Way back in June, I was commissioned to create 3 custom-made bracelets. Many convos later, I had the requirements fleshed out and started to source for materials in July, finally deciding on and purchasing them in August.

The lady I was dealing with had specific stones she wanted on the bracelets, as they had something to do with birthstones of family members. Some of the choices also sounded like they would clash quite violently with each other. As you know, one type of stone can come in various colours. I must've pored over dozens and dozens of possibilities. Anyway, I hope I made good choices.

This was also an exercise in which I had to physically visualise the finished pieces for the customer. Normally, everything's in my head and I don't bother with a sketchbook. In between coloured drawings and photos of bead strands, we managed somehow.

Here are the results so far:



This bracelet features faceted green aventurine so pretty and translucent it looks almost like chrysoprase. The turquoise rondelles are flanked by lapis lazuli rounds and the wire-wrapping is accented with tiny dangles of rose quartz and natural white sardonyx.



This was hard. Never before had I to combine so many different stones into one bracelet while taking care that it didn't look like a messy jumble. The "main" stones were to be tiger eye and agate. For me, tiger eye is not an easy stone to complement, due to its chatoyancy and markings, which is why I have always avoided using it. As for agate, there are so many different kinds, a lot of them dyed. But I wanted only natural colours in these pieces. I was also trying to obtain white or colourless zircon gems, but it was impossible to find them in the small rondelles I wanted. In the end, I decided on this cool palette of blues and greens. This bracelet features blue tigereye, grey-green lace agate, Sleeping Beauty turquoise, lapis lazuli, green aventurine, chrysoprase, blue zircon and lemon topaz.

I've got one more bracelet to go, but am only about a third of the way through.