Unique Necklace

[lonewoodminer]

Hi all

We have been playing with some ideas to use some of the stuff we mine in a unique way. Although our main product is sapphire, we have always thought there was a lot of potential in using black spinel. This is a gem that we find in association with our sapphire - it has a hardness of 8.0 and is very consistent so you get almost no cracks or flaws when cutting or polishing. We have thought this would be a good alternative to black diamond in particular as this seems to be exorbitantly expensive these days and even with treatment, very difficult to cut and polish - particularly in larger sizes. Black spinel does not have any of these problems and has natural colour without the need for treatment and available in a range of sizes. Maybe an option to use with diamonds as a white-black-white contrast?? Have not explored this fully yet.
We started cutting this gem in a range of shapes for jewellery and progressed into making beads - we have been very pleased with the results. Have attached a picture of some of the faceted ones for your interest - would be interested in comments.

Cheers Andrew Lane
www.aussiesapphire.com.au

 

[valeria101]

These are superb ! Dreamworks for whoever got exasperated with those crackly black diamonds...

The strand looks fantastic and could become super elegant as easy as one says "spacers" - anything from gold flat beads to diamonds would dress the thing up''n down. Anything bright goes with black. Sure you know what I mean. Ladies, do not click this link

Oh wel... definitely little black dress worthy. Does anyone think "black suit" works just as fine ?


(wiping off sweat....) Perhaps something like this:

Not that the idea is entirely new on the planet, for all the good reasons, really.

 

[belle]

are you cutting these beads in many different sizes, or have you found a certain size that works particularly well for most jewelry purposes?

 

[velouriaL]

Gorgeous! I just LOVE that look!

I rather love these two ruby bead necklaces from Fay Cullen.
Multistrand:

Close up:

And Single:

Nice. Very, very nice...

 

[lonewoodminer]

Hi

I agree with Ana that mostly these black beads would be more suited for use in conjunction with some other colour,those Ruby beads that you posted Velourial would look great in combination I think.
Belle, yes we have tried a few different sizes and shapes in this trial run. Those particular ones range from 7 to 10 mm diameter - hand faceted so there is some small variation among the beads. We though they might be good to use singly or with another gem as drop earrings?

Also got a few plain tumbled and cut tumbled beads of various sizes out of the rough that didnt suit the round faceted bead shape. Picture here for your interest.

cheers
Andrew Lane

 

[lonewoodminer]

and the plain tumbled ones. We have seen this kind of thing in all the bead shops with black onyx but you get a good idea of the gloss polish that you can get on this gem with this photo. Will post a picture of some sapphire beads with silver beads every so often along similar to Ana''s suggestion above - looks good but I''ll have to dig up a photo.

cheers again,
Andrew

 

[Maxine]

Very nice....but they look somwhat green on my monitor!!! ???

 

[belle]

i do like the plain tumbled beads!

interesting, once maxine mentioned it, i did notice a greenish tinge. what would you describe the color of them to be andrew?

 

[lonewoodminer]

Hi

These are as Jet black as you could ever see, must be a moniter variation?

Cheers Andrew Lane

 

[belle]

Date: 5/20/2005 11:34:46 PM
Author: lonewoodminer
Hi

These are as Jet black as you could ever see, must be a moniter variation?

Cheers Andrew Lane

very nice

thanks for clarifying.
hehehe....yes, it may well be the monitor....then again, i am known to see green sometimes

 

[lonewoodminer]

How about this one in black spinel also - nice to see someone using this great product with such creativity.

Found this at this link....

cheers

Andrew Lane

 

[Kaleigh]

Love the necklace, but not loving the yellow blob in the center!!

 

[belle]

the lampwork piece reminds me of dale chihuly.

 

[valeria101]

Someone else tried these out

 

[MINE!!]

Date: 6/8/2005 8:02:58 PM
Author: valeria101
Someone else tried these out

HEy... where did you fing those?

 

[belle]

mine,
it is from www.malcolmbetts.com

(you can right click on the pic to see the source)