Weaving A Gem Of A Life » carnelian

Flying Away

Peg Cherre — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:30:38 +0000

This time of year, I’m always focused on my next show. What do I need to make to have the stock I want to be ready for my next show? How many days/weeks do I have to make them? Since there’s never enough time to make everything I’d like to have on hand, I have to prioritize. These days I flip flop between making jewelry and weaving, focusing on one for a brief period, then moving to the other and back.

My next show is the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts in Buffalo, just two short weeks away. I really wanted to have a showstopper in my booth, a piece of jewelry that would draw lots of admiring looks, even if it was priced out of range of many customers. So I decided to make my third set of Woven Wings. Each set is individually designed and created, and each has used different gemstones. The first Woven Wings was a combination of ocean jasper, bloodstone, and Picasso jasper, with a few pieces of petrified wood thrown in.

The second set was mostly crazy lace agate, with some golden horn thrown in.

I looked at my stock of gemstones, and decided that the new piece would focus on fire agate, with carnelian & citrine, and turquoise thrown in to make it pop. I’m really happy with the outcome. Starting with 14 karat gold-filled wire, I make the frame and then select individual gemstones that I weave through the wings using more 14 karat gold-filled wire, the stones, and 14 karat gold-filled spacers and accents. I finish the piece with by crafting a handmade clasp for it all.

These pieces have never made it to my website, they’re only sold at shows. But if you’re dying to have the latest one adorn your neck, let me know, and if I haven’t sold it, we can make arrangements for your purchase.

A few quick facts about these healing gemstones.
Fire agate encourages self-expression and enthusiasm. Carnelian provides a sense of well-being and provides protection against negativity. Citrine boots confidence, generosity, and happiness. Turquoise promotes friendship, loyalty, and peace of mind. I have more information about healing gemstones on my website, just waiting for you to download it.

Don’t forget to enter the August contest – there’s only a few days left, and you could win!

Talisman Earrings

Peg Cherre — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:32:29 +0000

A good friend asked me to make her a pair of talisman earrings to improve her memory.

I know this woman well so didn’t need to ask too many more questions. I knew that I really needed to focus on memory, but also wanted add other gems for mental functioning.

So I did my research, gathering information about healing gemstones that are good for memory, creativity, and focus, among other qualities. I let it all percolate in my brain.

Talisman Earrings

A few days later I gathered my stones and sat down to the design challenge. I wanted to include several types of stones. Although I want all my talismans to be aesthetically pleasing, that was particularly important because these were earrings – they’d be seen highly visible, not like my healing talisman for my knees that I carry in my pocket, or little Benjamin’s talisman, or even the custom bracelet and necklace talismans I’ve made, since they’re not always seen when they’re worn. Additionally, my friend usually wears only small, simple, monochromatic earrings. How would I incorporate multiple gemstones into small earrings that she’d find wearable? After trying various arrangements, I came up with two options for her; she chose one and I completed the pair.

The talisman gemstone earrings contain petrified wood, carnelian, clear quartz, blue topaz, and rubies. Petrified wood, carnelian, and clear quartz are all memory enhancers. Carnelian, ruby, and blue topaz are all used to stimulate creativity, while clear quartz and ruby improve general brain function. Courage, stress reduction, wisdom, calmness, and clear thinking are a few of the other qualities these healing gems can impact.

My friend’s only had them for a few days so we can’t comment on their effectiveness yet, but she does like the way the look, move, and feel when she’s wearing them.

Contact me if you need a custom talisman, and I’ll be happy to help.

Easing the Knees

Peg Cherre — Fri, 22 May 2009 21:01:57 +0000

My arthritis talisman

Here’s the talisman I made for myself to help ease the chronic aches in my knees.

You can guess that the metal is copper, which has long been recognized as a healing agent for arthritis. I punched the little tab with the word SHANTI, which means peace, hoping that it would bring some peace to my knees. I added the copper chain for two reasons – not only would it provide more of the healing copper, it would give me more options for use of the talisman as a whole. Although I usually carry it in my pocket, if I’m wearing a skirt without pockets, I can easily pin it to my bra by the chain. I actually kind of like this option, as it makes little noises when I move a lot. This gentle sound reminds me that it’s there and makes me smile. The talisman never jangles in my pocket.

I purposely made the entire healing talisman small and lightweight. Knowing that I intended to carry it in my pocket, I wanted something that wouldn’t wear out the fabric quickly, and that wouldn’t be obvious to others that I was carrying it. Now that I’ve been using it for a week, I might rather that it was a bit larger and reminded me that it was there. If this feeling continues for a few weeks, I’ll modify it.

The healing gemstones I used in this in this talisman include carnelian, bloodstone, garnet, mother of pearl, and rubies. Yep, really rubies. I consider myself fortunate to have some sweet little faceted rubies left over from making a piece of custom jewelry for one of my customers a few years ago.

After deciding on the copper, the first gemstone I chose was carnelian. And I knew that I wanted to use more carnelian than any of the other healing gemstones I’d use. Why? Carnelian is a strong gemstone to use for arthritis. If you look closely at the picture, you might notice that the largest piece of carnelian is a bit oddly-shaped, not an absolute oblong. I chose this stone specifically for my talisman. Not only did I like its less-than-perfect shape, my thinking was, and is, that the more “raw” the gemstone, the less it has been “worked” by machines to form it, the closer it is to its natural state and the more healing power it contains. I don’t really know this to be true, but this particular stone spoke to me, so I’m going with it. There’s another small carnelian rondelle on the smallest dangle of the talisman.

Above the carnelian oblong is a small garnet rondelle. Garnet is a gemstone that helps heal inflammation, and arthritis is a chronic form of inflammation. Again, I purposely chose an oddly-shaped stone.

Highest on that dangle is a mother of pearl star. Like carnelian, mother of pearl is recognized as an aid to heal arthritis. Now you might think that I showed quite the contradiction, purposely choosing a less-than-perfect carnelian and garnet, and then picking a highly-worked star for my mother of pearl component. This little off-white star encourages me to shoot for the stars in my healing, to work toward complete cessation of pain and inflammation. It also just makes me smile, and smiling is always a good thing.

The second dangle has two of those lovely little faceted rubies bordering a bloodstone lentil. Rubies are good gemstones for healing arthritis, and bloodstone is good for inflammation.

Finally, the shortest component has the carnelian rondelle I mentioned before and another garnet.

I’ve only been carrying the talisman for about a week, and I have been successful at remembering to transfer it from pocket to pocket each day. Although I’ve been thinking about it, I haven’t yet worn it to bed.

So have I noticed a difference? I can’t say I’ve noticed that my knees hurt less, but I can tell you for sure that when I hear or feel the talisman it makes me smile and feel better mentally. And feeling better mentally is an important part of physical healing. Besides, talismans aren’t magic bullets; it takes time for the gemstones to impart their healing powers.

I will periodically let you know how my knees are doing, but I’m heading outside now to work in my garden!