Handmade Designer Necklace - Gemstones of Lapis and Variscite, Spiny Oyster and Vintage Murano Glass

The color combination in necklace above was inspired by  Native American jewelry. The colors in this necklace are the analogous colors of blue, green  and turquoise with orange as a contrasting color.  It works!


The long beads are lapis lazuli . I think the lapis in the necklace above is from Afghanistan. It is a clear bright blue and has tiny specs of pyrite in it .There are three round vintage satin finished blue Murano glass beads, and rondelles of turquoise, green variscite, and orange spiny oyster.

The Spiny oyster is a genus of  bivalve mollusk called spondylus. It comes in red, orange, purple and rarely yellow.  It is harvested from the Sea of Cortez , Baja Mexico. I love the orange color shown above. It is relatively expensive, so I use it infrequently.

The variscite is a phosphate mineral found in Utah and Nevada in the USA, Queensland in Australia, Germany and Brazil.  It is a wonderful shade of medium blue green. Variscite is hard to find.  This too is used infrequently.

Native American Jewelry can  be seen on the website www.pueblodirect.com .  They describe themselves as"highest quality Native American Arts at the very best prices. The jewelry looked high quality to me.
The necklace pictured above may be purchased by sending a request through the comment section of this blog.  Price is $295

Handmade Designer Necklaces of Modernist Betty Cook

A friend from Baltimore Maryland introduced me to the necklaces of Betty Cook. My friend lived near her shop called The Store Ltd. in the village of Cross Keys, and  purchased many necklaces there.  The necklaces my friend owns are geometric structures made from silver and gold tubes.  They are light of scale and wander asymmetrically over the neck and torso.

The Betty Cook necklace above is on sale on the website http://www.auerbachmaffia.com. It is item 683462.  This is a website  with  an extensive collection of modernist jewelry and art for sale. I highly recommend it.

Marbeth Schon, an authority on Modernist and contemporary jewelry, calls Betty Cook an "icon within the tradition of Modernist Jewelry".  The sculptural  Betty Cook necklace shown  above is wood and silver on leather cord. It is an example of the adage less is more. More of her necklaces can be seen on M. Schon 's website, www.mschon.com.  Betty Cook's store in Baltimore, The Store Ltd. is still in Business.  I like her aesthetic.

Handmade Designer Necklace Made From Tibetan Agate and Sterling Silver

This necklace is one of my favorite creations.  I love wearing it. It enlivens black and goes with many colors as long as the tone is the same strength as the tone of the colors in the necklace.  The beads are  from Tibet and are  agate.  The striped beads are an off white and  I am told they are smoked to make the stripe.  The mustard and rust beads are mottled .
For questions or comments about this necklace, use the comments section below or the one on necklacesbyadner.com.  More information about this necklace can be found on necklacesbyadner.com.

The Design of a Handmade Necklace Using African beads, Turquoise, and Vintage Murano Glass

A friend found the large black ceramic beads with incised pattern shown above when she was working in
 Liberia. I went to work on the beads hoping to create a necklace worthy of them. The result is the necklace above which combines ebony and silver rondelles with turquoise spacers from the Kingman mine in Arizona, blackish ceramic beads, and frosted white vintage Murano glass. An exotic combination to say the least. However, I am not happy with it.  Although I tried many renditions, this is the best of my attempts.

The interesting thing about a design is you know when it is right. I might give it one more try with larger stronger beads.  Maybe big round recycled beads from Ghana.  Any suggestions?