Color - It’s all About Proportion

seelensturm via Flickr

This post is not for the faint of heart, the vanilla crowd or anyone afraid of color.  It is clearly for the more spirited reader - the ones that are fearless in the face of color!

Inspiration Board  

Cameron Diaz / Estate Necklace / Interiors by Angele Perlange

Designers conceptualize designs from many different sources and much of the time, my jewelry designs are inspired from beautiful interiors since that was my career for many years.  However, my latest design was inspired from several sources - a beautifully designed room, a stunning  estate necklace and a celebrity.  All three converged to lead me down the path to a daring color combination of aqua and hot pink.  If you study the images above you will see that all three have the same color combination, but used in different ways.  Most importantly, what you see is a complementary color scheme using either aqua or hot pink as the primary focus with smaller accents of the opposing color.  Complimentary color schemes are probably the most difficult to pull off successfully.  Much of that difficulty lies in knowing exactly what proportion of the opposing color to use without becoming a garish combination. 

Abelle Necklace

Stunning Peruvian Opal smooth rondelles and pink sapphires are hand-linked to create this beautiful Spring / Summer necklace.  This cacophony of color terminates with an antique Georgian Silver Paste Locket  replete with a little gold vermeil bow.  This precious heirloom features an adorable gold vermeil Napoleonic bee floating amongst approximately 2 carats of minuscule rubies.  As most of these lockets are a combination of silver and gold (925 silver & 9ct gold), that combination also extends to the hand linked chain to allow the owners to wear it with either preference. The apt name for this necklace is Abelle, which signifies “bee” in French.

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New Mommy / Mother’s Day – Custom Birthstone Necklace

Joshua Charles Hunsaker

This idea, for a Mother’s Birthstone Necklace, came to me right after my niece had her first long-awaited child. He is a week old today. As I was constructing the necklace as a little keepsake for my niece, I realized that it would be a lovely gift for any mother – new or old - especially with Mother’s Day coming up soon. As soon as I completed the necklace for my new-mommy niece, I decided that I should make another version for my dear sister representing her children as well.


These photos are merely an example of what the necklace styles look like when completed. Obviously, each necklace will be a custom design based on the chain (link chain or beaded chain), types of birth stones (see chart below), number of stones and type of metal (sterling silver or 24K gold vermeil). I am more than happy to lay this out and photograph so you can see what your design will look like before beginning the actual construction. The stones listed below are the standard birthstones but, certainly substitutions for some of the more precious stones (diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, etc.) can be made at your discretion.

Pricing Examples From The Photo Featuring Both Necklaces:
Top necklace with moonstone beaded chain and 5 birthstones (Mother, Father and 3 Children) – consists of 3 September (kyanite substituted for sapphires), one December (sky blue topaz) and one April (ruby). As shown - $97
Bottom necklace with link chain (sterling silver) and 3 birthstones (Mother, Father and 1 Child) – consists of one August (peridot), one May (emerald) and one March (aquamarine). As shown - $74

Please email me with your design questions – I would love to work with you on a special gift for either a Mother’s Day surprise or a New Mommy gift.

Birth Month - Modern Birthstones - Stone Substitutes
January - Garnet
February - Amethyst
March - Aquamarine
April - Diamond - Rock Crystal (Substitute)
May - Emerald - Green Onyx (Substitute)
June - Pearl or Moonstone
July - Ruby
August - Peridot
September - Sapphire - Kyanite (Substitute)
October - Opal or Tourmaline
November - Citrine or Yellow Topaz
December - Blue Topaz or Turquoise

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