Lemon quartz is a truly beautiful variety of quartz. Mined in Brazil, it is a relative of the amethyst which is quartz in a purple color. Lemon quartz, with its hints of green fire, is well suited to being cut in facets. It sparkles brilliantly and is a favorite among jewelry artists for that reason. While certainly not as pricey as diamonds, it is generally more expensive than amethysts and citrine.
Lemon quartz is said to protect the wearer from evil thoughts. It helps you focus on your creativity, optimism, organization, and well-being.
You can see some beautiful lemon quartz faceted coins in the Electric Lemondrops necklace from the 2009 Fall/Holiday Collection.
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Some random fall trends from the world of fashion....bangle bracelets in silver and gold combined are all still the rage. All the designers are showing them. Small ones, cuff-sized ones, stack them up. Lots of them in combined silver and gold. The fashion magazines and the runways are full of them....the multi-layer necklaces are still being shown with the layers of the necklace in many lengths, materials, and sizes as if you are wearing 8 or more different necklaces. Thick ones and thin ones. Maybe time to raid your closet or make a trip to the second-hand store to pile some up....jewelry pieces from necklaces to bracelets to earrings seem to be getting bolder and more structural in shape, making more of a statement.....and finally GREEN is the color this fall (go figure) from green nail polish from many makeup manufacturers to green jewelry in jade and tsavorite (a green more brilliant than emerald).
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Copper is all the rage right now and what better way to appreciate it but with some vintage copper earrings! The latest addition to the gdesign Vintage Collection is Copper Wave. The necklace started out as a pair of clip-on copper earrings. I removed the clip and used them as the focal points on the necklace.
I already had the black 'bricks' of blackstone and of course, I had to make a copper question mark clasp! The hard part was the glass between the two earrings. I tried many things and finally settled on the large black art glass beads with the flecks of copper in them. I added some copper rings in between to reinforce the copper design. I really like the way this turned out.
You can see Copper Wave, the matching earrings and the rest of the Vintage Collection here.
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Not everyone wants to buy expensive jewelry all the time. Sometimes you just want something small. For a gift. For yourself. I heard many requests like this. 'I love your stuff. Can I just get something small?' I thought about how to offer something that fit with the gdesign philosophy of being unique and high quality. gJoolz seemed like the answer.
I make them from art glass that I have lying around from experiments (those late nights in the studio where I am trying all sorts of things) to beads that never made it into the collection pieces for all sorts of reasons. These are always one of a kind and usually kind of interesting in many ways. Instead of piling them up in storage bins, I pull the most unique ones out and combine them with sterling silver (or sometimes gold-filled wire) and beads and rondelles and make little gems of them.
They are fun for me to make as I can do them spur of the moment and without thought of how I will make more of them. So you frequently can get surprising results.
I hope you enjoy them. I find that people are purchasing them for gifts. So I packaged them in a cute little organza bag and added the famous gdesign pink polishing cloth as an added bonus and to make it truly special.
I am offering them on ArtFire as there are many of them and they have the best shopping cart. Makes it easier to post them for me and for you, easier to buy them. Happy shopping!
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gdesign is one year old as of August 8! What a year this has been! I started the company on 08-08-2008, a lucky number according to the Chinese, with some lottery money I had won. Double lucky! And that was a good idea. This last year has exceeded my expectations!
I found support, great ideas, new things to think about and new contacts everywhere. From the charities I supported to the customers I made jewelry for, it has been a whirlwind of new people and ideas. I welcome them all.
This next year proves to be even better. I am actively expanding the gdesign community. The Birthday Contest will increase the mailing list. I am up on Twitter now. And Facebook. Still learning about those. I am advertising in some local magazines. All designed to increase gdesign's outreach.
This next year will be even better. I have a fantastic fall collection with lots of sparkles coming along, many new marketing ideas, and new shows to attend. Hope to see you at one of them. Here's to year 2!
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Many of you have asked for some simpler choices. How about just some earrings? Easy to wear and not so taxing on the pocketbook. The Elemental Earrings came about because of some new semi-precious gems I just acquired. Really odd things like magnetite that looks like a miniature earth...larimar that has a blue that has to be seen to be believed...carnelian fiery red oranges...and the beautiful clear, polished rock crystal which is one of my personal favorites.
I played around with the sterling silver wire until I came up with designs that evoked those 4 classic elements: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. There are 2 long ones, Fire and Water, which look great with longer hair. Earth is kind of funky. And for the petite women in the crowd, Air fits the bill, as it's smaller and not so bulky. I think these will be very fun to wear this summer and will go perfectly with T-shirts, tops and shorts. Enjoy!
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The best things happen by accident sometimes. Take the Rock Candy duo for example, the latest addition to the Special Edition Collections. I was trying to make something completely different with the pale blue glass when I accidentally glopped it onto the mandrel....and it glistened! I tried glopping on some more. More sparkles. I was amazed as I thought that only cut glass could sparkle like that. But here was round, curvy glass with highlights and sparkles just like a diamond.
So I tried other colors of glass and they sparkled too. I had to make something with these new beads. And then as I had them on the counter all together I discovered that they looked just like rock candy. You almost wanted to pop them into your mouth. Perfect name for a perfect bracelet. I hope you like wearing it!
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It's been a long time in the making, but I am proud to announce my very first Spring/Summer Collection. This is what I have been working on for over a year. Many of the trios and duos I first made for myself in completely different forms and then I perfected them for you in the Spring/Summer Collection.
The Deep Blue Sea trio came about from my first foray into making glass beads. The bubble beads were designed expressly to go with those beautiful cloisenne fish. The Flora and Fauna first took shape as a gardener's bracelet with pewter charms until I found those wonderful jade leaves and Hill Tribe Silver charms.
The Silver Lining trio came about from a random purchase of a package of assorted glass beads and my observations of stormy, summer skies last year. I thought I could combine the glass and stones to take you from the dark storm clouds to the blue sky afterwards.
I have truly enjoyed bringing this collection to life. I hope you enjoy wearing it.
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2009 is going to be a tough year. Every day we see more headlines about massive layoffs. My heart goes out to those who were employed yesterday and laid off today. But even in these times, we need to be diligent about helping others. Those who depend on our generosity still need help...perhaps even more so in these turbulent times. gdesign has an active program of giving back. See the giving back page.
The most recent contribution was a Hearts in Motion bracelet duo to the 13th Annual New Hampshire Gala for the American Heart Association silent auction. They are doing wonderful work and they deserve your support. If you have a charitable event that you think would benefit from a gdesign donation, please don’t hesitate to contact me at:
info@gdesignontheweb.com
Together, we can hopefully create a better world.
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This isn't the first time I have sold things that I designed. I got started at the tender age of 10 designing mice finger puppets. I saw an article in my mom's Family Circle magazine that described how to make them out of gray felt and discarded toilet paper tubes. I made one and thought it was cute. A friend of my mom's saw it and said I should customize them with the local high school colors and make cheerleaders out of them and...(gasp!) sell them.
I did! And that started my first design venture. I sold them at a local handicraft store in my hometown, called The Henhouse. They were an instant hit and I made all sorts of them in various configurations...a bit like the Vermont Teddy Bears that you can customize nowadays.
I designed more things but the mice were the biggest seller. I learned many things about business and customers and inventory and deadlines back then. All at 10 years old! Served me well my entire life.
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Happy 2009!!! I hope you are anticipating great things in 2009 and that this is your best year ever.
We are all putting 2008 behind us at this point and looking toward the future. This is the time of year that we think about achievements in the past year and what we want to accomplish in the coming year. I have a number of goals I would like to accomplish. The first is to launch my 2009 Spring/Summer collection. I am working on it feverishly now and can't wait to show everyone.
Of course, I have some personal goals...getting healthier and fitter rank right up there. So to help me stay on track, I designed the Follow Your Dreams bracelet duo. It has 2 affirmation rings. The Dream ring reminds me of the things I want to accomplish and the Strength ring helps me stay the course when I am tempted to make unhealthy choices. (ie pick the salad instead of the fries with the burger).
I hope you are looking forward to 2009 and perhaps the New Year, New You bracelet duo will help you realize your dreams.
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