I buy quite a few stone from a UK company called Diamond CZ. Recently they had a charity auction on eBay that I was delighted to win. It is a variety of mixed stones, some have minor flaws which I was expecting, a lot are very usable! There are a lot of larger stones and shapes I haven't used before - exciting!!! I was quite surprised when the package arrived as from the photo I had not appreciated the size of the stones - lovely big bling!!!
First thing to do was to test the coloured ones to see if they would fire. I knew the tanzanite blues and greens would mostly likely discolour in an open shelf firing - but I tried a few anyway! Of course they did!! They went brown, but actually at least one of them went a very beautiful pale cognac colour that I shall use :D
My second test was to fire a few in carbon in an oxygen free atmosphere. They held their colour beautifully - yay!! :) I refired the discoloured ones in the carbon too. The tanzanite ones stayed brown but the green did revert back - good to know!!
So I set about trying out a couple of the rectangular stones.
First I made this ring - I've called it Gothic Green.
To contrast with the lovely deep green stone I set a couple of lab grown rubies, one on each side...
...and I added some lovely little sunburst designs all around the band.
I was pleased with the result - and as this one fitted me I've given it a test run for a couple of days! It's nice and comfortable to wear!! ;)
For my second try with the stones I made a little pendant with an attached bail. This one has a nice antique look to it. I've called it Clear Sparkle because...well I'm sure you can work that one out!
It's really quite small - and a little different to my usual style I think!
I have lots and lots of stones left to use - so I'll be having fun with these in the future!!!
Joy x
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