Discover Ammonites in Jewelry

Discover Ammonites in Jewelry

by Melissa Creamer, Crafter of Chrysalis Jewelry

Today I want to tell you about ammonites in jewelry. What is an ammonite you ask? They are an extinct group of invertibrate animals that appeared in the Devonian Period and died out during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event. They have since become fossilized.

Some of you may be thinking "Okay, I just heard blah blah jewelry blah blah." Here is what you need to know. Ammonites are really old animals and they have become fossils. These really cool fossils look even cooler in jewelry. Time for show and tell.

Pair of ammonites

Opalized Ammonite

See? Aren't these fossils pretty? Wouldn't it be fun if someone put them into jewelry? Good news! In the past I have made them into rings, bracelets, pendants and cuff links. I had the honor of having some of my ammonite jewelry photographed by fine art photographer Jon Herrera.

Would you like some more ammonite jewelry eye candy by other artists? I would too, so for your viewing (and drooling) pleasure I present...

Ammonite Pendant

Ammonite Ring

Ammonite Cuff Bracelet

Ammonite cuff links

Ammonite Ring

Ammonite Bracelet

WOW! I just love the creativity of these pieces. I admire how these artists have combined fossils with jewelry. Not only are these pieces wearable art, they are wearable history!

If you are thinking "I would love to have some ammonite jewelry of my own!", no worries, Chrysalis Fans! Contact me today (melissa@chrysalisjewelry.com) to discuss a custom piece. Don't forget you can always visit my website, my Etsy shop, or my Facebook page to connect with me too.

Until Tomorrow
Melissa

Let's Talk Quartz

As an artisan jeweler I have had to learn about gemstones (and since they are so pretty and sparkly, you can imagine how horrible that has been). I have educated myself on common and not-so-common gemstones, gemstone families (ex: corundum which is sapphire and ruby), the Mohs Hardness Scale (Talc being the softest, diamond the hardest) and a bunch of other technical things I will not bore you with.

Yesterday I received a flier/ catalog from a retail jewelry store. Every girl loves to look at jewelry, so I flipped through it last night. When I got to the colored gemstone section, I became irritated. Let me tell you why. I believe in charging a fair price for my creations (what did I pay for the raw materials+ my time) and I also tell my customer what they are receiving. My irritation was over a $700 "Green Amethyst" ring and my irritation was for two reasons:  One - "Green Amethyst" is actually called Prasiolite and Two - I felt the price tag was well above and beyond the real value. Let me explain further.

Amethyst is the purple variety of quartz. Prasiolite is the green. Citrine is the orange and Smokey Quartz is the brown. You get where this is going? So calling Prasiolite "Green Amethyst" would be like calling Citrine "Orange Amethyst". While most customers would not know what Prasiolite is, telling them it's Green Amethyst isn't educating them either. I know the first part of my irritation may seem petty, but I would rather give my customers a little education into what they are buying than tell them the wrong thing.

The second part of my irritation is this:  Quartz is not rare. In fact, it is the second most abundant mineral in Earth's crust. Since it's not rare, it's not terribly expensive. In fact, you can get a very nice large Prasiolite for under $100 (and by you, I mean someone who pays retail). While the ring was in gold (which drove part of the price) and had some small diamonds (melee diamonds aren't expensive either), it did not warrant the price tag. It wasn't an amazing design. In fact, it was rather common.

So now, lets have a little quartz show and tell!

Faceted Prasiolite

Rough Prasiolite

Quartz with Amethyst Phantom

Faceted Amethyst

Amethyst Rough

Faceted Citrine

Citrine Rough

Crystal Quartz Rough

Quartz with Lepidocrocite

Quartz with Rutile

Rose Quartz Geode

Bolivian Ametrine Rough (Citrine & Amethyst grown together)

Smokey Quartz Rough

Quartz with gilalite inclusions

As you can see, there is a WIDE variety of quartz and it is beautiful! The above pictures are just a small sample of what is out there.

If you love gemstones as much as I do, be sure to follow me on Pinterest. I have an awesome Gemstone board. You can find my artisan jewelry in my Etsy shop. Also be sure to check out my Facebook Fan page where you can get sneak peaks on what I'm working on.

Do you want to learn more about gemstones? What stones would you like me to feature next? Let me know in the comments section.

Until tomorrow - Melissa

The Mother of Invention

It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. To put it another way, difficult situations inspire ingenious solutions.  I have found this to be true in my own life.  When I first lost my job (catch up here), I didn't know what I was going to do.  My first thought was to try to get a new one as soon as possible.  Then I had a couple of people say "This might be an opportunity to work on your jewelry full time."  When one person says it, okay, it's an idea.  When more than one person says it, I find this is Someone's way of telling you what to do.

So I made up some jewelry and I started an Etsy shop.  I then had to find ways to market my shop and in marketing my shop I began to build a network of other Etsy shop owners.  These women (it's mostly women I have found in the jewelry and accessory realm) are super supportive and are willing to lend a hand to newbies.

As you interact with the new "associates", you start to find out about their lives and you become friends.  I found it very interesting that a lot of these women were much like me. They are creative women who have some type of health issue (autoimmune disorders and fibromyalgia, for example) that makes working a normal schedule or outside the house very difficult.

It makes me wonder how many Etsy store owners are in the same position as I?  I started to do my jewelry as a hobby, then it morphed into a side business.  Now I rely on it as a source of income.  Before I got sick, it was nice when someone (typically a friend) would commission a piece of jewelry.  I would turn around and reinvest the profit into my business by typically buying a new tool.   Now the profits help me pay day-to-day expenses.

Sometimes I can get a little frustrated when my sales are slow.  I have friends tell me that it's the economy.  I'm sure this is partially true.  However, I still see women buying jewelry and accessories at Charming Charlie's, Target, Walmart, etc.   I think a lot of women don't think about buying something from a crafter/artisan or they think it might be too expensive.  While I do have some more expensive items in my store, most are very wallet friendly.

If you had the option to buy a pair of earrings that were made by hand by a small business owner for $16, or a similar pair at Wal-Mart for $14.99, which would you rather buy?  I know what I would like to do.

Dear Reader, you may be asking yourself, where do I find these handmade goodies which you speak of?  Well, I will tell you! Just follow the links below.

Handmade Lampwork Beads by Bastille Blue - Etsy  Facebook  Website

Handmade Children's and Pet Accessories by The Joyful Princess Boutique - Etsy Facebook

Handmade Jewelry by Beadsoul- Etsy Facebook

Sequintatic Bead and Sequin Jewelry by Saturday Sequins - Etsy Facebook Blog

And now for the shameless plug for me:

Handmade Jewelry by Chrysalis Jewelry - Etsy Facebook Website

These women make really great products and I know they would be honored to have your business.  Please consider giving them a try!

Until Tomorrow - Melissa

Take What You Love…And Beat It to Death

My dearest readers, I have a long list of "typical" blog topics, and this is not one of them.  Tonight, as I entertained myself into the wee hours of the morning (when normal people sleep), I was looking through some “old” photographs.  If you follow my blog, you may think I am referring to some antique photos.  Sadly, that is not the case.  I was looking through old photos of my jewelry.  Talk about a wake-up call.

The photos I speak of are about three years old.  Let me share some with you:

These were pieces of jewelry that were created out of love.  Pieces that were created out of passion.  You can tell just by looking at them.  As I digitally flipped through them, I felt like I had been knocked upside the head.  What happened?  Where did this go wrong?

I first got into making jewelry almost by accident.  I purchased some loose stones with the intention of having a jeweler set one or two of them.  As I researched what to do with them, I ran across an artisan jewelry gallery that also offered lessons.  Aha!  Why have a jeweler set the stones when I could learn how to do it myself?  I intended on taking the six lessons I purchased, make a piece of jewelry or two, and be done with.

My husband had business to attend to in the same area of town at the same time as my first jewelry lesson, so we carpooled.    When he returned to pick me up, his first comment was “WOW! The smile on your face was worth the price of admission.  I haven’t seen you smile like that in a long time."  I was having a lot of fun.  In three short hours I had almost made my first ring.

 Picture of my first ring

 What started as six lessons turned into six months.  As lessons progressed, I became irritated at spending precious class time sanding, filing, or some other simple task when I could be learning.  So I bought a few tools.  Anyone who knows me personally knows I don’t do anything half way.  A few simple small tools  turned into bigger not-so-simple tools.  I originally started work on an old store bought television stand that had been moved out to the garage a few years earlier.  

 The original "studio"

Like Tribbles, the tools began to multiply (What?  You don’t know what a Tribble is?  Get off my blog!  Just kidding, educate yourself at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribble .  And yes, my nerd is showing).  The Tribbles, I mean tools, needed more space.  So what does my husband do?  He builds me a studio.

 The studio that actually looks like an artist's studio

I used to go out to my studio for HOURS and create.  I could lose entire weekends out there.  Friends noticed my jewelry.  They asked if I could make them a piece.  I am an American.  I am a good capitalist - of course I can make you jewelry!  Enter my business, Chrysalis Jewelry.

Chrysalis remained a side business until a few months ago.  I became very ill with what is suspected to be an autoimmune disorder that doctors have yet to conclusively identify (should you want the blow-by-blow on that, here is a link to my past blog where I detail my experience to date: http://melissa-randomthoughtsfrommelissa.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-apologies.html ).  After I lost my job, I began to focus on my business full time.  It seemed like a good solution.  I could work for myself, working when I felt well.  However, in order to “succeed”, people had to know I was out there.  One quick way to let people know I sell jewelry was to open an Etsy store (feel free to shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/chrysalisjewelrytx ).  An Etsy store by itself really doesn’t do any good.  One must use as much social media as one can.  So I did.

Somewhere in all of this, I lost focus.  I felt I needed to produce.  To get a lot of items in my Etsy store so people could buy them.  I think this is where I went wrong.  I am a jewelry artist.  I need to focus on creativity, not mass production.  I need to create beauty.  I need to create wearable art.

It’s so classic; I see that now.  Take something you love and beat the tarnation out of it until it no longer resembles what you started with.  Spend so much time doing it, you end up seeing it as a job, not a privilege.  Dear Reader, I’ve had my wake up call.  I need to refocus and recenter.  I need to let the creative process take its natural course.  If people buy it, great.  If not, I will know I’ve done my best.

Until tomorrow – Melissa

PS – Should you want to buy a piece or two and support an artist, here is the address for my Etsy address again: http://www.etsy.com/shop/chrysalisjewelrytx .  ;)