Fashion Color Trends

I'm seeing turquoise everywhere in the trade magazines and trend reports.  It's astonishing how neutral turquoise can be--it goes with lots of other colors!  I've been mixing turquoise beads with redline marble, amber, tiger eye and black onyx.   Reds and corals are hot, too, especially combined with black.  Then there's the Pantone Color of the Year: Emerald!  It's time for me to be thinking about making new things for the holidays, and there's lots to be inspired by!  I've got ideas for those "fan" and "bib" style necklaces with multiple chains and beads.  I may even incorporate some fabulous rhinestone vintage pieces with drippy chains and beads for a SUPER one-of-a-kind treasure! 

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Opal, the Primary October Birthstone

 

For you lucky October babies, all the splendor of nature is reflected in the colorful opulence of your birthstone, the Opal: fire and lightning, all the colors of the rainbow and the soft hues of tropical sunrises. Australia is the most common country of origin. Almost ninety-five per cent of all fine opals come from the dry and remote outback deserts.

The name Opal was probably derived from Sanskrit “upala“, meaning ”valuable stone“. This was probably the root for the Greek term “opallios”, which translates as “color change”.

Opal’s color play attracts and fascinates, doesn‘t it? But what causes this phenomenon? This question was impossible to answer for a very long time. In the 1960s a team of Australian scientists analyzed Opals with an electron microscope, and it was discovered that small spheres from silica gel were responsible for the fantastic play of colors. The spheres, which are arranged in more or less compact structures, split the light on its passage through the gemstone and turn it into all the colors of the rainbow, always new and always different.

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The Wrong Color

I have a ton of pictures to take of new jewelry that I've made recently, and yet I wore a red shirt today. For some reason the red reflects on whatever I'm trying to shoot and even with the great photo-editing software I have, I can't get the tint out of the picture. Rats. What possessed me when I was getting dressed this morning? Maybe I can find some fabric or a towel lying around here that I can drape over my front to cover up the red. Wish me luck!

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