Snooze You Lose, and Other News

These Turquoise rings are now at the Muse’s Window shop in Concord, MA.

 

Bummed? Been stalking one of these? No worries. New turquoise rings will be in the shop soon!

 

Other new items in Muse’s Window include wampum silver dangles and Kings Manassa Mine turquoise rustic post earrings….

 

 

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In other news, on Saturday I will be attending the yearly “Olde Home Day” in my town. A celebration before July 4th where our Farmer’s Market sell their goodies in the festival. The Etsy shop will be closed for this day, and new items will be posted for your oogling eyes Sunday. 

 

Saturday will be filled with the basic essentials of silver body embellishments-a grande selection of mini stud and dangle ear bling, sweet mini necklaces including a new line of Nordic Futhark runes, and lovely Native inspired leather bracelets, necklaces and belts.

I currently have my new jewelry stamp in progress and it should be arriving within the next couple of weeks. I have some seriously exquisite couture statement rings waiting to be punched with this stamp! So do expect a few gems to hit in the shop within 3 weeks time…in the meantime, new mini goods and my exciting custom orders are all in the works! Check the Etsy shop announcements for the next blog PREVIEW of new items before hitting the Etsy shops soon.

 -Stasia.

The Stray Arrow

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Friday Night Preview

For *some* of the items coming this Sunday….

Kings Manassa Mine Turquoise Rings:

 

 

US SIZES from left to right: 7, 5.5, 7 to 7.25…..also soon to be made for Sunday’s update are size 8 and size 9 versions!

 

DRAGON AND CROW MESSENGER BRACELET: to be finished in an oxidized/bright fashion! Featuring a nice piece of Crow Springs Mine Turquoise…see the other side on Sunday 😉

 

Now as most if not all know, being an artist is all about growth. The more you do, the better ya get. So I’m going to be taking old pieces I made a while back (pendants) and reworking them to be better than ever! Here are the goodies now, see them hung up all over again Sunday:

 

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New goodies for the gauged folk:

currently made are prehnite gemstone 2 gauge sterling plugs and 6 gauge faceted rainbow moonstone with silver bullet drop plugs (oxidized). More to come!…Including a super special pair of the new “Stormy Night” styles with 3D silver crows! Additionally more dangles for tunnels. Check ’em out in the gauged shop Sunday (GaugedbyStasia.Etsy.com)

 

Well, that’s it for now! Here are some recently (y’know. today being the recent) finished commissions: 

1/2″ baltic amber and carnelian gemstone silver plugs:

The carnelians are to be added to the shop as a “MADE TO ORDER” item in gauges 0-1/2″.

 

Last but certainly never least, a picture of a necklace I made for a friend’s birthday. This lovely features a hefty piece of genuine wampum, with silver arrow and tear drop tags, and an iolite gemstone silver clasp in my signature style!

 

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Freyja and I bid you adieu 🙂  have a wonderful weekend all, check the shops Sunday during your afternoon tea time! 

 

 

 

 

Glories of Couture Shtuff from ToryNovaCouture and New Turquoise!

Recently, my friend and fellow artist Tory Novikova of Tory Nova Couture released a fashion line with many unique and wonderful items. I am now the proud owner of two lovelies! So naturally, bragging must ensue.

I acquired these leggings from her Etsy shop (http://www.ToryNovaCouture.Etsy.com). I’m not a huge fan of leggings, but these are made of lycra which is thick, dense, and *glides* onto your legs. They are also surprisingly light! This stuff is made of dreams. What’s more, the sewing is perfect, the print lies on the legs in an attractive manner and is bold, original, and completely killer. All of the prints from her shop she has initially drawn *by hand*, colored *by hand*-all illustration work is done by her. Many are based on Shakespeare themes. I admit, I got these leggings for the skulls. This is part of her Carmen print. Now what I think is bloody fabulous about these are not only are there skulls involved, but it is done in such a tasteful and artistic manner that it in no way can be seen anywhere else or be considered cheap or cliche. As a painter, I consider the colors delectable. The reds are rusty instead of boring crimson, and the skulls and skeletons aren’t white but a nice warm gray-like the color of actual bones. The ‘blood’ almost has a paint splatter effect, which I adore-and the packaging was not only professional but slick to boot..

The second Tory Nova item I have acquired, is something I’ve secretly stalked and lusted after for awhile now. It is my absolute favourite print of hers, for Swan Lake. She has dresses, ties and scarves for this print. The scarves come in two color options-the full original saturated version and a lighter, airy version for Spring/Summer. I love the original print-the colors are romantic without being too girly or feminine. I completely adore this and *live* in scarves. The fact that this one is super long (also comes in a square version for kerchief style) but also extremely light is grand for all seasons in my book.

How wicked are these!? And they perfectly match my Romantics Jewelry line as well 😉 More for that line coming this summer.

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In other news, for all the gauged folk-I couldn’t wait. I photographed the new natural Kings Manassa Mine turquoise, and it is all top notch. I am pleased with the quality-there are no cracks, fractures or “blemishes” on these stones and all have great polish. They are all brilliant colors! Unfortunately, there are few stones on the round side for gauges. These are what I’ve picked out from the lot that could work as pairs for plugs or for regular earrings:

 

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AND NOW~ I BRING YOU ALL THE OTHER GOODIES TO CHOOSE FROM-these are separated into groups roughly by shape. If you desire anything custom with any stone(s) of your choosing, just say the word…

 

 

Great stuff right? Now a little info on the mine:

~~**Kings Manassa Mine Information**~~

This American mine is located east of Manassa, Colorado. It has been mined for centuries by Native American Indians and is thought to be the oldest mine in Colorado. This kind of turquoise was named after I.P. King, who came upon the mine around 1890. The King family owns the mine and it is most famous for its green and blue/green colored turquoise. The highest of qualities and rarest of Kings Manassa turquoise are a deep green, and green with golden matrix.

 

Also acquired recently!!! :

Beautiful, beautiful GENUINE WAMPUM. This lovely wampum has been carved by artist Mark Changing Bear of buffalocarvings.com . Mr. Mark is one of the few wampum carvers left. He also does amazing work carving wampum into feathers and totem animals. He is currently carving my totem: deer, for me! Check out the “custom” section on his website, or the Etsy shop he and his lovely wife Candida run : http://www.SomethingWiccan.Etsy.com  As the wampum I have photographed below was gifted, it will not be used in any custom orders, *however*, if you desire anything custom with wampum just say the word and we can most likely collectively make something special for you…

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Last, but not least…

I consider my jeweler’s trademark to essentially be an “S” with two opposing arrows on either side. Please know that I am working on creating a one of a kind metal stamp for a more unique jeweler’s signature! This will be my brand and alter ego, “STRAY ARROW”. This will be coming within the next month or two and be stamped onto all of my future jewelry pieces for a more unique and recognizable signature to last the ages! Get ready.

New Pieces, New Stones

I’ve been neglecting this blog, so this is going to be a long long post.

First up, pics of recent commissions and pieces…

#8 Mine Turquoise Ring-SOLD-made with rose gold, oxidized sterling, natural turquoise from the rare #8 Mine, and a gemstone iolite on the back ring band.

Burning Bright Ring~RESERVED~featuring a striped montana agate stone in oxidized silver with the quote “Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright”, from William Blake’s poem stamped on the back.

Fossil Necklace~Coming soon to the shop! Features a cephalopod fossil in pure silver on a sterling backing and long chain. This has a dragonfly sawed out on the back!

These PEACOCK PLUGS were a custom order~LOVED making these. They’re actually detachable. Sterling scalloped tunnel plugs with oxidized sterling chains. From the chains dangle mini crystals and freshwater pearls in peacock feather themed colors. The peacock feather earrings with hand forged sterling clamps/earring hooks are separate.

This was a custom order. TALISMAN NECKLACE~I loved creating this one. It features a Kings Manassa Mine turquoise, all hand forged sterling goodies and an amethyst gemstone flower clasp. The back features a raven and a quote by Emerson. I will definitely be making more of these domed gemstone flower for gauges and earrings!

Another custom order~Walt Whitman Statement Ring~This has to be one of my favourite quotes of all time. The ring features a bloodstone and genuine Baltic Amber, with Whitman’s quote from his poem “O ME! O Life!” on the front and back:

“Answer: The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse”

Matching Wampum Set~custom order~This set featured a matching ring and necklace (second ring is MINE).

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ROCKS. STONES. AND GEMSTONES.

In the past 3 weeks I’ve been to 2 gem/mineral show…so I have MANY new goodies. Also new goodies from other sources, most pictures are on top of or near hands to show rock sizes. All pictures are left unaltered in terms of color, etc. These have only been cropped and photographed in natural sunlight.

If you see anything you like for a custom piece, feel free to email me or send me an Etsy message…

Lace Agate

Amethyst sage

Calico Lace Agate-matching pair for earrings. These are a bit more lilac in color than the photo 

Campitos Mine Turquoise~Natural stone from the Campitos mine, similar in color to the famous and huge Sleeping Beauty Mine but a touch lighter. This would make a great long “finger shield” ring.

Natural Candelaria Mine Turquoise~This is the only stone I’ve found from this mine. It has a beautiful beautiful webbed matrix and amazing colors.

On the left-a *high quality* Crow Springs Mine turquoise-similar in color to the Cripple Creek Mine. On the left-a Pilot Mountain Mine turquoise.

Damele Mine Turquoise-this is a stunning old stock natural stone from the Damele mine which is rare! This is high quality with the rarer color scheme of lime/white/yellows and dark dark blues/browns/blacks. Because of how rare this is, I can offer a “Certificate of authenticity” on the mine for any jewelry pieces created with it.

Botswana Agate-this one has sweet little white dots on it which is a little more rare-a very romantic stone.

Eudialite (Eudialyte). These are rare, and even more rare to find one faceted! This stone comes from Russia and has beautiful wine like colors. This would be a great pendant with a little gem above the top.

Fordite-its debated whether these stones are natural or man made, but the colors in this are lovely.

Garden Quartz-this is fairly hard to photograph. It is suspended minerals in a quartz matrix-this stone features all red/flame colors. It basically looks like flaming moss, very great in the light.

Indian Mountain Mine Turquoise-THIS.STUFF.IS.RARE…

This is the only stone I have ever had or seen from this mine, it is very very collectable. This sweet little button features a bright blue colors with black inclusions. Because of how rare this is, I can offer a “Certificate of authenticity” on the mine for any jewelry pieces created with it.

Kings Manassa Mine Turquoise~This is one of my favorites out of the rare American Southwest Mines. They features amazing color patterns and great webbing. These two cabs have a fantastic polish and are roughly a little bigger than a USA half dollar. Really, really great quality.

Matching Geodes! These are so nifty. Great for earrings or gauges~these are mini geodes split in half (so quite tall and domed). These sparkle and shine in the sun or the dark.

Matching Eudialyte cabs for gauges! These would be best with 1/2″-1″.

Matching Kingman Mine Turquoise cabs for earrings/gauges

*these are currently reserved!*

Faceted quartz gem with pyrite (fool’s gold) inclusions! These are rare, and these ones have great clarity.


Mini genuine Wampum

The focus isn’t great for this one, but I wanted to get as close as I could. This stone is a picasso jasper-and has an amazing image within it. Can you see a horizon line? See the girl in the middle with the orange blouse, and black skirt walking along in the meadow? This stone is just stunning. Perfect pendant size at roughly 1 1/2″

This one is a RAW RUBY. Yes. That’s right. Genuine ruby-this is what you start with before you grind, cut, and facet it down into a gemstone. This stone is fairly large, and raw. A lovely light wine color.

White Buffalo Turquoise Ribbon~this stone is a “ribbon” or “boulder” cut because there is a ribbon of white turquoise in the host rock (black chert).

Matching pair of natural super sparkly drusys! Great for gauges or earrings

Smaller matching natural drusy for earrings/gauges

A STUNNING Pilot Mountain Mine natural turquoise stone-seriously high quality, great polish and amazing amazing colors! This lovely is roughly 1″ tall.

Variscite-also from the Southwest like Turquoise. The bottom pic is of a matching pair. Top pic the larger stone is roughly 1.5″ tall.

This is a stone similar to labradorite called larvikite. This is a mix of rainbow moonstone and some other black stone-incredible flashes of a more slate blue/gray. Perfect for gauges (0 or 00 gauge).

THIS. THIS IS MINE.

I am still in shock of finding this, yes this, little tiny square thing. It is a natural stone from my favorite turquoise mine of all time-The Red Mountain Mine. This stuff you just don’t find anymore.period. This has an amazing webbing, and the rusty red patterning within the blues that the mine is famous for. This is rare rare rare, collectable, and impossible to ever find. This stone I’m keeping for myself, but just had to share.

So, I know I keep gushing about turquoise mines and how rare the ones I find are. I know most people out there don’t know about turquoise. I’m going to give you two example pictures, which will hopefully help all realize how rare the stones I collect are, and how much they go for…

The pic below is a *high quality* Red Mountain Mine turquoise, it retails for something around $500USD…

The picture below this is from the most famous and collectable Southwest mine out there: the Lander Blue Mine from AZ. There were only 98 lbs. of turquoise recovered from this mine-famous for its black webbing and blue blue colors. The LOWEST I have seen this kind of turquoise go for is $100USD per CARAT. That is more than emeralds and rubies my friends..this stone would be over $1,000 USD….:

Turquoise can be easily faked these days, unfortunately. If people don’t know their mines and sources they can be easily tricked. All of my turquoise is bought from collector’s, those that acquire it from the actually mine owner’s, or those that actually mine it themselves.

Well, there you have it. New goodies, new gems-New Etsy shop update with MORE jewelry pieces will be Tuesday.

Tucson Turquoise

So I found more gems than I could have hoped for, Tucson was an absolutely divine blast! I met the nicest people there and was able to track down stones from some really rare kickass mines.

Here’s a little (but heads up! long…) taste of my treasures and some info on the different turquoise mines, so you know how incredible these finds are and why I drooled over everything the entire trip!

~*if you see any stones you’d like for a custom piece, email me*~

#8 Turquoise Mine

The Number Eight Turquoise Mine is in Nevada, USA and was mined in the early 1900’s until its depletion- no more of this stuff is coming out of the ground! It is famous for its extreme spider wedding matrix, and the deeper the blue in the golden brown to black matrix-the higher the quality. These are the two that I found and adore-perfect for rings or necklaces~

Apache Mine Turquoise~

Now this is a mine I’ve barely heard of and didn’t expect to find at all-this super nice couple after hearing I was hunting for turquoise dug through all their cabs to show me their lot-what sweeties. These two were so nice I had to scoop them up! The Apache Mine is known for its green turquoise in black matrix, and is still operated today but is a very small mine so not much is produced.

Alright….so can I just say…HOLY CANOLI. When I saw this rock I just had to grab it, it is magnificent. This other couple had cabs (stones for bezel setting in jewelry) that they cabbed themselves, knew and had all the mines labeled, and were so nice in helping me pick things out. I found great stuff from them but these next two stones I fell in love with…

~MORENCI MINE TURQUOISE~

This mine is rare. Rare, rare, rare. It is mined in Southwestern Arizona, USA. It is known for its light blue turquoise and black pyrite (fool’s gold) mixed in that often looks like silver when polished. It is so well known because, not only is it one of the first turquoise mines to come on the market, but it is completely depleted and hard to find! This stone is beyond perfect and has a tone of pyrite in it, there are no fractures or divets in the stone and its got a great polish…This is 1 of 3 Morenci Mine turquoise stones I’ve found in my 4 years of obsessing and hunting down turquoise…

Another stone I got from this couple is this great cab, from the rare

Turquoise Mountain Mine Turquoise~

Mined in Arizona, Birdseye turquoise and Turquoise Mountain turquoise come from the same mine. This mine has been closed since the 1980’s, and thus is hard to find…this stone would make a killer “statement” ring…

Another vendor there that I stumbled upon towards the end of my trip was this rad fella named Casey of lovenlifedesigns.com (CHECK IT OUT!). I swear I was drooling over everything, the stones were so nicely displayed and cut/polished it was grand. The next photo are turquoise stones all from him-numbers 8&10 are from the Royston Mine, and the rest are CRIPPLE CREEK!!! For the 99% of you who have no idea who I’m on about, get excited. This wasn’t even on my hunting list as I never expected to ever find any. Ever.

~Royston Turquoise Mine~

Royston is actually a district that contains 3 different mines in Nevada. Royston mines, along with the Pilot Mountain mine, are known for their extreme color variations. Blues, greens, rusty bronze browns and dark colors spin together with or without matrixes to make these lovely stones look like landscapes (you can see why this painter *loves* these mines). This turquoise is still being mined today and continues to be one of the most popular!

~CRIPPLE CREEK TURQUOISE MINE~

Cripple Creek turquoise is actually found in Colorado, USA. It is a by product of some small gold mines, and yields turquoise from light green/blue colors with the occasional darer blue/green matrix. This is the only Cripple Creek turquoise I have found. These lovelies are sublime sizes for rings!…

The Cripple Creek Mine Turquoise hunk below is *mine*, but I just had to share…

Now for some mini turquoise. These rocks I specifically picked out in pairs for gauged plugs (stretched ears) or earrings. These stones I got from the nicest older man named Jim, who’s set up was right next to Casey. He had a fantastic collection and I must’ve spent over 1/2 hour going through everything and came back the next day for more. I love nice people who dig talking about the rocks and the mines, theres always more to know

~Fox Mine Turquoise~

The Fox Mine is one of Arizona’s biggest producers, and also known as Cortez turquoise. It is rare, and comes in all colors with and without a matrix. These little ones I picked out are more of a teal green color that remind me of deep variscite stones…

More assorted turquoise from Mr. Jim…all but #20 is from the Royston Mine, #20 is Morenci Mine with a little flash of pyrite. #21 has a great tiny spider web and #19 is rare as green green turquoise doesn’t show up much anywhere…

Another find from the couple I got the large Morenci Mine and Turquoise Mountain Mine pieces from is this pair of Royston Boulder Cut turquoise stones. “Boulder cut” turquoise is extremely popular and doesn’t refere to the mine its from but the style. It is a vein(s) of turquoise through another rock matrix, often leading to funky and unique designs. This pair is perfect for earrings or gauges…

So those are selections of the turquoise treasures I found…yes there are more…but those are just for me, or for later! I was surprised to find a multitude of other gems at the many gem shows in Tucson. I found some really great and rare stones there, so here are a few of those goodies too!

more labradorite, because everyone loves the flashy “butterfly wing” stones. These are perfect for fat cocktail rings…a little tip-the more blue the flash, the higher the quality!

Crazy Lace Agate-a favourite of everyone, this one has great clear formations and coloring, love love love it-but a little too pink for me, so it can be yours 🙂

TOURMILATED QUARTZ GEMSTONE

This is so wicked. Really. This faceted gemstone is a quartz, featuring slices or “needles” of black tourmaline within it. This rock is NATURALLY like this, and rare for this many needles in this clear a matrix. Usually you’ll see golden rutilated quartz, but the black stuff is hard to get man.

The big reason I’m going to remember the vendors Casey and Jim for awhile is because of their killer selections. Vendorman Casey had WAMPUM. Yeah, wampum. What the heck is the New England beauty doing in the Southwest? Most likely traded. Let me explain…

Wampum is carved from the quahog clam shell found on the shores of the East Coast. If you don’t know about it, but have heard the word before, you may have been told in was like “Native American Indian money”. Nope. It was only thought to be used financially because the Europeans assumed so from the importance the Natives bestowed upon it. The carved wampum has actually been used for hundreds of years as trade, or for treaties. It could be strung into beaded strings called “condolence strings” for a mourned one, or expertly beaded into belts-famously known and seen in many museums- for peace or war treaties between tribes. Although used by many different Woodlands (Eastern) tribes, it is most famously seen used by the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee). The Iroquois Confederacy consists of the 5 tribes of the eastern longhouse-one tribe for each beam, or one tribe for each part of the “Hiawatha belt”. The tribes are (in the Europeanized names and spelling): Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk (me!). I could go on for hours gabbing about the two origin stories of wampum and the different museums it is kept in, but for the sake of making this post not quite long enough to make your eyes blurry I’ll refrain!

Needless to say, you can hardly EVER find it. Oh sure, people make imitation wampum out of glass, but it looks nothing like the real thing. It is harder and harder to find true Native wampum carvers anymore, and I know of only 3 existing in Massachusetts. Not only did vendorman Casey have 3 wampum pieces, but instead of just polished shell, they were beautifully formed cabochons….! The white color in the shell stands for peace, the purple for war~these cabs are 50/50 for perfect beautifully colored balance…

Now vendorman Jim also had some rocks that got my in a tizzy. He had wild horse magnesite. Wild horse is another popular and rare stone from the Southwest (Arizona) and its seen in a lot of Native American Indian jewelry. This type of magnesite is essentially magnesium mixed with carbonite. These colors are reminiscent of the Appaloosa horse and thus its name. The higher the quality of this stone, the more the brown and white matrixes are defined from eachother. I love love love it, it reminds me of drums and thunder and tree bark…

All great stones, all great quality, all rare, all here for custom work…I’l be using these for designs soon to be found in my Etsy shops, so if you see something you like and can envision on yourself, don’t be quiet for long!

 

Also coming soon-GOLD BEZELED GEMS, AND GOLD “NO-SEE-EM” STACKING RINGS!!!

Turquoise Festival…!

~*NEXT WEEK MY ETSY SHOPS WILL BE ON “VACATION” WHILE I’M AT THE TURQUOISE GEM FESTIVAL IN ARIZONA!*~

A shop update will happen afterwards to share all my new turquoise goodies for jewelry making! Shops closed from Tuesday night to Sunday night.

In the meantime….some news!

New Gemstones just came in the other day, behold my treasures…

New gems are~ 5mm faceted sky blue topaz, 4mm faceted garnet, 6mm smooth garnet, 6mm smooth Arizona stabilized turquoise, 6mm faceted labradorite, 6mm faceted sea foam gems, 6mm smooth prehnite, 10mm faceted smokey quartz teardrop gems, 7mm smooth rainbow moonstones, 7mm clear crystal, and 8mm black pyrite fool’s gold! All perfect for rings or earrings…

 

 

my messy work bench…full of gems to be utilized, silver and bronze sawed shapes and a full buffet of scraps, clippins, dustins, and all the good stuff that comes out of studio work. Wondering what those weird bronze snakes are for? Keep an eye out for Medusa….Silver bubble cross shapes? Check back in my Gauged By Stasia Etsy shop for wampum gauged Native hoops!

 

Above^pure silver bezels for commissioned gauged gemstones in the works and ready to be soldered and torched! After a full day and night in the studio~all commissions are finally done, wrapped, and sent in every direction!

Check back after next week for the prettiest natural RARE turquoise you ever did see!

Native themed

Just finished~ a stunning leather fringe necklace featuring natural pure tanned deer hide, cut from a full hide I acquired at a powwow. The people I get it from use every part that is possible, nothing goes to waste! This is a serious high quality statement piece~and it’ll keep ya warm in Winter…

want it? Get it via this link while its still available!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/63924431/the-leather-fringe-necklace

Coming soon….the Wampum Earrings…