My First Artfire Collection

Oct 4, 2010

October Birthstone - Opal

The birthstone for October is the Opal. Opal, my absolutely favourite gemstone, can be called the most mysterious of all gemstones.Every opal is different and individual. Opal derives its name from the Latin word "opalus" meaning 'to see a change of colour'. Romans adored the opal as a token of hope and purity, Eastern people regarded it as sacred and Arabs believed it fell from heaven.

I currently have two pieces using Opals from Australia, the major source of the world's opals today. Both pieces use Boulder Opal:

Boulder Opal and Sterling Necklace


Double Boulder Opal and Pendant

Here are some more examples of opal pieces, from members of the Jet, Dust, and Cast teams on Etsy.

Oct 3, 2010

Tourmaline Triangle Earrings

I have had some gorgeous pink tourmaline for a while now trying to decide how best to use them. Having decided that I would like to go with earrings rather than a pendant, I wanted a design that was slightly different. Finally I had the idea of wiring them into a triangle shaped frame, with the design edge being that I would slightly overlap each row. This has resulted in giving some extra depth to the earrings, creating a better point of interest. I teamed the tourmaline with 14k gold fill wire, giving a richness to the colour of the tourmaline.

So here they are - my Tourmaline Triangle Earrings.