quartz Archives

Yay or nay: pastel gemstone earrings.

January 10, 2014

You’re going to love or hate these pastel gemstone earrings.

You see what I mean? They’re not your average ear wear.

These earrings are each anchored by a larger oval-cut gemstone within a matching surround: kunzite on some side and lemon quartz on the other. Beneath each gemstone surmount is a circular-cut diamond spacer and a pavé-set diamond cap, from which dangles a magnificent mobile of gemstones. The bunches of stones (they don’t seem streamlined enough to be “tassels.” “Pom-poms,” perhaps?) are made up of a boquet of faceted kunzite, lemon quartz and varicolored sapphire stones.

Moment of truth: what do you think of these? I love unusual jewelry and I think the shape of these is interesting, but I can’t decide if I find the colors to be pretty or slightly insipid. I know I’d like these in richer jewel tones. I might like them as they are. What do you think? Yay or nay?

These unusual pastel gemstone earrings were listed in a December 2013 auction at Philips. All images and info are thanks to Phillips.

Kendra Scott.

January 24, 2013

Kendra Scott is a fabulous contemporary jewelry designer from Austin, Texas. Her designs are bright, cheerful, and usually involve colored stones (although she’s done some recent work in metals, which is lovely).

Kendra Scott’s work is pretty high on my to-buy-when-feeling-less-broke list. Her designs are on the more affordable side of things – there are earrings in this post for less than $100.

The Kendra Scott website also has an extremely fabulous “color bar” feature which lets you design your own custom versions of her pieces by changing around the colors. It’s dangerously entertaining, and would be a perfect option if you needed to accessorize with a specific color. It also only slightly more expensive than the ready-to-wear pieces. For a control freak like me, this is a dream come true.

I hope you enjoy the earring I made you for demonstration purposes.

Avon Earrings; lapis and green dyed onyx. By Kendra Scott. Via Diamonds in the Library.

Danielle earrings in purple agate. By Kendra Scott. Via Diamonds in the Library.

Karina feather earrings in gold. By Kendra Scott. Via Diamonds in the Library.

Pink & Purple Gwen Earrings; dyed agate, clear quartz, and pink jade. By Kendra Scott. Via Diamonds in the Library.

All images and info in this post are thanks to Charm and Chain and Kendra Scott.

As always when shopping online, please make sure that any pretties you decide to buy are the right size: revisit my jewelry sizing cheat sheet.

Rose quartz and diamond necklace.

August 30, 2012

This necklace is pure pretty. From the large, polished rose quartz pendant to the rose gold to the diamond-embellished bow, it’s feminine and sweet without being saccharine. As a girl who loves pink and bows, I’m a big fan of this one. I think it could easily have gone too far into girlyness but it’s saved by the sedate color of the quartz, the careful use of the diamonds, and the shape of the single bow.

This lovely necklace was sold to some lucky buyer for $5,000 (including premium) at the Bonhams 17 August 2012 Jewelry auction in Carmel, California. All images and information are thanks to Bonhams. See the original lot here.

Bonhams description:

A rose quartz and diamond necklace

estimated total diamond weight: 3.80 carats; mounted in eighteen karat rose gold; length: 16 1/2in.

Follow along with me on Instagram