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Though January gemstones are ruby and garnet, thinking of "winter" stones we imagine white pearls, white chalcedony, marble onyx, white jasper and nephrite jade. But there is one more gemstone - milky opal that is often called kaholong and looks like porcelain.

The group of fine opals includes quite a number of wonderful gemstones, which share one characteristic: they shine and sparkle in a continually changing play of colors. In order to best bring out the play of color in a fine opal, the stones are cut and polished to round or oval cabochons, or any other softly domed shape, depending on the raw material. Only the best qualities of fire opal, however, are suited to faceting.

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Milky opal or kaholong emits an exceptionally soft shine. Kaholong has been one of the favorite precious gemstones for many centuries. It was highly valued in ancient India for its pure whiteness, which is also the reason why kaholong was called "solid milk of sacred cow". The Buddhists associate kaholong with lotus, a symbol of pure soul.

White and greens are the most common opals. Australia produces around 97% of the world's opal. 90% is called "light opal" or white and crystal opal. White makes up 60% of the opal productions but cannot be found in all of the opal fields.

It's said that kaholong is good for someone who wants to forget anything. If you want to forgive yourself the past mistakes and begin a new life, make (don't buy, make!) something from kaholong. When your job is over, you'll really "clear your mind". Sure, that is a joke... but not only a joke!

Ibolya Ingesne Barkoczi lives in a friendly small town called Jaszbereny, in Hungary. As she says, she can't recall the time when she started beading, it might have happened when she was a child.

Ibolya says, "I came across freeform as a style about five years ago, just when I felt I needed to renew. It wasn't simply enough for me to bead according to patterns anymore. I believed there were much more possibilities in beading than I knew about and I wanted something different, something new! I started to search the Internet for new techniques and I bumped into Lidija Fairbanks's website. I can still remember the moment very clearly when I saw her red scarabaeus collection and I got extremely excited realizing that was I had been looking for, I wanted to create jewels like those.

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So the quest for descriptions, pictures (or anything that could help me) began. Yet at that time I could hardly find any help. For months I didn't dare to set myself to it because this technique was so different from anything I had ever seen before. I participated in a beading course held by Eva Dobos and practically her instructions and sketches inspired me how to try freeform. Eva's support gave me wings and since then I have been part of a fascinating creative process I can't seem to lose interest in.

I signed up a lot of Hungarian and foreign forums in the hope that I would finally find photos and descriptions about freeform, but unfortunately I wasn't lucky. It seemed to be such a special style that very few artists pursued. So I began experimenting with beads and educated myself. With the help of the Internet I have met a lot of very nice beadwork artists and it is a great pleasure to be part of such a coherent and helpful group.

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I received a lot of support from them, which made me very happy; especially being the first in Hungary to try freeform I didn't have a ground for comparison. I couldn't judge whether I was doing it right or not, so I needed the eyes of experts as well. Fortunately I have followers now and I'm more than glad to help anyone who asks me.

It took me years to establish my own style. Due to the fact that there are no patterns to follow, practically each and every piece is improvisation driven by my mood, frame of mind or my feelings. I usually create a bracelet in 8-10 hours but a necklace can take me days or even weeks. Still every one of them is a fantastic challenge that I extremely enjoy..."

Full article by Ibolya Barkoczi
 
Free form beadworks by Ibolya Barkoczi
 
Email: ibbi@freemail.hu
 
Blog: ibolya-gyongy.blogspot.com

Olga Orlova was born in Leningrad, the USSR, and lives in that beautiful city. Her mother has paid much attention to Olga's and her sister's cultural education; there were lots of art books in their home as well as visits to museums, exhibitions and learning in an art school.

Olga says, "As early as I was in my primary school, I used to sew whole collections of dresses for my Barbie and arrange her "fashion shows". My mother could come home from work and find a sleeve of her favorite blouse cut off - I needed a material for my creative work! When I was in my high school, I got acquainted with students of the Leningrad Higher School of Art and Industry named after Vera Mukhina. I visited exhibitions, workshops, and started embroidering myself.

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I do not remember the reason for choosing embroidery; perhaps, monuments of Old Russian art and medieval European needlework inspired me. I refused simple techniques, such as cross-stitch, at once, as unserious and pretty useless. Once I happened to meet a gold-work seamstress among my new friends artists. Looking at her works, I realized that such stitching is doable, and started to learn from her. There were neither Internet, nor materials, nor money, I was just about 15 years old, and everything had to be learned by "cut and try" method using materials at hand.

Despite such difficulties, I made a lot of pieces of works, over 50. However, only few photographs of them survived. I neither remember how those works looked out, nor know where they are. That happened because I used to give them all away; the works were sent to different cities of Russia and abroad.

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Later, I worked at the workshop of Alexandra Dubravina, the outstanding puppet master. Just then I began to master beads; I embroidered fairly beautiful small puppets, which went for sale to the USA. However, at that time I held it rather for handicraft, simple and in no way comparable with golden needlework; that is why beads didn't impress me then. Still, not a single photo. Simultaneously with artistic evolution, I studied at the Military Medical Academy. Later, I worked there, and then left the Academy for office work, where I have been until recent times when I decided to quit and proceed with the thing I like - art.

Surfing Internet, I got the possibility to study online, discuss my works with professionals, and find out places to buy new materials. I discovered what I was looking for on the website of the Saint Petersburg golden stitch workshop, Ubrus. This website or, more precisely, community is notable for providing the ability to get a master's advice or consultation, prompts and corrections for a specific work, to find out where materials can be purchased or even taken as a gift from the participants; and all that is absolutely free..."

Full article by Olga Orlova
 
Golden needle sewing
 
Beaded purses
 
Beaded jewelry
 
Email: o-orl@yandex.ru

International Gem & Jewelry Show

February 18-20, 2011
Dulles Expo Center, Chantilly, Virginia

The International Gem & Jewelry Show offers the greatest selection and lowest prices on diamonds, gold, silver, beads, and more. Choose either costume or fine jewelry from more than 350 exhibitors from around the world.