YOJ Week 20 - The Cocktail Ring

Last week I was the winner of a bead giveaway from Magpie Gemstones. I chose a strand of raw black diamonds, which I have had my eye on for quite awhile. Actually, I purchased a strand previously, but that one has disappeared into the abyss that is my studio, but that's another story..... 

Nothing says cocktail ring to me like tiny diamonds surrounding a large focal pearl. The shank is made with wrapped 20 ga sterling and the black diamonds are accented with 2 mm silver spacers.

Cocktails anyone?  :-)

Ethiopian Opals Ring

I've never worked with opals before, but happened to see these on Magpie Gemstones Website, thought I might order a few and see what the muse could do with them. We played around with sterling silver coiled wire and came up with a sweet little ring. The wire was somewhat tarnished, so I threw the whole piece in the tumbler and let it run a few hours before it occurred to me that opals, being somewhat of a soft stone, might not fare too well rolling around with all that steel shot. Upon checking with my "opal expert" face book friends who concurred, I removed the piece....

oooops...

On the plus side, the silver was gleaming like the sun, but the experts were right, not a good idea, the opals had turned into little glassy globs, no opacity, no lovely flashes of blue and green....

sigh....

I was ready to write off the whole exercise as a learning experience when I noticed a few hours later that the opals were beginning to look a bit cloudy..... hmmmmm......perhaps they just absorbed some water.....maybe after thoroughly drying out??? So I let the piece dry over night, came in this afternoon and...

tadaaaaa!!!

Au Revoir Tucson!

I had the best time and can't wait to see you again next year! I could've done without the camera enforced speeding ticket, but otherwise super enjoyed my 10 days here. Oh, and I only lost my wallet once and my keys twice, some kind of a record for me, usually I loose the cell phone a couple times too.  :-)

Here are a few more high lights from the past week and a half....

Teaching the WireKnitZ Crossover Cuff at To Bead True Blue.

Shopping at Motel Row where I always find the coolest stuff, check out this stash of roman glass!

 My new gemmy friend, Szarka of Magpie Gemstones.

Meeting tool guy Kevin Potter and ordering a custom made hydraulic press with a purple powder coat finish....I swear I almost swooned....

Heading home sweet home, always one of my favorite parts of a trip! :-)