In Good Company - Etsy Treasuries

July in  Arizona is not a month that inspires anyone to do anything but sit quietly in an air conditioned room.  Yes, you have all heard the little saying about the unbelievably hot temperatures of an Arizona summer - “Yeah, but it’s a dry heat!”.  I have somewhat deduced that there is about a 10 degree temperature differential from the rest of the universe.  When it is 90 degrees in Arizona - it feels like 80 degrees in Boston / when it is 115 degrees in Arizona - it feels like. . .well - REALLY HOT!  It is the kind of weather that inspires me to do absolutely nothing - and so I did!

Although I was doing  nothing - the rest of the universe was doing something!  My jewelry designs are also on several sites in addition to my own web site - one of which is called, Etsy.  Etsy is a site that focuses on  handmade designs of all kinds and the supplies that go into those designs as well as vintage items and antiques from all over the world.  It is a great way to amuse yourself on a blazing hot summer day!

Part of the Etsy culture is individuals that troll through the mountains of items (seriously, there are gazillions) looking for just the perfect styles and colors to create little themed “Treasuries”.  I suspect the curators are hoping that their treasury will end up on Etsy’s front page.  Although I have never tried to curate a treasury, I have been  featured in several and July was a very busy month for the rest of the universe - my jewelry designs were featured in eight 13 14 treasuries! I was also featured in Etsy’s “Storque” which is like an emailed newsletter that goes out to thousands.  Sadly, I did not get a snapshot of the Storque feature to archive.

If it is blazing hot where you are this summer, and you need some quiet internet trolling time - check out Etsy.  You will find everything from kitsch to couture and may just wish you had not thrown out your daughter’s Strawberry Shortcake Lunchbox!

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Charmed, I’m Sure

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Mary Drysdale

Branwen Bed by Ironies

I recently took out my little stash of Tanzanite gemstones and decided it was time to make up a new necklace design.  Usually, my next obvious step is to see what scrumptious interiors images include that color as a spring board for the design of the jewelry.  Trouble is. . .exactly what do you call the color of the tanzanite stone - periwinkle, blue, violet, lavender?

James Merrell

Phoebe Howard via Brook Gianette

Southern Accents via Porterhouse Designs

In the end, I decided that tanzanite crosses such a wide range of colors that it could be classified as almost any of the mentioned colors.  Based on the inspiring interior designs I came up with - I further decided it would be lovely mixed with a whisper blush pearl stationed along the chain to enhance the unique color.  Since I had all differing values of the above mentioned colors already out  on the tray for comparison, I then decided that I should use them all to some degree in the design.

The first item that came to mind was the unique slice of amethyst stalactite with it’s Alexandrite colored “eye” and the soft violet colored spiny crystals.  This unique textural explosion would became the focal point of the necklace.  The plump pink amethyst “kiss” dangling just above the prickly stalactite would repeat the violet colors of the outer crystals while a deeper amethyst briolette could add the deeper dimension that was needed for contrast.  Throw in an amulet of the Alexandrite green colored prasiolite to accent the eye of the stalactite and a whisper blush baroque pearl to marry the accent colors of the hand linked chain and we seem to have covered all the possible choices of the defining names that could be used to describe  the color of Tanzanite.

Charmed, I'm Sure Necklace

After everything was placed on the tray, the key to all of this (no pun intended) was a happy marriage of unique shapes, texture and colors that all play nicely together in a meaningful way.  And. . .there you have it - the idea for Charmed, I’m Sure was conceived. 

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