Druzy Love Me or Druzy Not

As a child, I was a rock collector.  I loved picking up rocks with unusual colors or smooth faces.  When I was in junior high, I went with my friend Karen to her grandparents house in Indiana.  We went down to their creek (pronounced crick with a short i) and gathered geodes.  Little did I know at 12 how much I would still love rocks in my adult life - and that's not just the ones between my ears. ;)

Of course Diamonds are a girl's best friend... those are rocks that just ROCK!

What I didn't realize as a girl however is that the sparkly pieces of geodes I collected would re-enter my life in the form of jewelry design.  When we were wading barefoot in the creek we'd look for round rocks that when you picked them up and shook them, if you heard something rattle in there, it was sure to contain crystals.  We'd haul buckets (very heavy buckets I might add) back to Karen's grandparents house where Grandpa would break some of them open with a hammer to show us the "magic crystals"

Today, working with Druzy stones have me giddy like a little girl again.  What is a druzy?  Druzy is a layer of crystals that form within a mineral crust, like the inner cavity of a geode.  Natural druzies come from a number of different stones including agates, jasper and quartz.  As people have started to see more of these beautiful natural earth-born crystals in jewelry, their demand has grown.  Now companies have created treatments and coatings for natural druzy stones to give them a more sparkly finish.

In this piece I used a titanium coated druzy that has a beautiful iridescent finish.  It showcases a myriad of colors ranging from lavender to turquoise.  I really love that color combination, so I pulled in natural amethyst beads and more chunky turquoise beads.  I also incorporated some blingy bold Swarovski crystals that have a finish in the complimenting lavender hues.  Because more bling is better, right? :) 

I wish I could capture the true sparkle of this piece.  It really is magnificent!

A Walk in the Woods

This wasn't the first cuff I created with a druzy focal.  I created another cuff, "A Walk in the Woods" using a natural druzy focal and turquoise accents.  This piece was designed for The Challenge of Color blog hop hosted by my dear friend, Erin Prais-Hintz.  This cuff was purchased as a gift between girlfriends.  It shows how much we cherish those women in our lives that are there to laugh with us, cry with us and help us pick up the pieces if we've made a mess of something. 

As an artist, there are pieces that you create that just stick in your mind foever.   This piece will be one of those memorable pieces.  From the colors to the textures and the big sparkle, this is a piece that will be a showstopper for a confident woman that loves to look good and turn heads!

Here's hoping you have something sparkly in your week to make you feel like a million bucks - because you deserve it!
{Hugs!}
Dawn