A Necklace For Julie!

As most of you know, one of my favorite parts of being a jewelry designer is creating custom pieces. Whether I'm designing something from scratch or adapting an existing design, it's one of the most satisfying and fun parts of what I do. I always enjoy collaborating with a customer to make something special for them--they love it, and so do I!

Today I got to make a fun custom order for a really sweet girl visiting the city. She came into the store with her family, and she liked a necklace I had in silver, but she wanted it in gold, on a much longer chain. We went through a few options before deciding on using a brushed gold hoop with rustic brass chain. Initially she wanted me to use neutral gemstone colors; I was going to make the necklace using onyx, mother of pearl, and hematite--basically, all blacks, whites, and grays. But we ended up going with the spinel stones that I had used in the silver version of the necklace, and I am so glad we did! I love the rough polish of these stones, and they come in all different shades of red, purple, pink, and brown. Really pretty gemstones--when they are really polished up and have the right cut to them, they look very similar to rubies. But this cut of stone was perfect with the gold and brass--I actually ended up liking this version of the necklace even more than the silver one I made!

Now I am all out of spinel stones though....next time I go on a shopping run, I will have to see if I can find another strand. If I can, I will be posting this version of the necklace to my website and naming it after Julie!

You can see Julie modeling her necklace below!! Now I want one for myself :)