Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Beauty from the Earth's Core

A couple of weeks back I was pleasantly surprised to have a comment left by Dave of Rings & Things telling me that I was one of the winners in their Blog Partner program for September. Yippee!

That meant goodies from their current catalogue release were on their way to me. And just a week or so later here's what arrived on my doorstep all the way from the US: some really pretty gemstone donuts.
Before showing you what I did with them, I've got to say that I was quite apprehensive when I saw that the package contained gemstone donuts. If you scroll through the jewellery on my blog and website you'll see a complete absence of gemstones and there's a good reason for that: as much as I am fascinated by the earth's ability to produce these wonderful stones, I am completely intimidated by them and have to admit that I know very little about them. Not only that, but I have absolutely nothing in my stash that would work with them.

Or so I thought!

Once I started playing with them, I discovered that I do have things in my stash that work with them.

I remembered I had some donut bails that I bought a couple of years ago that were a good fit with this Black Stone square donut. It's a simple design teaming black glass pearls and crystal rondelles with chain (not pictured). The glass pearls worked really well with the smooth, slick surface of the Black Stone. I made earrings to coordinate and they became the jewellery I wore for Melbourne Cup today. (They were the perfect accessory to the fascinator in my last post.)Next I used the Dumortierite stone. This stone is midnight blue and quite beautiful on its own but I added a chandelier earring component which had the same diameter hole as the donut and then dangled crystals and chain from the loops. I love how well this component sits against the donut now that it's strung on the leather cord. There is no adhesive holding it in place - it just sits there! And the final piece I worked with is Picture Jasper.Now this is one very busy stone, but teaming it with cola and turquoise coloured glass beads has balanced the piece really well. I've created a beaded bail to secure the donut and then used the donut as the clasp to hook a toggle bar through. I love how this turned out!

My thanks go to Rings & Things for providing the donuts for me to play with. It was a challenge, but I loved having to move out of my comfort zone and I now have a new appreciation for these beauties that were formed by the fiery core of our planet.

And now, I'd like to give you the opportunity to have a play with a gemstone donut too! I have two to give away so there will be two winners this week: a Silver Mist Jasper Trillion and a Dumortierite Faceted Trapezoid. For your chance to win, just leave a comment on this post. This is open to readers all around the world and will be running for a week. I'll draw a random winner on Tuesday 9th November. Don't forget to check back to see if you've won.

Good luck!









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Would you like to comment?

  1. Absolutely fabulous Mylene, lovely work!

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  2. Hi Mylene, I'm glad the scary gemstone beads arrived safely ;-) And what great jewelry you've made with them! Well done, and thanks for sharing these...

    --Dave at Rings & Things

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  3. Karla Mac Donald said Well done, Mylene ... can't wait to see what you create with from your goodies.

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  4. Ooh, I love them all, but my favourite would have to be the picture jasper. Your creations always inspire, thanks for the opportunity to win one of them.

    Hugz......

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  5. It was great catching up with you on Saturday Mylene, would love to win this giveaway as well.

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  6. Wow Mylene these are amazing, your creativity shows no boundaries. Thank you for sharing your work with us.

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  7. I would love a chance at winning please Mylene. You have done a fabulous job with your goodies - thanks for the inspiration:)

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  8. Gorgeous pieces Mylene - your jewellery is stunning no matter what mediums you use!

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  9. I love the jewellery Mylene, thanks for the chance to be in the draw.
    Although brief, it was great to catch up with you in Sydney last weekend.

    Rob K

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  10. Hi Mylene,
    Great to catch with you once more. Your ideas are insspirational & you make it look so easy!
    Looking forward to seeing what you create from the FP last weekend.
    Craftnstamp

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