Rhyolite

Rhyolite is one of my favorite stones.  It is sometimes referred to as Rainforest Jasper.  Rhyolite's most important trait is its beauty!  It has a composition similar to granite but has much smaller grain size.  In fact, magma that never reaches the surface of the earth is called granite.  If the same magma reaches the surface of the earth, it is called rhyolite.  Rhyolite is much less common than granite.   Even so, there are large lava flows and deposits of rhyolite in Yellowstone Park, Wyoming.

Rhyolite was named "streaming rock" because of its beautiful bands, bubbles and crystal-rich layers that form as lava flows onto the surface of stone and moves forward.  Rhyolite can look very different depending on how it erupts.  Because of its varied formational traits, rhyolite represents change, variety and progress.  It sparks creativity in individuals who are ready to move forward and make things happen in their life.  Some say rhyolite allows us to reach out and beyond our capabilities of what we think we can achieve by helping us to break through the mental barriers and to reach a profound and joyous state of knowing.

Here are a few examples of how beautiful rhyolite can be:

Your rhyolite jewelry should be washed in warm soapy water and dried carefully to maintain its beauty.  Never use bleach or other chemicals to clean rhyolite.

My Guild, JCUIN, has some very talented artists

I like to try to feature other artisans from my guild at least once each month.  Here are the artisans I'm featuring this month.  You really should visit their shops and see what other wonderful items they have made.

First, check out these great earrings from Fine and Dandy.

Next, I visited Jewery Arte by Stella Wisner and found these wonderful green enameled earrings.  Check these out:

Now, on to another shop, Baubles Handcrafted Jewelry.  Here I made another discovery which I have to share with you.  I really think these are lovely:

Then I visited Andrea Nicole Zagaris' studio and found some amazing stuff.  Here is one of her earring creations.  I absolutely love this one.

Although I stopped in Artistic Pendants looking for earrings to share on this blog, I was quickly sidetracked by her lovely pendants.  Here is an example of her work:

The last studio I stopped in was Epicetera where I found these  lovely earrings.  I bet they put you in the mood for snow.  I know they did me.

Finally, I'll end with a pair of earrings from my studio.

I hope you've enjoyed visiting some of our guild member's shops and seeing some of their fabulous creations.

Update on Heartsy and Other Ramblings

Thanks to all who voted for me on Heartsy the last few days.  I received 67 votes and have made it to the next level.  Now my pieces will be looked at and evaluated by an actual person.  In another week or two I'll know if I'm going to be lucky enough to get a feature or not.  I hope so.  March was an impossibly slow month for my shop and I need to jumpstart some sales.

I'm still thinking about starting another Etsy store for a less expensive line of jewelry and perhaps some other crafts.  My sister, Fran, is a gifted seamstress (my sister Susie is too).  I've been trying to convince Fran to make some things for a new store.  She made the most perfect aprons for some friends and for my granddaughter.  I'm sure they would be a big seller.  Fran also makes custom window treatments.  If you have a need for window treatments, leave me a comment and I'll put you in touch with her.  She really does fabulous work.  Her window treatments are all over my house and I'm really glad that they are.

Yesterday Marty and I went to Bead Fest, Valley Forge, PA to check out the show.  I hadn't been to a Bead Fest show before.  It was a pretty good show.  Not Tucson quality but a pretty good show.  I'd  guess there were about 110 vendors split between beads, findings, glass and tools.  Of course, I spent too much money.  Here is the collection of things that I bought:

I'll show you the pictures when I get all these made into something.  It doesn't look like much now and it's kind of hard to see but there is a lot of beautiful stuff there.

I wish I could work on it all now but I'm off to pack so I can head back to Phoenix.