Lariats, Vines and Ever Growing Sparkle Forests

This past weekend kept me all kinds of shiny busy. I've got several projects still in the design stage, one that whupped me so bad that I finally had to concede to it being to advanced for me and ...let go, for now, and as always, several 1/2 finished projects laying around. One of my half finished projects was a pair of Swiss Blue Topaz earrings. They should have been simple enough, I /did/ have a plan in mind for them, but as often happens, 1/2 way thru they decided they wanted to be something else. Oddly, they wanted to be paired up with some really nice Citrine and be made into a lariat. Odd because... I've never made, or worn, a lariat. I'm not even sure how we ended up there.

What a cool necklace style that is! It's like... a necklace with endless style options. It looks like this...

I made it really long, so it could be looped, and worn this way...

or, doubled and tied and worn this way...

It can also be worn long, to drape down the front, or even the back. So many possibilities! Am kinda diggin' this style. And wondering... why have I not made these before now? 

I was actually on top of things enough this time to manage to get it listed in the Etsy.. Something I've been seriously lacking on this year. Poor Etsy store hasn't seen many new listings lately.

Anyhoo, some other things I managed to work on last weekend ...

Mah new Mini Sparkle Forest. It's growing so big!!

Right now I have... Multi-colored Aquamarine, Tanzanite, Ethopian Opal, Sapphire, Apatite, Peridot, Amethyst and Ruby. Well, mostly. The Apatite one in the bottom left corner is actually not sellable. I smooshed a stone and shattered it putting the last finishing touches on it so I have to remake that one.

I love my new Sparkle Forest. It's the perfect size for me, about 1" diameter each, and full of the most beautiful faceted lovelies. Well, except the Opals. Those aren't faceted. 

I think the one I'm most enthralled by that one. Those Opals are unbelievable. I'm just mesmerized by them. 

It's a swirling, firey, flashing, glowing rainbow of awesomeness. It's so swirly, firey, flashy and glowy that it was actually wonkin' out my eyeballs when I was making it. Trying to work on it was a bit like trying to look at one of those funky old school hologram things, while concentrating on one tiny piece of it at a time. It got so bad while trying to make it, I started calling her LSD tree during construction. Mah little acid trip tree of funky. 

She needs a new name now that she's finished.

Try as I might, I can NOT get the camera to capture her special light shows. Definitely not for lack of trying. I managed to catch little bits though. 

This is her...inside... being relatively calm. 

The opals are a yellow tinted shiny, but most of the yellow in that pic is her trippy glow. A calm version of her glow.

This is her... outside in the sun... giving me a glimpse of her light show....

Now, imagine both of those, x 10... and that's sort of what she looks like in real life. 

Over the weekend, I also worked on a commission piece I've been playing with. It's a vine necklace. Made to match a bracelet I made last December. Last night I finished that jewel up. Ended up with...

It's made to wear the clasp in the front. Or even off to the side if they want to. Last night I also finished up a new mini Rhodolite Garnet tree. As I was flying out the door to work this morning, I had a thought...

I wonder what the new tree would look like on Vine. I just had to go back in and check it out....

*whispers* I'm diggin' that.

Yep yep.

Anyhoo, there's life in shiny town the last few days. Shiny, sparkly and full of trees.

Yay.