Handmade Designer Necklaces -Tibetan Agate, Turquoise and Vermeil

The photo does not do justice to the deep burgundy rusty red of The Tibetan beads.  If you look closely these beads have a crackled  finish. The beautiful large turquoise pieces are olive green and blue green, shot with black and dark brown veins. A perfect contrasted color scheme.  The vermeil  is silver washed with 24 caret gold. I purchased the vermeil  a long time ago.  Now it would be too expensive to use.


The Tibetan beads were found in a wholesale bead store in New York City. They were on sale and no one was buying them.  I was thrilled  to have a chance to own beads from Tibet, and I purchased as many as I could. I use them sparingly.  This is the second necklace I have made from my Tibetan cache.

Design #3- Handmade Designer Necklace of African Beads, Vintage Murano Beads and Kingman Mine Turquoise

Well, I am finally satisfied.

My friend gave me a strand of large, black ceramic beads with an incised pattern including the one in the center of the necklace shown above.  She was working in Liberia, and purchased them there, but was not sure where they were made. I was told by an expert on African beads that they could be from Mali or Burkina Faso.

Jan .21 2010 was the first blog about these beads. It showed  them combined with large brass beads and amber colored beads from Tibet.   It was o.k. but not exciting.

I tried again combining the large beads with ebony beads with inlaid silver, frosted white Vintage Murano glass beads, and turquoise spacers from the Kingman mine in Arizona.

The new materials were an improvement but the necklace remained too clunky. See March 4 2010 blog.

It took awhile to realize the materials and colors were good but the design needed to be simplifed.  By removing two of the large beads, and some of the frosted beads the problem was solved.

Justice was done to my wonderful gift and it is finally a well designed necklace.  Hope you like it!

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?   

The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show

The turquoise stones in this necklace come from the Sleeping Beauty Mine in Globe Arizona.  The turquoise from this mine is a beautiful, bright color and has no matrix.  I purchased these stones at TheTucson Gem and Mineral and Gem show a few years ago.

There are gems,minerals and beads from around the world.  The show is in many locations around the city of Tucson, Arizona.  Tables are piled high with gemstones, pearls, semi precious stones and everything you can imagine.  The last time I was there I purchased wedgewood blue calcedony , rainbow moonstones, turquoise, green opals, sterling silver, coral, Ethiopian brass beads and the turquoise you see in the necklace above. Mindboggleing is the word to describe it!

I am going to the show this year in early February. If you want to find more about it , the website is www.tucson-gem-show.org