But Mary’s other love is designing what she calls faux jewelry, which are simulations of semi-precious stones such as turquoise, coral, jade and ivory from polymer clay and wire jewelry where the wire itself is bent around various kinds of furnace glass beads and turned into magnificent design elements that are both whimsical and totally unique. She works with dichroic glass that can be layered, blended and fused in many ways to create her own “jewels.” Mary’s jewelry designs have been exhibited around the country and her original “Gold Nugget” bead design is part of the permanent collection of the Bead Museum in Prescott, Arizona.

Tomorrow for Technique Tuesday, we’ll be sharing Mary’s directions for making a long single strand lapis necklace like this one:

Post from: Jewelry and Beading