, busy, busy and then nice and peaceful, which isn't too bad a combination... None of it was helped by the awful weather we've been having in the UK - on Christmas Eve the gales left us with a slight (ahem) roof problem which needed immediate fixing, so come the time when I should have been sitting in front of the TV with a few chocolates and It's A Wonderful Life hitting the spot, I was instead holding a ladder, wishing I was wearing gloves (that wind was very cold), and wondering if I'd get enough time to push the shed back upright before it got dark (I didn't).

However, despite continued bad weather, the electricity stayed on, as did the roof, and the shed remains mostly upright. And all the water has stayed outside the house, a good state of affairs in anyone's book.

The chocolate on the middle left tasted of violets and was exquisite...

I'd hoped for a movie-saturated Christmas but events above and then welcome visitors meant it wasn't until close to the end of the year that I got to indulge myself with chocolates and films on the TV, but it was worth the wait, and Sherlock was a nice way to welcome the New Year in too...

My plans for the new year? Well, writing my blog, of course, a bit of jewellery making/creativity, a lot of blog design, and some careful tidying of my laptop before it explodes from all the photos and links I have insisted on saving to it... I hope your new year brings you much happiness - and thank you so much for reading my blog; the visits and comments mean a lot :)

The Jewelled Web - December 2013

It's been a busy, busy month in the-run-up-to-Christmas, and I know that once it's done it will then be like a huge intake of breath before the new year (with or without big celebrations) begins, and it'll feel as if the pressure is let off, just a little, tiny bit...perhaps.

I'm doing an early web round-up this month, it seems a little easier to do it now when I've got time, rather than just schedule it to post later on - and it means I can combine it with a wish for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ;)


~Jewellery~

Great looking guide to setting a stone in a bezel - lots of lots of detail in this tutorial.

Working with copper and silver - hints and tips galore.

A good advert for investing in a disc cutter on this blog post...

More bezel info...

This fishing rod ring (at the top) is just so, so beautiful, both in design and execution.

Simple but effective wire-wrap earrings.

Beautiful gems and a gratuitously sweet photo of a puppy.

Q and A about opening a bricks and mortar gallery.

Cuttlefish casting. Love the use of something so organic to create something so beautiful.

Stunning buttons made from polymer clay and transfer paper.

Made from one piece of copper - inspiring and beautiful.

Jewellery from concrete? I love these.



~Other things~

I have never been organised enough, so far, to do this type of beautiful but simple gift wrapping, but I wish I was...Instead it's just a case of double-wrapping in whatever flimsy, reindeer covered 10 metre wrap the local supermarket has left by the time I get to the aisle...

Free printable, and editable, calendar.

Tiny, Christmassy-spiced cookies.

Stunning leaf bunting.

Love this blog - wise words, great photos, and wonderful Folksy Fridays.

Download, print, and organise the whole next year... well, that's my plan anyway.

Something else to download, print and fill in...

A truly wonderful Christmas tree - but too late for me to build for this Christmas.

Something else that's too late for this year, a sweet gift for those separated by the miles

A nice and brief post about images on the net - what can you use without upsetting anyone?

This is sad and beautiful. And this is amazing and transient.

How to make your photos better by using the scary manual button on the camera.

Inspiring feature about making a living from selling crafts online.

If you come across any fallen branches from the gales currently sweeping the UK, then consider browsing this collection of what to do with wood to make it into, well, anything and everything.

You can't have enough lip gloss - tutorial on how to make your own.




Hope your year has been good, your Christmas is wonderful, and 2014 is even better for you - thanks for reading :)