How many different kinds of gemstones can you spot?
I am usually not big on mixing colors. Most of my designs are about constructing a balanced and pleasing form around a single dominating color of the main gemstone. The task of creating a pleasing color palette employs a whole other dimension of design focus, so it produces varying degrees of success when taken up simultaneously with pursuit of form. (To put it simply: colors can distract away from form.) That is probably the reason why I find it not only easier but also ultimately more satisfying to stick to my single-color and single-gemstone design scheme.

But it doesn’t mean I am never tempted! This time, I decided to go completely overboard with colors in the necklace above. The truck load of gemstone beads that I have amassed over the years surely rose to the occasion. No gemstone bead in the design was used twice! (A few Thai silver beads have been repeated.)

The stones used are: (from the ring-closure side) moonstone, aquamarine, rhodochrosite, fluorite, amethyst, onyx, kyanite, labradorite, carnelian, coral, blue lace agate, kyanite, cuprite, lemon quartz, dark carnelian, tourmalinated quartz, pink opal, smoky quartz, chalcedony, red aventurine, turquoise. Whew! It probably is quicker to note the stones NOT used in the necklace. :-) Since I was working with such a variety of shapes and sizes of stones, the challenge was to arrange them in such a way that not only the colors are nicely laid-out but also the overall shape of the necklace has the flowing and uniform look. Done!

Pink + raspberry red + cherry pink… it’s pink all right
Not quite the explosion of colors like the necklace above, but this one combines varying shades of pink and red: raspberry red of ruby, cherry pink of rhodochrosite, milky organic pink of pink opal and pale, semi-transparent rose quartz. I tend to gravitate towards colder colors such as blue and green, so pink pieces are not as common for me. It is a Y-shape necklace with a Thai silver leaf pendant as the station piece at the center. The biggest challenge of this piece was getting the left and the right sides of the necklace balanced just right, while keeping the overall un-balanced shape of the necklace. Another (minor) challenge was in keeping the free-form opal chips irregular but not too irregular to the point of damaging the overall balance of the piece. Hmm… I suppose this necklace too is not as much about the colors as about the form after all. :-) I do think however that the pink and red color scheme is complemented nicely by the rustic touch of the oxidized silver.