kohinoor jewelry

The large bronzite gemstone tiles have been this year's favourite amongst beaders. This photograph shows you the beautiful details of this gemstone which has inspired different designs.

The look Susan achieved is definitely reminiscent of the art nouveau style with its simple but strong design lines. She got this look by teaming the bronzite with window beads on either side, separated by gold tone metal beads. She used small flat square beads with a marbly effect for the rest of the bracelet.










Jason Hommel recently wrote a silver stock commentary called " Why Silver's Ready to Double in a Year (And why I bought a lot more silver recently)" for the Silverseek.com conference.

Hommel reports that silver prices have been going up by at least 30% a year in the last few years in line with other metal commodities. He also pointed out the current ratio of silver to gold (50:1, 50 ounces of silver will buy 1 ounce of gold) is way below the historic ratio of 15:1. He therefore predicts that the cost of silver may well double next year due to demand outstripping supply.

For those of us who don't have a stock portfolio, this suggests that silver jewelry might well cost more next year!



Ruth wanted a pair of black beaded earrings but what she actually created first was this black necklace. All the glass beads were black or variations of the same colour. She also opted for a longer length which should look good on polo-neck or other collared sweaters.

She actually wanted longer metal beads which I did not have. So like any good designer, she improvised and used two metal beads where she wanted. Her verdict at the end of her very first beading session, "This is addictive!" Yep, another beadaholic in the making.







Often beaders decide to add another matching piece to their first design. A set is called a parure in jewelry terms. So here is another part of Ruth's parure of black jewelry ( see her necklace in Beader design #65).

It's important to tie in some similar elements in order to get a set. In Ruth's case, she used the same large focal bead - the flat round black with white splashes - and metal bead. But as this are earrings, she added a black shell dangle for extra interest.













Kay must like purple as she chose to make an amethyst chip necklace. She placed the chips in between the flat square dark purple glass beads. Together, they formed the focal point of her necklace.

Many people like to use seed beads to finish the rest of the necklace as did Kay. She used alternating bands of white/clear and purple seed beads which is a less common approach. Many people tend to use seed beads of a single colour or interspersing at regular intervals that single colour with a contrast colour.