Silver Crane

I added nother new necklace in my jewelry store yesterday. I named it "Silver Crane." Pretty obvious why. The beautiful crane stamping is full of detail. The rest of the necklace is full of white pearls and silver chain. You can see more details here.

Today is saturday. I have no obligations and no plans. I love these type of days. All on my own. My plan, for at least part of the day is to be creative and make more jewelry. I have 3 pieces that are close to finished, and 1 I have had the idea for but have not executed. It is also sunny outside today. That is a big deal here on the North Coast of CA. We have had a pretty dismal summer as far as weather goes. The sun just makes me happy!

Hope you have a great weekend.

A New Share

"Silver Bells," a new Maria Bella Jewelry necklace, features a beautiful floral stamping with lots of intricate detail. Opposite the floral stamping, on the other side of the necklace, is a small flying bird stamping. Ten pale violet swarovski glass pearls are strung between the two stampings. Above, are a few more pearls, with silver chain in between, and more silver chain to the clasp. A small violet glass pearl is the finishing touch at the end of the necklace.

What Makes You Happy?

One of the things that makes me very happy is growing my favorite plants. Hydraegea is one of my favorite flowering bushes. I have planted 5 at my house all ready and if I can find another sunny, vacant spot, I will plant another. Hydraegeas come in different size bushes, and different flower colors. And they are a very good flower for indoor vases. A healthy plant will have many flowers and they last a longtime on the plant so you can bring flowers indoors and the plant will still look full.

With all the photos I take, I cannot believe I don't have one of my beautiful hydraegea bushes. Sorry for that one folks.


Lilacs. I love the look of the flower and I love the scent. These are also flowers that you can cut and place in a vase indoors. And they will leave your home with the most wonderful of fragrances. I have 2 bushes I planted and I would love more.



These are the flowers that inspired me to write this piece. My lovely lantanas. I have 2 bushes. Their colors are different. Both are beautiful. I just look at these flowers and I feel happy. The colors, the shape of the flowers and how prolifically they grow if in the right sunny place are all my favorite features for this plant. If I had to choose one feature, it would have to be the colors that I like the best.

We are finally starting to get some sunny weather here on the North Coast. It had been a dull and drab summer up to now, and actually quite cold. It is hard to remember from year to year that fall is when we see our warmest days. And we all need it here before the rain begins. So with our best weather days upon us (I am crossing my fingers right now), I will get to enjoy my flowering plants for another month or two. Hooray for late summer.

Wedding Jewelry

Traditionally, wedding jewelry is kept simple and feminine so that it accentuates the bride and her gown. I find necklaces embellished with sparkling gemstones, crystals, and soft, feminine pearls are the perfect statement piece to add to any gown.

Here are just a few pieces available at Maria Bella Jewelry that would make a lovely addtion to a beautiful gown.








More bridal and formal jewelry ideas are available at Maria Bella Jewelry.

Cleaning Silver Plated Jewelry

When you look at Maria Bella Jewelry, you will notice some of my pieces are made with sterling silver components and some with silver plated components. Silver is usually plated over brass in jewelry and is less expensive. The cost benefit is the reason that I use plated silver. Plated silver jewelry is less expensive to make and easier to afford for many customers. The plated chain and other components I have found look just as nice as the sterling silver jewelry parts that I have. The plated pieces will probably not last as long as the full silver ones.

Silver plated jewelry, like sterling silver jewelry, will tarnish over time. But there are care techniques you can use to extend the life of your jewelry piece. I found this care information written on the web by Nancy Janeliunas of Janeluinas Jewelry. It sounds like good solid advice to me.

"To remove tarnish from silver plate, use the same techniques or solutions that you would with solid sterling silver items. However use the least amount of polishing (or shortest exposure time needed to liquid dips) as necessary because any process that removes tarnish also removes minute amounts of silver on the surface. Over time the plate will eventually wear, some plates are thicker than others so a heavy plate will most likely last a lifetime with proper care.

To advise which is better using a chemical dip tarnish remover or a polishing cloth. I would first say that depends on the item. If there is porous stones (Turquoise, Lapis, Malachite, etc. or pearls) in your jewelry do not use the liquid dips. I prefer these dips Tarn-X in particular for quick removal of a heavy tarnish as it will remove all blackness within seconds. I do not leave parts in any longer than necessary. Then a light rub with a polishing cloth puts on a nice shine as the chemical dips leave a dull finish. Polishing cloths are my second choice (or first if my jewelry has porous stones), the Sunshine cloths in particular are the best. They are not abrasive and remove tarnish without a lot of pressure and rubbing. A last resort is tarnish removing paste or polish as it is highly abrasive and would remove too much of the plating with each polishing.

My best advice though to extend the life of a plated item is too use techniques that minimize or slow down the build up or exposure to tarnish in between wearing. The less you have to polish the longer life your item will have. Store in plastic air tight zip lock bags with anti tarnish paper, anti-tarnish cloth jewelry bags, or at least in an air tight, low humidity environment. Do not place in a card board box or on paper as they have sulfur producing compounds in them that increase the rate of oxidation."

By Nancy Janeliunas of Janeluinas Jewelry

Photographing Jewelry

I have tried many different ways to photograph my jewelry. What I am looking for is crisp, clear images and a good representation of the colors in the piece. And to not have to do so much editing. That is so important. I have spent a lot of time editing to try to get the right colors and brightness in my photos.

I have a light box. I still have to edit when I use it. I have tried photographing without the light box, with my lights, without lights. Ugh. It has been a learning experience.

I decided to read about how other people photograph their jewelry. The latest suggestion I read was to photograph indoors near a window, with a simple background like a colored sheet of paper under the jewelry. What you want is natural light to give you the most accurate color.

Here are a few suggestions:

- The camera you use does not have to be expensive. I have a simple digital that has a close-up feature. My camera has a button with a mountain setting for regular distance shots, and a macro setting (tulip icon) for your close-ups. I take lots of photos and then choose the best from all of them.

- You can, but do not need to use a mini tripod. The tripod keeps the camera steady so the photos are not out of focus. If you can hold the camera steady in your hands, forget the tripod.

- You can take your photos near a window for the natural lighting or outdoors, but you want the lighting to be indirect. An overcast day is good. On a sunny day, photograph in the shade. Too much light will bleach out the colors of your jewelry piece. That I have found difficult to fix with editing. After you take a photo, check the image and see if the colors look right. If not, shoot again.

- Once you upload the photos to your computer, you can always edit them. But the goal is, in my mind, to have to do as little editing as possible.

Her are a few I took today with natural light.





This was the second time I photographed these pieces and they came out so much better than the first attempt.

Hope this is helpful to anyone else trying to take great photos.

Four Leaf Clover

Just wanted to show off my new necklace. My "Four Leaf Clover." I really like this stamping. It is very organic in form, a good size for a pendant, 1 1/2" by 1 1/2", and it has been oxidized to show off it's fine details. The stamping is silver plated brass, and it's chain is sterling, 18" long.


More information available at my jewelry site, Maria Bella Jewelry.

Brass

Brass is an alloy. That means two metals are melted and blended together to make a unique new property. In the case of brass, it's any alloy of copper and zinc.

On their own, copper will turn blue, green, or dark and tarnish rapidly. Zinc will also turn very dark. Together, they are much more resistant to tarnish. Brass itself will vary in color from a dark copperish gold to a bright yellow gold. Many people like it's golden appearance for jewelry. Brass is an inexpensive substitute for gold.

Like sterling silver, brass does tarnish, especially in great humidity or air pollution. Just use a soft cotton cloth to polish it to its original shine.

Plating adheres very well to brass, but it will slowly dull and fade away. How fast this occurs depends on the wearer's body chemistry, and the quality and humidity of the air. To help the plating last longer, do not use a jewelry cloth to polish the metal. Just use a soft cloth and wipe clean. Do not use any cleaners either. And the best way to keep the silver plating tarnish free is to store your jewelry piece in a zip lock bag that is airtight.

Handcraft Jewelry

If you haven't been to my jewelry store lately, I wanted to share a few of my newer pieces. They are made with sterling, brass stampings, glass, pearls, and gemstones.






For more information on each individual piece, visit Maria Bella Jewelry.

What is Base Metal

What I have noticed of late is that a lot of contemporary is being made with different metals. So I decided I wanted to educate myself as to what they are, how long will their luster last, do they have a finish on them, etc. Basically I want to know if there were other metals that would be good to use for jewelry other than silver and gold. I will have a few blog posts on the various metals.

Many times I have heard the description "plated over base metal." So what is base metal?

Base metal is any metal that is not one of the precious metals, meaning platinum, gold or silver. Base metals include copper, zinc, tin, and lead.

Simple enough.

Spirit Necklace

This new necklace is named "Spirit." I named it that because the wings make me think of soaring and flying and that makes me think of spirits. Free flying, free, no boundaries.

The purple briolette gem is chalcedony. The wings are made of sterling silver plated brass, and the rest of the necklace is sterling. The whole necklace is 17" long.

Fire Opals

Fire opals are unique in the lush world of the opals. The Mayas and Aztecs loved this gemstone and liked to use it in mosaics and for ritualistic purposes. They called it quetzalitzlipyollitli, the 'stone of the bird of paradise'. Yet one day, the gemstone knowledge of Mexico's natives, which had been handed down from generation to generation, somehow sank into oblivion for a long time ...

... until, in or around the year 1835, the fiery treasures hidden in the Mexican highlands were remembered, and work was gradually begun on the systematic mining of the places where they had been found. Today, the fire opal is regarded as the national gemstone of that country.

It is in Mexico that the most significant fire opal deposits in the world lie. Sometimes, these orange-red gemstones are also found in other countries, in Honduras or Guatemala, in the USA, Canada, Australia, Ethiopia and Turkey, but these are mostly sites of little or no economic significance.

The fiery, warm glow of the fire opal beguiles jewel enthusiasts the world over. The fire opal, with a hardness of between 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale, is among the somewhat sensitive gemstones which require a protective setting, especially when worn as a ring stone.

Fire opals are either faceted - that is, as far as their transparency allows - or cut as a cabochon, since this is the shape which best brings out the rich glow of this orange jewel. It is the oval which is regarded as the classical shape for valuable fire opals.

In spite of their relatively low hardness, opals are not actually that easy for the cutter to work with. When setting up the cut, he must pay attention to the direction in which the stone shows its play of colour to the best advantage.

The tolerance of the fire opal to extreme heat is just as poor as its resistance to acids, alkaline solutions and sharp objects. Very unfavourable conditions compel the opal to surrender its moisture, which can make it cloudy and cracked. Like all opals, it should not be exposed to intense light over long periods. However, it loves to be worn a lot, since this enables it to maintain its water balance, using the moisture of the wearer's skin and that of the air. Having said that, it should be protected against contact with cosmetics. Fire opals which have become matt through being worn a great deal can be repolished.

Play of colour, body colour and transparency are the three criteria which determine the price of a fire opal. The more transparency and 'fire' it has, and the more intense the deep red of its body colour, the more valuable it will be. These gems, which glow from orange to red, are treasures which appeal most of all to active people with a positive approach to life. Their warm, fiery colour gives us vigour, fills us with the joys of life and opens our senses to the beauty of Nature.

Posted by The Online Jeweler, International Edition
Photo from Google Images, OpalAuctions.com

Scenes From My Favorite Vacation Spot

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went back to our favorite cabin in the woods. This was out 2nd visit and we enjoyed it as much as the first time. There was one major change since the last time we were there. The suspension bridge was replaced with a new, more durable bridge.


You can see the old bridge from the photos. A little rickety I would say.


This photo gives you an idea of how long the bridge is.


Path from the cabin into the woods.


A look at the river from the cabin.




And a couple of good river photos.

Hopefully we will make it back next year.

And New Necklaces to Share

This first necklace has a purple flourite briolette (gemstone drop) as the focal piece. It hangs from a sterling silver chain with a pretty sterling clasp. The sweet little flowers are made of pewter.



I may have all ready shared this necklace. I took some fast photos of it maybe a week ago. It is made with amazonite beads and all sterling silver.



Both of these necklaces are available at my NEW Artfire online store.

New Earrings

Simple, simple. That seems to be the style these days. At least from what I am noticing. Simplier, smaller and pretty. Both of these pairs of earrings are made with a chalcedony briolette (drop), one a deep red color, the other, a pretty pink-purple color, depending on how the light reflects from the stone.




Both of these earrings are available at my Maria Bella Jewelry store.