Clear quartz - universal stone
New on MyLovelyBeads.com
Featured artist - Carol Holmes
Family of quartz gemstones
Bead embroidered cuffs
Step by step - stud earrings
May upcoming events
Contact us with any questions at
April, 2008
Happy Mother's Day!Don't forget, Mother's Day is about two weeks away on May 11th! In this issue of MyLovelyBeads.com newsletter: info@mylovelybeads.com.Best regards,
MyLovelyBeads.com Team |
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Clear quartz - universal stoneClear quartz (clear rock crystal) is a pure quartz, clear and colorless. Well-formed crystals may reach several meters in length and weigh hundreds of kilograms. These veins may bear precious metals such as gold or silver, and form the quartz ores sought in mining. Quartz is a common constituent of granite, sandstone, limestone, and many other igneous and rocks, that is why it can be found worldwide. The name "quartz" comes from the German QUARZ, which is of Slavic origin (Czech miners called it kremen). Other sources insist the name is from the Saxon word QUERKLUFTERTZ, meaning cross-vein ore. The Irish word for quartz is GRIAN CLOCH, which means "stone of the sun". Quartz is the most common material identified as the mystical substance maban in Australian Aboriginal mythology. It is found regularly in passage tomb cemeteries in Europe in a burial context. Clear quartz has been used throughout the centuries to divine the future and commune with spirits, this belief spans many cultures including Western, Chinese, Medieval European and Celtic. Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder believed quartz to be water ice, permanently frozen after great lengths of time. Another name for clear quartz is clear rock crystal, but the word "crystal" comes from the Greek word for ice. Pliny supported this idea by saying that quartz is found near glaciers in the Alps, but not on volcanic mountains, and that large quartz crystals were fashioned into spheres to cool the hands. He also knew of the ability of quartz to split light into a spectrum. This idea persisted until at least the 1600s. Nicolas Steno's study of quartz paved the way for modern crystallography. Charles Sawyer invented the commercial quartz crystal manufacturing process in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. This initiated the transition from mined and cut quartz for electrical appliances to manufactured quartz. |
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Recently made
• Beadweaving by Carol Holmes
• Lampworking by Clare Scott • How to create Starflower Earrings |
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Featured artist
Carol Holmes (Woodbridge, Virginia, USA) is a self-taught beader with a lifetime of exploration in a variety of handcrafts. She grew up in a family of violin-makers and studied violin-making with her father, grandfather and later with the then director of the famous Mittenwald school of violin-making. During her high school and college years and for 10 years after, she worked in her father's violin sales and repair business, the Brobst Violin Shop in Alexandria, Virginia. Her formal education is in violin performance and she was a member of the Richmond (Virginia) Symphony for 13 years. She currently performs in the DC area and east coast as a baroque violinist and violist and maintains a private studio of 35-40 students. At the age of 9, Carol learned to sew using an old sewing machine from the early 1900's and later took more formal sewing instruction. She also learned embroidery, crocheting, knitting, macrame, and weaving and loved (and still does) to work within any type of fiber. In college along with her music studies, she took courses in textiles and weaving. Many years later, Carol discovered beadweaving from a violin student, and started searching in books and magazines as well as Internet for instructions to try out. As she began to learn and create a wonderful "fabric" of beads, Carol built a website to display her creations along with that of fellow beader and musician, harpist, Lynnelle Ediger-Kordzaia of Richmond, Virginia. Now she is running an Etsy Shop, where you can buy Carol's beadwork items and design kits "Three Earring Designs", "Spiral Rope Bracelet and Earring Set" and "Glass Gem Ring", and a few blogs as well. Her search for display opportunities in formal galleries led her to join the Potomac Craftsmen Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia in 2003. A year later Carol joined another gallery in a small town of Occoquan, Virginia, The Artists' Undertaking Gallery, and she has since been active in the leadership of the two co-operative galleries. Carol enjoys the freedom of a freelance, self-employed lifestyle which allows her to pursue her beadweaving and other fiber art passions. She looks forward to many more years of discovering the intricate beauties of tiny beads and beadweaving and the worldwide friendships that form from sharing her discoveries and creations with fellow beaders.
Gallery on MyLovelyBeads.com
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Family of quartz gemstonesQuartz is one of the most common minerals in the Earth's continental crust. The most important distinction between types of quartz is that of macrocrystalline (individual crystals visible to the unaided eye) and the microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline varieties (aggregates of crystals visible only under high magnification). Major varieties are:
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Bead embroidered cuffs
Our another featured artist this month is one of the youngest professional jewelry designers we have come across. At just 20 years old, Liana Tsaturyan has been designing jewelry for much of her life and her beautiful work reflects that. She has only recently, in the last 2.5 years, begun to do bead embroidery after being inspired by the work of Heidi Kummli, Robin Atkins, Sherry Serafini, Laura McCabe and Rebecca Roush. Beads are now Liana's favorite material to work with, though she also works with polymer clay and is planning to begin using lampwork beads for her jewelry designs. Liana, who lives in Petrozavodsk, North-East of Russia, has said that jewelry design is her way to express herself. She is a very cheerful and life-loving person and feels that surroundings are great influencers our emotions and behavior. Her motto is "Create beauty, make your life more beautiful, and probably your work will inspire somebody else!" We hope you agree that she is an amazing talent for such a young artist.
Liana's work can be seen at her gallery: bead embroidered cuffs gallery. Contact Liana with any questions at lianabeadart@yandex.ru. Read Liana's blog: www.lianabeadart.livejournal.com. |
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Step by stepLikely, you know silver jewelry by Aden Angier, an artist born and raised in Singapore and now living in the USA. Her every piece is carefully thought out and executed to achieve the effect and designed to look just as good when they are brand new and shiny or gradually and naturally aged over time. Aden not only creates jewelry, but also shares her experience with all people who want to learn jewelry making, writing tutorials for them. Today we publish one of them, Aden will teach you how to make Simple Stud Earrings. |
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Upcoming events
May 2, 3, 4, 2008 Juried Fine Art & Craft Festivals since 1976. Find the unique handcrafted artwork of thousands of American Artists! Decorative creations for home & garden, exceptional fine art & designer crafts! 
Old Town Arts and Crafts Festival and Volunteer Fair
May 10, 11, 2008 This popular annual event offers juried hand-made crafts with each artist present. |
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