Mom (Craftysister Lynne) and I went camping in Georgia a few weeks ago. While there, we got lost driving and found this amazing little store. It was called Rocks, Relics and Beads. This place was packed with so much stuff that it was completely overwhelming. The owner was such a character. He seemed to delight in making up stuff on the fly (you know, in a true Grandfatherly way). Mom even posted some photos on Facebook of our visit to this wonderland. It only seemed fair as I posted pics of her version of wonderland (an art store) during our camping trip to the Indiana Dunes last year.

So, below are two of the finds I made at this amazing wonderland:

I just love tourmaline. It comes in such an amazing array of colors and I love all of them. This is a slice of a chrome tourmaline crystal and I just fell for it the minute I saw it. It took me awhile to decide how I wanted to display and mount this piece, but I am very satisfied with the finished pendant.

The front piece of the necklace where the pendant hangs, is strung on 18 gauge sterling silver wire. The rest of the necklace is strung on beading wire. I like to do necklaces like this as I think it brings more focus to the pendant.

I cannot say it enough that I just love this pendant and the necklace. I wrapped the tourmaline very gently with 21 gauge sterling silver wire that just comes around the sides of the stone and rises in back of the stone to form the wrapped bail.

And of course, I made earrings to go along with this piece. I had some fun this time around doing some sterling silver findings and various wigjig type forms for these earrings and for the next necklace below.

I cannot wait to wear this set. Below you can see the almond shaped clasp that I made for this necklace. It is made from 18 gauge sterling silver wire.

The next piece has an Italian art bead for the pendant. I just love the contrast of the orange and teal swirls.

It doesn’t show up as well in the photo, but the teal beads and the teal swirls in the pendant are actually the same color. I love the way the one teal bead above the pendant looks like it is smiling at you and showing his fangs. It made me laugh when I noticed it.

The orange beads are agate and the white beads are quartz crystal composite beads. I used seed beads for the back portion of the necklace as I wanted the entire focus to be on the front double strands. I again used 18 gauge sterling silver wire to make the bail for the pendant as well as the findings that connect the double strands of the front part to the single strand of the back portion of the necklace.

The earrings are made of more agate and the findings are made of 21 gauge sterling silver wire.

This is a very colorful piece and I am very happy with how it turned out. This is a great summer necklace and earrings set.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day and I look forward to posting some more of my recent projects!

Happy Crafting,

Kristin