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GENTLE WAVES Sterling Silver Artisan Dangles with AAA London Blue Topaz, Peridot, Iolite and Bali Silver

GENTLE WAVES Sterling Silver Artisan Dangles with AAA London Blue Topaz, Peridot, Iolite and Bali Silver

Description

GENTLE WAVES Sterling Silver Artisan Dangles with AAA London Blue Topaz, Peridot, Iolite and Bali Silver

These earrings were a labor of love. I kept changing them and tweaking them as I went along to make the final product more what I had envisioned in my mind's eye. The earrings turned out beautifully, and they would make an excellent gift to spoil yourself or someone you love.

Their beauty is largely due to the gemstones themselves, which are AAA grade (ie the best of the best) gemstones called London Blue Topaz, Iolite, and Peridot. I hope the pictures capture just how lovely these stones really are. I know pictures hardly ever do artisan jewelry justice, especially when taken by a point and click photographer like me! These stones are cut into gorgeous faceted onion briolettes, teardrop briolettes, faceted roundels and rounds, all of which are absolutely clear and flawless. Just gorgeous!

The earring dangles, the waves, are hand forged from sterling silver, and all the wire work is also done by me. These are a bit more labor intensive than some of my other designs, but I just love the look of the final product. So although it takes a while, I will definitely make a couple of variations eventually.

Accenting the gemstones are lovely and authentic Bali sterling silver handcrafted beads. If you don't know anything about Bali beads, read my little blurb below. These Bali beads are large bead caps with lots of intricate detail apparent. They are a nice contrast against the shimmering perfection of the gemstones.

These are quite long, for true earring lovers, dangling about 3.5 inches from the top of the ear wire to the lowest briolette. The ear wires are sterling silver from Bali with a four ball design on the front of each each wire. If you would like to replace them with sterling silver lever backs instead, they are $3 more.

Thanks for checking out my etsy site! I adore making jewelry and I love it when new people find me and become fans of my work. The passion I have for creating jewelry is surpassed by few things, so I appreciate your support!

Thanks, peace, love! mwa! Michelle

About the materials used to make these earrings and other
Meshel Designs originals:

PERIDOT: Peridot is a stone known by three names: peridot, chrysolite and olivine. Chrysolite is named from the Greek for 'gold stone', since greenish gold is the color of peridot. Olive is the mineral from which the gemstone peridot is derived. 'Peridot" comes from the Greek word 'peridona', which means 'to give richness'. " Peridot is absolutely my favorite stone, though it is challenging to work with, because it is so often drilled with teeny tiny holes and it is easily broken if care is not taken when working with it.

LONDON BLUE TOPAZ: Topaz is a silicate mineral and the birthstones of both November (yellow topaz) and December (blue topaz). It can occur in a variety of colors, including white, gray, green, blue, pink, reddish-yellow, transparent or translucent. Some of these require heat treatment or irraditation to achieve, including blue topaz and the popular variety London Blue Topaz. Blue Topaz is also the Texas state gemstone, which I have just learned.

IOLITE: Iolite is the gemstone variety of the mineral cordierite. It has a gorgeous violet blue color that is unlike other gemstones, although it has been compared to a light blue sapphire. It is this reason that it is sometimes known as "water sapphire". Three different color shades can be seen in the same iolite stone. In the viewing an iolite stone, the colors violet blue, yellow gray and a light blue can be seen. The major sources of gem grade iolite come from Sri Lanka, India, Madagascar and Burma.

SILVER: All metal components in my pieces are either fine or sterling silver, and I incorporate many, many Bali sterling beads into my work, as I appreciate the great attention to detail and the handmade beauty of these beads.

About BALI SILVER beads: Bali is a small island located in southeast Asia. Bali, Indonesia is known around the world for its silver jewelry made by master metal smiths. Each and every bead is made by hand by craftsmen exceptionally skilled in the trade. The attention to detail is apparent when you look at these beads close up. I have become addicted to Bali silver.

Added on Oct 17, 2009