Proud As a Peacock – Blue For Spring 2010

via Metropolitan Home

via Little Green Notebook

via House of Turquoise

via House of Turquoise

Several months ago after reading some fashion and color reports, I realized that blue (in any shade) would be the color du jour for Spring 2010. As a result, blue gemstones were given a higher priority on my forays in the gem shows. One particular shade of blue became much more interesting for me – peacock blue.

                                    via House of Turquoise

I have been enamored with this color- in any shade or tint - since I was a child. When I was around 10-11 years old, I was completely besotted with a bottle of Peacock Blue ink that I carefully (or so I thought) used to refill an ink pen while I practiced writing in swirly-girly script. For unknown reasons, one day I decided to refill the pen on top of my mother’s pristine white bedspread. Much to my horror, several drops of the beautiful peacock blue ink landed right at the foot of the bed!

 

I was in tears by the time I reached our housekeeper to admit my horrible mistake. Thank goodness she took mercy on me and adeptly stripped the crisp white bedspread off the bed. After a few hours in the Louisiana sun with lemon juice followed by a soaking in bleach, she was able to take care of my transgression. Years later (when I was a young mother myself), I mentioned this story to my mother and much to my surprise – she was completely (thankfully) unaware that this little episode had ever happened.

                                      Dione Earrings
There are very few gemstones that fall into the peacock blue category but one of my favorites is London Blue Topaz. Because of the expense of this particular stone, I tend to use it sparingly. Last week, I attended the Tucson Gem Show and discovered yet another stone that falls into the peacock blue family – Royal Blue Kyanite.

                             Peacock Flower

                                                   Peacock Flower Necklace

I decided that it would make a very nice addition to my Flora Collection but quickly realized that there are no flowers that are peacock blue (with the exception of those awful dyed flowers that florists insist on trotting out every season). An hour or so of research resulted in some rather interesting results. Apparently, there is an actual flower called the Peacock Flower that is grown in India which looks very similar to a flowering bush that we have near the little putting green on the side of our house. With poetic license, I think you can see the similarities in the architecture of the Peacock Flower and that of the Flora Collection necklace design. Thank goodness the Flora Collection is not a literal translation from flowers to jewelry!

For those of you that are still following the progress of my kitchen renovation – I must admit I am a little behind in posting. However, I want to keep the progress in order and will get this updated shortly. The images above/below were taken in early December and illustrate the steps in adding the ornamentation to the island.



For those of you that are unfamiliar with J.P. Weaver products used as ornamentation – these are the steps we used.


• A wood graining tool was used to add texture to the flat panels before the ornamentation was secured.


• Since the ornamentation product has some flexibility, it is necessary to place it using not only measurements, but your eye. Screws were used to hold the ornaments in place because of the weight and the fact they are positioned vertically.

• Once the ornaments were in position, Tim used a quick-setting glue that was appropriate for the ornamentation. Carvings were left to cure for about 12-18 hours.

• Tim has begun the faux painting process by using a very bright turquoise over the wood grained effect. All of these textures/colors will become more subdued, but still visible when the light sanding and antiquing glaze are in place.

Bien-Aimé Earrings - Valentine's Give-Away

Last but not least – don’t forget – the drawing for the “Bien-Aimé” Valentine’s earrings is Wednesday! Leave a little comment on the January 23rd posting to be entered for the earrings give-away. I will announce the winner on Wednesday evening. Good luck and thank you all for your sweet comments.

Tweet

Designing in Chaos – Priorities

After living with the utter bedlam of a kitchen renovation for the past three months, most people (I’m feeling very certain of this) would want to get their kitchen up and running as soon as possible. Unfortunately, even though I am probably 90% completed – I am back in a holding pattern. The plumber has to come back after getting some special type of washers for the kitchen faucet and of course, since he will return whenever he feels like it – I am back in Limbo. Strangely enough, after reading Linda Merrill’s account of her kitchen re-do (we started at about the same time) – I’m not feeling quite so bad.

Bonbon Earrings for IFDA Tableau Gift Bags

In any event, truthfully - I should be making up the remaining 75 or so Bonbon Earrings for the IFDA Tableau event gift bags as promised. Or. . . trying to clean up some of the renovation flotsam & jetsam and reorganizing the kitchen drawers and cabinets – now that is what a sensible person in my shoes would do! Sensible, no way – instead of hunkering down for either of those two tasks, I elected to go to the gem show this week-end to buy more jewelry goodies that I probably don’t even need! Clearly this is going to have to be a very short posting – I need to get my priorities straight!

Top Row: Lepidolite, Green Toumaline in Quartz, Pink Calcite
Middle Row: Sleeping Beauty Turquoise, Cavansite w/ Apophyllite, Pink Cobalto Calcite
Bottom Row: Staurolite (Crosses of Stone)

Ginormous Swiss Blue Topaz & Rock Crystal Briolettes


L to R: Green Kyanite (2), Fluorite, Moss Aquamarine (2), Tourmaline Carved Leaves & Rutilated Quartz

I just wanted you all to see some of the luscious gemstones and pendants I found over the week-end. Now that I have purchased these gorgeous items and they are just waiting for me to make them up – it might be just what I needed to spur me on to finish the Bonbon earrings (or start organizing the kitchen) – we’ll see!

Tweet

Designing Jewelry in Chaos – Who Moved My Island?

Someone mentioned to me recently that they were reading my blog to see the progress of my kitchen renovation, but wanted to see what the project looked like in the “before” photos. Of course they also mentioned that it was a “unique” concept for a blog – interior designs as inspiration for jewelry design. Well, I am afraid to say. . . it is a strange combination - but it is my life. I was an interior designer for 25+ years until I moved to Arizona and decided to try my hand at jewelry design. This of course, is the Cliffs Notes version of what happened.

Kitchen Before All The Mayhem Started

As it turns out, I actually had taken some photos of the kitchen and family room before we began this little odyssey. The last two weeks have really been about moving plumbing & running electrical lines in addition to more demo.

Family Room Fireplace Before

We bought this home from the original owners who apparently thought “outside the box” on some of their ideas. Such was the case with the fireplace. When we moved into the house, much to my chagrin, we were dealing with an electric fake fireplace that was truly an eyesore. It was not until the painter was changing the color from a very unappealing flesh color to riotous red, when he discovered what appeared to be a wood burning fireplace unit that had been pushed back into the recesses of the corner with the electric fireplace taking center stage! The entire concept was unimaginable to me! Who in their right mind would prefer fake logs to the real deal? I had to go outside to check if we actually had a chimney. Eureka – we did!

Family Room Fireplace After "Mantle", "Crown" And Electric Fireplace Are Removed

Suffice to say the idea of hooking up the original fireplace and getting rid of the ridiculous “mantle” that was apparently installed by someone with a severe case of vertigo and also removing the equally absurd decorative “Santa Fe” crown – was like finding a stash of diamonds for me! This idea has been stewing around in my head for several years, but I had no idea what might be involved in correcting this little horror or how much it might cost. Since the kitchen and family room are visually one space and we were making a mess anyway – it seemed like a good idea to rip everything out. More demo – more dust!

Kitchen Island Moved 6" - A New Wall & Base Cabinets Installed

There was a light at the end of that dusty tunnel. When the house was built, I suspect the crew must have been working on a Monday after a hard week-end of partying. The lines for the plumbing in the island were much too far away from the rest of the kitchen – 57” to be exact. As a result, the island made for a space planning nightmare! I made the decision to move the island back 6” to give us a smidge more room around the table. This little folly is pretty much like fixing a gunshot wound with a ban-aid – but it’s the best we can do! In any event, the island was torn down, the plumbing moved, a wall constructed and base cabinet boxes installed. The jury is still out on this idea.

My Favorite - Calcutta Oro Marble

Today the crew will begin the process of making the templates for the marble and I am so thrilled. My hubby knows that I have a radar for choosing the most expensive items in the showroom and this marble was no exception. Once I got a look at the Calcutta marble slabs – nothing else would do. Of course, that means we are already very much over budget. The truth is that even though I will take the blame for this budgetary disaster, hubby really liked the Calcutta as well and it became the inspiration point for the kitchen.

Somehow (and I don’t really even understand this myself), I have been a very busy bee making up jewelry for custom orders in the midst of all this confusion. Beading must be much more therapeutic than even I realized!

Densely Embedded Tourmilated Straws Create A Very Dramatic Feature Bead

Merlot Colored Pearls And Softly Cupped Petal Pearls Create A Dramatic Cluster

Since red is the color for fall - I decided to make up some earrings with some intriguing tourmilated quartz beads falling from a cluster of merlot red pearls. I loved the way they turned out and will probably make up a necklace using the same colors to add to the “Flora Collection". These colors remind me of the velvety deep red found in Celosia or Cockscomb. So, here I am again, designing jewelry in the midst of chaos!

Tweet