Turquoise Necklaces

I love turquoise .. working with it and wearing it. Here are a couple of necklaces I've made in the past couple of weeks. These are all made with turquoise from the Kingman mine, which I got at this years Tucson Gem Show.

The first one is made with 8mm rondell beads, called Boulder Turquoise. This is turquoise that comes from the edges of the turquoise veins, and includes a lot of the "mother" rock. Most of it is pretty copperish looking. A few years ago, when I started buying boulder turquoise, the vendor told me they used to just throw this stuff in the tailings of the mine. Now they charge an arm and a leg for it! Go figure!

This necklace is 17 1/2 inches long. You can find it in my jewelry shop here:
Boulder Turquoise Necklace

Another pic of the Boulder Turquoise Necklace

Another boulder turquoise necklace, this time made with heishi beads. Heishi is such a classic Southwestern look. And with boulder turquoise, is very organic looking! These heishi beads are about 5mm.  I added some Bali sterling silver spacer beads at the back of the necklace, along with a sturdy sterling silver lobster claw. I think the Bali beads add a real nice touch.

This necklace is 16 inches long. You can find it in my jewelry shop here:
Boulder Turquoise Heishi Necklace

Here's another pic of the Boulder Turquoise Heishi Necklace, this time with one of my favorite props, my coyote helper. :)

And, another heishi bead necklace. These heishi beads are about 4mm, and are blue blue blue!

This one has nice smooth sterling silver beads for the back of the necklace, because I find that those little heishi beads like to grab onto the hair in the back. Makes it a bit more comfortable. This necklace is 17 1/2 inches long. You can find it in my jewelry shop here:
Turquoise Heishi Necklace

Here's another pic of the Turquoise Heishi Necklace

Next in the jewelry department, I'll be making some pearl necklaces. :)

Beer Soaps, Honey Soaps, Rainbows

And we have summer already in Tucson. 93 degrees yesterday, the same today. I'll probably have to turn on the AC later this afternoon. tsk

How about some soapy pictures? :) I'll start with a pretty and colorful soap. This is Citrus Mint 5 Layer.

You can find it on my website, and in my Etsy shop.

Before The Cure

A batch of Dark Desert w/ Agave Nectar,  and a batch of Amber Romance, just poured into molds.

And here they are going through the cutting process.

The Dark Desert soap has powdered Chaparral leaves added, along with some agave nectar. For scent, an essential oil blend of sage, lemon, rosemary, spruce, and patchouli. The Amber Romance is a layered soap, the bottom colored with yellow oxide and gold mica. Scented with a fragrance oil.

Another beer soap, this one made with Young's Double Chocolate Stout. Scented with a little bit of Chocolate Serendipity fragrance oil. Yowzer!!!!! Talk about chocolate overload!

The Cure is Over! 

A couple of beer soaps, ready to go!

Raspberry Wheat Beer Soap. Made with Shock Top Raspberry Wheat beer, scented with a little bit of Black Raspberry Vanilla fragrance oil. On my website, and in my Etsy Shop.

 Torpedo Cedarwood Beer Soap. Made with Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale, scented with Cedarwood essential oil and Fir Needle essential oil. Very masculine! Very nice! On my website, and in my Etsy Shop.

Preparing For Mother's Day

I have put together a Mother's Day Gift Set. Roses and Chocolate.

It consists of a full bar of Fresh Cut Rose and a full bar of Creamy Peppermint w/ Chocolate Swirl, tied together with a red ribbon. Two all natural, unsweetened, unflavored cocoa butter lip balms in a white organza bag. A small note card. All tucked neatly into a 4" x 4" x 2" Kraft box with a "Happy Mother's Day" decal.

You can find this gift set on my website, and in my Etsy shop.

Threesomes

I have put together a couple of threesome listings in my Etsy shop. First, a trio of Honey Soaps! I thought this would be a good set of soaps for a bee keeper, or a honey lover. I included a full bar of Oatmeal & Honey, Honey Orange & Clove, and Creamy Honey Lemon.

AND, a trio of Beer Soaps! What could be more fun!

And that has been my soaping adventures for the last couple of weeks. :)

I'll finish with this picture I took last week during a cold rain. I took this from my patio, it looks like I could have walked behind my neighbor's house and gathered up a pot of gold!

Taking Apart a Necklace

Remember The Desert Princess? This is an 8 strand necklace of turquoise and lapis that I made a couple of years ago. I documented the process of making it here on my blog. To see the blog posts about the making of the necklace, just do a search of this blog using "desert princess". This is the necklace ... lots of turquoise and lapis!

It got plenty of attention, but didn't sell. SO .... I took it apart! Yes, yes I did! :) Now, it's going to be 2 necklaces instead of one.  I have completed one of the necklaces. This is choker length. I tried making it a bit longer, but the strand reducers on each side need to be laying on the back of the neck, otherwise the reducers dig into the sides of the neck. I like the way it came out, it looks very regal!

The total length of the shortest strand including the clasp is a little over 14 inches. So you see, a real choker length.

The blue 8mm rondell beads are turquoise from the Kingman mine here in Arizona. The green turquoise is also from the Kingman mine. The lovely blue turquoise tear drop beads are from the Nacozari mine in Sonara, Mexico.

All of the metal is sterling silver.

A lovely southwest style! I'm happy with the outcome of this necklace. Now, I need to work on the other half of The Desert Princess!

This necklace is listed in my Etsy jewelry shop, just click here to see

4 Strand Turquoise Necklace

And, my own desert princess ... Dakota ! :)

Sharing a snack in Sabino Canyon

Yesterday morning Ray and I went to Sabino Canyon. We took the shuttle up to the top, and walked back down. It started out kind of cool at the top, but once we could get into the sun shine, it was warm enough. Plenty of folks out enjoying the canyon. Some just strolling along, some going at a good walking pace, others jogging. No bikes are allowed in the canyon after 7AM, and the only vehicles allowed are the shuttles (I think there are 4 of them).  So it's nice walking.

Half way down Ray and I stopped for a snack at a concrete picnic table in a sunny spot a bit off the road. We were joined by this lovely fellow.

A beautiful male Northern Cardinal. He was very happy to pose for Ray's camera, so we shared our snacks with him. I shared my apple, and Ray shared some walnuts.

Here he is enjoying some walnuts. I was so busy watching him, I didn't realize how beautiful the rock he was on is until I saw this picture.

So we said goodbye to Mister Cardinal, and continued on down the road. A very pleasant Saturday morning walk!

All photos by Ray Goodwin at Sonoran Connection.

Winter in the Desert

Yes, sometimes we do have winter here in Tucson! Wednesday it actually SNOWED here. Big white soft flakes of wet snow! Covered and stuck to the ground for a couple of hours. Ray went out and took some pics ...

Desert photos by Ray Goodwin

The next morning the sun was shining, and there was still a little smattering of snow on our mountain (Golden Mt. in the Tucson Mountains).

Pretty!

Now, some soapy pictures. :)

 A couple of beer soaps. Raspberry Wheat, made with Sharp Top Raspberry Wheat beer, scented with just a touch of Black Raspberry Vanilla fragrance oil.

And, made with Sierra Nevada Torpedo beer, scented with Cedarwood and Fir Needle essential oils. This smells goooooood !!

Off the curing rack and in the shops, Honey Orange & Clove. Yum yum!!

Took new pics of my Oatmeal & Honey soap for the shops.

 

I did manage to get to the Tucson Gem Show last week. I went with 2 things on my mind .... turquoise and pearls. For the turquoise, I went to the vendor that sells turquoise from the Kingman mine, which is located in northern Arizona. I just got a few strands for a couple of projects.

And then headed right for TA Pearls, and got just a few strands of round white freshwater pearls.