I occasionally enter one of my pieces to the Jewellery Maker TV Wall of Fame where over the course of the week about 50 or so pieces are chosen to be shown on the show. Every entrant is entered into a weekly draw and about 2 months ago I won £100 to spend.
It's really hard when you have money burning a hole in your pocket to know what to choose. Finally I decided to buy some of their more expensive strands - they call them Gems of Distinction. I really enjoy making jewellery but I don't do wirewraping, silver smithing or fine gem setting so tend to buy jasper, agate, quartz etc rather than the more precious gems.
However with these winning I invested in a few better quality strands especially as I have some birthdays coming up.
My business partner Helen is 50 this month and adores emeralds. I couldn't afford - nor did I trust myself with - a good strand of emeralds but when I saw these gorgeous green quartz rondelles so beautifully faceted and such an amazing colour - in fact the colour of emeralds - I couldn't resist.
Helen needs dainty jewellery - she is only a tiny person. She also likes little drop earrings with a bit of movement. So I created some earrings and a dangle necklace. It isn't a long pendant it is quite high up, again her preference but looks very pretty.
I also found these beautiful sky blue topaz graduated, faceted drops which are such a delicate colour. I have really only sorted and re-strung them with tiny silver seed beads in between to separate the drops so that each one is displayed to the best.
they look amazing close up
