New Addition

I've made a new addition to the Soledad Collection. Named after my beautiful Filipina mother, whose name means solitude. The Soledad collection features a single gemstone necklace where the stone speaks for itself, big or small they all have beautiful attributes, as do each of us.

This necklace features an A Grade faceted Ametrine gemstone on an 18" sterling silver chain. The featured gemstone measures 10mm.
A friend of mine let me know that one of the Trinity necklaces made it into the Just Jewels Gift Guide on Etsy. I was surprised, I just listed it yesterday...and I was wondering why it was getting so many views. I'm honored that it's been included! (Second row from the top, second one in from the left)


I made another necklace to add to the Soledad Collection, the featured stone is a Rainbow Obsidian. I literally get lost in the depth of these stones! The only thing is, I'm having a heck of a time photographing the necklace to show the chatoyancy....aarrrggghhh! I'll go ahead and share one of the pics with you, but I won't list it until I can capture the beauty of the stone.

Got A Lot Accomplished!

So I took today off of work to take care of a few things. First was purchasing a Main Showcase on Etsy, they always become available while I'm at work and I didn't want to miss out on it. I'm hoping it'll get me some more exposure!

Second was soldering and just getting comfortable working with my torch. I made my own pickling solution using white vinegar and sea salt...it works wonderfully...love it! I also used self pickling flux..I'm not sure if others use this type, but it worked fine for me. I made 2 rings. After the 1st one was done pickling, I filed down the excess solder and it looked great...then I hammered it for texture...uggghhh! It broke my solder right off :( So I'm going to resolder it now that I've already hammered it, all I'll have to do is file down the excess solder. I'll pull the 2nd one out of the pickle tonight, file it down, and wear it tomorrow and I can't wait!

I also tried my hand using Epoxy today. Of course with the help of a great Etsian, Ed from Stonesinmotion . I tell you, I don't know what I would do without his sage advice, he's such a wealth of information and really just an all in all great guy! On a side note, I've purchased some Rainbow Obsidian cabochons from him, and I can't wait to get them!! Okay so back to the Epoxy, it's tricky stuff and has to be mixed just right or it won't set at all. A coworker had a cabochon that I purchased a flat back sterling silver setting for so I needed an adhesive that wouldn't damage the stone. Well so far, so good...and it looks like I'll be able to give my coworker a new pendant tomorrow.

The other was for another coworker. She had a 14kt gold solitaire ring with a faceted Smoky Quartz, that she wanted switched out with a CZ. So I purchased a really nice quality 3/4ct. CZ and some tools to work with the prongs on the ring. I was really nervous because I didn't want to break one of the prongs off or damage them beyond repair...but phew it worked out well too!

The last thing I did was set some 8mm (2ct)colored CZ's in sterling silver pendants with notched prongs...oooo...I really love the way they look and will take pics of those tomorrow.

So I really did get a lot accomplished today and I can't wait to share some pictures of everything with you tomorrow.