Welcome to my newsletter! I hope you enjoy this month's issue. Barbara Kay Jewelry News I hope you've had a wonderful summer. It's hard to believe that we are already entering the fall season, along with changing colors and cooler temperatures. I'll be back to turning the heat on in my studio before I know it. I've been working on a few things this month. One of course is creating new jewelry. The other is getting ready for the Clark County Open Studios Tour which happens on November 2 and 3. If you live locally, I hope you'll come and visit me! Check out the 50+ artists on the tour in the Artist Guide and plan a weekend enjoying art and the people who make it. I have also been updating my website. This has been a challenge for me; although I am using a basic template, there are quite a few design aspects for me to create and make decisions about. I've realized I could never be a website designer! I will send out a between-newsletter email to let you know once my new website is public. New Jewelry I have been busy creating new pieces over the past month. They will all be listed in my shop once my new website is finished and public. One group of pendants I've been working on feature wildlife. Two are finished. This duck pendant, which began life as a very simple design meant to be created fairly quickly, ended up being quite complex with multiple layers. It's really interesting to me how some designs remain exactly as I designed them through-out the process, and others just seem to evolve and often grow. Sometimes more than I'd like! I incorporated a variety of different types of textures on this pendant. In the October issue of this newsletter, I will give you a little inside look at how I create some of those textures. Staying with the wetland-water theme, the second pendant that I finished recently is this one, featuring a bronze heron surrounded by copper grass. The stone is a Peruvian blue opal. The opal happens to be this month's featured stone, which you can read about below in the newsletter. This stone allowed me to have a cut-out behind it, so I decided to put a couple of little fish who are trying hard to stay under the heron's radar. I recently asked my followers on social media to suggest wildlife that they think I should feature in future pieces. I have used a few of their suggestions in designs that I'll start working on soon; others are going into my future list. Let me know if you have other ideas for me! Here are three of my very rough sketch ideas - this, by the way, is how most of my jewelry begins, with a very rough sketch that gets refined and then transferred to metal. Hopefully one (or more) of these will be finished by the time I'm working on the next newsletter. Finally, one thing I heard from many people who visited my booth during this summer's art fairs was that they wished I had more small pendants. I find small pendants to be more challenging for a variety of reasons (one that it allows me less room for design), but I am making it a priority to include a couple of small pendants with each group of jewelry pieces that I create. Here are three that I have finished recently. They feature from top to bottom: an Australian opal; chrysocolla; blue lace agate with a drusy top. Each measure about an inch or so in height. Featured Stone: Opal, the Queen of Gems What is not to love about opals? Common opals, precious opals, boulder opals – they are all beautiful. Some have flashes of color, some are soft and lustrous without flash and some show just bits of that flash in between brown stone. And, as an added bonus, the opal is the traditional birthstone for October – and is the gemstone given on a 14th wedding anniversary. So what exactly are opals – and what causes the flash in some and not in others? First a little history. The name Opal likely derived from the Latin word ‘Opalus’ meaning ‘precious stone’ and the Greek word ‘Opallios’ meaning ‘to see a change in color.’ Both of these words originated with an older Sanskrit word ‘upala’ ('precious stone'), which dates back to around 250BC. During these ancient times, opals were thought to be one of the most valuable gemstones in the world. One reason for this is that, in a good quality piece of opal, one can see the colors of many other gemstones. Owning an opal was rather like owning a variety of gemstones in one. There are a number of stories regarding Romans and their love of opals. One story has it that Marc Antony wanted to buy an opal to gift Cleopatra. The opal's owner didn’t want to sell and instead fled Rome and left behind all of his possessions but took the opal with him. Opals during this period were mainly mined in eastern Europe - most in what is now Slovakia. Shakespeare called the opal “the queen of gems” in his play Twelfth Night. And in other parts of the world, various types of opals were also worn and admired. In ancient India and Persia, fire opal was considered a symbol of ardent love. According to Arabian stories, opals fell to earth during lightning storms. Fire opals were also discovered in South America – at least 6,000 years ago – and were highly prized by the Aztecs. Opals were not revered by all. The Russian Tsars, for example, thought the stones symbolized the evil eye. During most of the19th century opals were viewed as bad luck, thanks to the 1829 publication of Walter Scott’s novel Anne of Geierstein. In the first volume of the three book series, Lady Hermione vanishes after holy water is poured over an opal she had in her hair. Fortunately, Queen Victoria chose to ignore that and wore opals often. She was quite a fashion trendsetter and, largely due to her, opals are now as popular as they were in ancient times. So how did these beautiful stones come to be? Opals were created when water and silica solutions were deposited in rock gaps and crevices and hardened over time, much like quartz and agate. In the case of opals, this solution formed as microscopic spheres which retained a certain amount of water; opals contain anywhere from 3 to 21 percent water. If the microscopic spheres have uniform sizes and shapes, and are neatly stacked, they will diffract light and cause the “play of colors” that we associate with precious opals. If the spheres are random in size, shape or how they are arranged, the opals that result are called common opals which do not have the colorful displays. The specific colors seen in precious opals change depending on the size of the spheres inside, and also the angle at which the opal is viewed. The smallest spheres show blue and violet colors, while the larger ones (still microscopic) show reds and oranges. Currently most gem quality opals with play of color are mined in Australia. More recently, quite beautiful opals have also been found in Ethiopia. Common opals of all colors are found throughout the world. Here are a few of the types of opals I work with. Australian Opals These are, of course, the most expensive opals, and are what we usually think of when we hear the word opal. They come in a variety of background colors (from white, to creamy beige, to blue, to even black) but the best ones have plenty of color and flash. I do have to say that photographing opals is very challenging - it's hard to capture all the flash and color that can be seen in real life. Ethiopian Welo Opals These opals are somewhat different in appearance to the Australian opals. The colors and flash are a bit softer and more diffused, in my opinion. Ethiopian opals are sometimes called jelly opals due to their somewhat jelly like appearance. I love working with Ethiopian opal beads, especially in earrings. They have a wonderful flash as they move. These are more porous than Australian opals, and are hydrophane – meaning they will absorb water when submerged. Absorption of water can cause color changes – and even color loss which may or may not revert back to the original once the water has dried. Ethiopian opals are therefore not recommended as ring stones (in fact, I don’t really recommend opals at all for rings due to their somewhat fragile nature). In general, if you wear a ring with an opal, in particular Ethiopian opal, be sure to remove it before washing hands or if you may be in a situation that causes a lot of sweat. Common Opals Common opals come in a variety of colors, ranging from a soft cream, to pink, to various shades of blue. Although they don’t have flashes of color inside, they have a soft luster that I really like. This picture shows two different blue opals from Peru. The top one has part of the matrix (the brown rock within with the opal was formed). The bottom opal has the cream color that is often seen in gem opals, but without the play of color. I currently only have pink opal in the form of beads. Gorgeous blue opals can be found in Oregon, of which I unfortunately do not have an example. Some of the Oregon blue opal has subtle play of color, unlike most common opal. Boulder Opals Boulder opals are created by cutting a section of the matrix (stone around the opal) along with an opal seam. Sometimes the opal only appears as tiny flashes of color through-out the matrix. In other examples, the opal seam is quite large. The opal may have amazing play of color, and sometimes it may be a more common opal but have a beautiful luster and color, such as the cabochon on the right in this picture. I really love boulder opals; I feel as though the opal is a little secret or surprise. Sometimes you can’t see it until you move the stone a certain way, or have the light shine on it from a certain direction. The more opal that shows – and of course the more play of color – the more expensive the stone is. I actually like the ones that have little bits of opal secrets. Boulder opals generally come from Australia. The top Peruvian blue opal shown in the Common Opal picture above could technically be called a boulder opal as well, but I’ve only seen the term used with the Australian stones. Dendritic Opals Dendritic opals are common opals that grew around other minerals, generally manganese and/or iron. These minerals show as mossy or branch-like inclusions in the stone. Dendritic opals generally have a white or creamy yellow-ish brown color. They usually have that wonderful lustrous sheen, while the inclusions are usually dark – black, dark green or brown. Every example of dendritic opal will be unique. They are sometimes also called moss opal or mossy opal. Doublets and Triplets Doublets and triplets are a method of creating the look and beauty of a flashy opal without the expense. They also allow for very thin pieces of opal that might normally be thrown away to be used. Doublets are created by attaching (with resin or glue) a very thin sheet of opal to a black back. This back may be common opal (preferred by purists), onyx or other type of stone, or plastic – including old vinyl records. A black backing is generally used as that helps show up the colors in the opal. This example likely has a black plastic back and was very inexpensive. Care must be taken when wearing a doublet; if it’s exposed to a lot of water it is possible the adhesive may fail. I think they work best worn as necklace or possibly earrings. A triplet is similar to a doublet, but has a third layer on top of the opal layer. Usually this top layer is quartz. Triplets are in general more durable than a regular opal or doublet, and because of the hard quartz top, they can be used in rings with less danger of damage from normal use. Too much water or other substances could cause problems with the adhesives used to join the three layers so a certain amount of care should be taken. I think triplets are a great way to get the full beauty of opals without spending large amounts of money. The quartz adds both hardness and also really shows off the flash or colors in the opal. There are of course synthetic opals, but I won't discuss that here. And while there are other varieties of real opals, I thought I’d stick to the ones that I have and work with currently. If I add other types to my collection, maybe I’ll come back to opals again in the future. Finally, just a bit about caring for opals. Opals are fairly fragile, so in my opinion it is best not to wear them in jewelry that might be knocked around (such as bracelets and rings). Common opals are less fragile than gem opals, and I do use them in a variety of jewelry including rings, but even so care should be taken. With all opals, avoid exposure to chemicals, including lotions, perfumes and most cleaning agents. They can be carefully washed and dried but not submerged for any period of time in water. Best is to clean with a soft, dry cloth. And it's best to avoid exposing them to heat and direct sunlight as well. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a bit about this beautiful and varied queen of gems! I would love to hear from you. Let me know what you think, and what you’d like to see in future newsletters. And if you've enjoyed my newsletters, please invite others to subscribe! |
My newsletters are written for anyone with an interest in jewelry - or in metalsmithing and making jewelry
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