Greetings for the New Decade!

It is that time of year when I gather gem and pearl requests for the entire year into a bundle to take to Tucson as I ply the aisles of the enormous Gem and Mineral Show.  If there is something you have a hankering for in a certain color or price, please let me know by February 1.

Attached are photos of some interesting custom jobs Elaina Designs completed this year.  These designs show the wide array of jewelry that I make. Sometimes a client asks for a specific color and I suggest gemstones that fit their request. When I design with the intent to upscale your diamonds, pearls and old jewelry, the limitations of what you bring provides an exciting challenge.  My intent is to create versatile jewelry that is wearable and lovely with perhaps special meaning for you.

Joanne’s Cherished Oceanic Ring

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10-23-10 Musings from my sick bed: Laid up for two weeks from emergency gall bladder surgery on 11-20-10.

The Diamond Star! The model photo supposedly depicts how some white dwarf stars in our galaxy appear after they have burned up all of their hydrogen and are left with only carbon….A massively dense, solid pure diamond, refracting every color of the spectrum as light, passing through eons of space back to the Hubble telescope turning as a satellite within our solar system.   I have also read that other planets outside our solar system which Hubble has located with its giant lens, possibly rain corundum or ruby and sapphire droplets instead of water, as all of their CO2 has been consumed.  I wonder if it rains every color of sapphire, or only blue?

Held last weekend amid the lovely fall colors in the Finger Lakes, the Ithaca Jewelry show was incredible, with a splendid turnout. Many jewelesque beauties walked out on their chosen human form.   A resounding thank you to all friends and new clients who came and bought, ordered and restyled their old pieces.  Without the astute help from my assistant, Sarah Puerto and her partner, Thomas Lodato who accompanied me from Atlanta, and my husband, David Hudson, I could not have mounted the show, arranged the party, and taken it down and carried it back home! ” We get by with a little help from our friends.”

This week, Oct 23-30, the Nina McLemore/Elaina Designs Trunk show IS in full swing in Vinings, GA .  The exquisitely styled sweater & jacket combos come in  delectable weaves, with tasty colors, with jewelry to accent. Please feel free to drop by or call for directions, though I cannot be present.

Sandra Blalock, 770-434-4399, sgblalock@gmail.com.   3013 Ranch Road, Atlanta, GA 30339

During the Ithaca show I was aware of a little discomfort, but more distressing was fleeting sleep as a result of sudden, stabbing pain.  I flew from  Ithaca, straight to the hospital in fairly acute pain with my second attack in 4 years, and fully aware, singing “Happy Trails, GB, to never meet again…”.  Apparently I am one of those poor 10% whose GB does not process or store cholesterol well enough, thus it turns to sludge, then little stones.  Happily I am now recuperating sans GB, with four small incisions, and hope to be back at work by Nov 1. In the meantime, Sarah, Thomas and I are working on the new Elaina Designs website, up and running by November 20, with a reformatted, mobile version as well.  The new site should be easier to navigate, and for those of you who desire, to purchase online year round.

My most extravagant Jewelry feast of the season is coming up Nov 5-6 at the home of:

Laura and Larry Kelly, 875 Crest Valley Drive NW. 404-256-4297. Opening party with tasty food and drink on Friday night Nov 5, 7-9PM continuing Saturday Nov 6, 11am-4pm.

Very cool Fractal Quartz with Dendritic inclusions of Hematite.

Like the arteries in our veins and the bare branches outside my window, dendrites form exactly the same way as a trace element in the Quartz host.

Tree branches in a swamp in south Florida

A woman’s refurbished wedding diamond and two daughter diamonds, 14K White Gold Sculpted Ring.
This client is no longer married and has two daughters who are very different. The arrangement of the diamonds around the center oval diamond reflects their commitment to be separate yet close to their mother and a tight family unit. She cried when she tried it on for the first time.

Pinkish-orange color that defies description, but is classified as a rare Padparadscha Sapphire. The center Sapphire is from Sri Lanka, and the surrounding Sapphires are from Montana set in 14K Pink Gold.

This wedding ring just got shipped to Puerto Rico for nuptials this Saturday. In the sun, it flashes both orange and pink like sunset on a large body of water. I had quite a challenge in Tucson to find gems in her budget of $2000 for the total ring. But I did it, and it is stunning!
sunset at Grayton Beach, Florida

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“Mountains High, Oceans Deep”
Boulder Opal and Blue Tourmaline on Hand-engraved Silver Band
My daughter Alex is in New Zealand (check out her blog at www.alexodyssey.com) and swims in volcanic lakes and the ocean daily. I miss her.

Alex and Mom the day before she left … for who knows how long.

“Longing for Spring” Orbit Bracelet.
Wow, Atlanta has had the coldest winter on record. There are no flowers, and it is cold! It is the beginning of March, where is Spring? I decided to make a bracelet with warmth and brightness, with the kiss of Winter and the promise of Spring.

Atlanta Winter Storm Love Seat

I feel happy, alive and full of a ripeness that is warm and intoxicating in the best sense of the word. Atlanta this spring, maybe because it took so long to get here… seems especially luscious and plush. It looks the way I imagine the world might appear if I was dying, and wanted to recall each detail of this beautiful life. Every blossom, a clear ray of intensely colored light.

This is what I seek to capture in the jewels I select for my designs.

Compatibles:

Azella Be-Jewelled hues in orange, pink and ruby red, sparkle-a-plenty in the tiny rubies, Apricot colored Spessartite garnet and Pink Sapphire, inset in these new sleek 14kt white gold, pink and yellow gold Earring Huggies, and Wafer-thin Rings. They can be worn alone or with the new line of Earring Jackets I have been making for the past year. I call them “Compatibles”, meaning they sing separately, or in unison.

Often I am blown away by the play of color in gemstones like you see in this new Boulder Opal Pendant accented by a tiny emerald hexagon. But it is not often that I sigh, “Ahh Hahhhh” when I look at a new piece of jewelry that has just been completed. And I do, each time I peer at the brand new “Love Stack Rings”. They are bright, playful, and offer a juxtaposition of motion that is not often capable in Fine Jewelry. I look forward to customers bringing in their own gems, and allowing me to make these new rings.

Relationship Spin Pendant:

I wear mine all the time with two Tourmalines set back to back that spin on a single axis. One side features a Light Green Catseye Tourmaline, like the green eyes of my Beloved, on the other side, is a smaller Catseye Tourmaline with bi-colored heart colors of pink and green. The Pendant opens like a locket, and on the inside, there is a hand-engraved symbol from the heavens, present in the Atlanta sky during a Lunar Eclipse in 2008 when we fell deeply in love.