Warrior Stone Blog Hop Challenge

Welcome to this month's installment of "As The Blog Turns," aka, "Allegory Gallery Blog Hop Challenge!" Andrew Thornton selected this month's theme, Stone Warrior, based on the gemstone called Labradorite. Labradorite is hands-down my fav gemstone (next to diamond, of course). The reason I love it so is the unexpected "Blue Flash" that is known as "labradorescence," an iridescent optical effect (or schiller). Labradorite appears to be a mostly gray-green gemstone until light hits it in just the right way and then, ~~FLASH~~, a bright blue explodes from the inside of the gemstone! So Cool!!

I have to confess, I did not have enough time to do everything I wanted with the kit. With the start of the school year and one child moving up to middle school from elementary, we have had a hard time settling into a routine. But I did manage to get a few pieces completed.

My first pieces are just simple chain and gemstone necklaces. I truly feel that Labradorite can stand on it's own without the need for other embellishments. So, I made a pendant using a marquis-shaped Labradorite and added a few small dangles to accentuate the design. Then I linked Labradorite chips together to wear with or without the pendant.

The blue flash is evident in several of the chips without using flash photography and this was a particularly gloomy day that I chose to capture pictures!

Next I decided to make a pair of dangle earrings. The design uses Square Stitch and Fringing techniques and I incorporated bugle beads, rondelles and labradorite rounds from the kit, plus some seed beads that were lurking around my bead mat. The pattern for these earrings is one of my free patterns at Jewelry Lessons. The design is called "Fringe Element Earrings."

That is all I have for this month's challenge. Stay tuned to the same Bat Channel for next month's "Lunar Eclipse Blog Hop Challenge!" Please "HOP" on over to Andrew Thornton's blog to find links to the other challenge participant's designs!!