Topaz Mountain

We have a place here in Utah called Topaz Mountain. And, yes, you can get natural topaz. My oldest son and his family went down there a couple of weeks back and found a few nice stones. So, for Mother's day, he had me make a ring for his wife and two daughters from the nicest terminated ends.

These are the rings I made for them. Since the topaz are crystals with straight sides, I had to use epoxy to hold them in place.

If you look closely, you can see some of the brown tint. Many of the crystals we find are clear because they have been out in the sun and have been bleached. The natural color of the crystals in the vugs (the little holes or caves they grow in) is a rootbeer color.

This is one of the nicely terminated clear ends. These rings are a fun keepsake for the gals of their family.

My husband works with a lovely lady named Bobbie and she will be retiring from her job next week. When asked what she wanted for her retirement gift, she immediately said "one of Kim's bracelets." So I sent a bunch of pictures to work with hubby and Bobbie wanted one of these.

She is such a neat lady and has such a love of life - I wish her all the best in the years to come. She and her hubby are building a home in Southern Utah and it is going to be absolutely Gorgeous!!!

I look forward to going down to the St. George area and visiting with them.

Best wishes for a long life, Bobbie!

Kim

Hand Made Beads

OK, so I don't blog every day! That is what happens when I work on a computer all day long and then come home and work on a computer all night.

But I just HAD to show off my newest accomplishment.....Hand Made Sterling Silver Beads!!!

For some time now, I have been wanting beads that are bigger than I can purchase at Blake Bros. so I decided I would like to start making my own.

There is a great book available - Making Metal Beads - and it has great step-by-step instructions on making all sorts of metal beads.

The larger disk was sterling silver cut to the size of a quarter, domed, soldered then textured with a stone wheel.

The two smaller disks were sterling silver cut to the size of a penny, hammered for texture and then domed and soldered.

They are not great, but I am quite pleased with them. I have some great coral barrels I am going to combine them with. Look for pictures later.

Hope you are living your dreams - create beauty where ever you can

K