Going to Tucson in February is my hands down favorite trip of the year! Not only do I show my work (this year at the Melee Show!), but I also use this trip to hunt for gemstones to use in my collection and for private clients during the annual Tucson Gem Show, which draws exhibitors, gemstones, and gem lovers from around the globe.
You never know what wonders you will find in Tucson during the Gem Show!
I just returned from my Tucson trip and I am excited to share some of the treasures that will be making their way into the Original Eve Collection soon!
If something catches your eye, be sure to email hello@originaleve.com to claim your gems!
Large, Smooth, Australian Opal Beads
I am extremely excited about the gorgeous buttons of Australian Opal that I found on my first day in Tucson!
These are some of the largest cut beads of Australian Opal I have found to date! With such stunning body colors and flashes of teals, blues, and purples, they are truly a once in a lifetime find--typically, material of this extremely high quality would be smoothed into a cabochon to be set into a ring or pendant, not drilled through the middle!
My mind is teeming with exciting ideas for how to use these beads in the collection. The possibilities are endless!
A Rainbow of Briolettes
Before headings to Tucson, I designed one of my latest styles of earring: The Bud Briolettes (See The Smoky Quartz Bud Briolette Earrings HERE for an example!).
I was on a mission to find briolettes of my favorite gems in order to expand this style in my assortment and WOW, did Tucson deliver!!
From Top and Clockwise: Pointed Briolette in Aquamarine, Blue Chalcedony, Checkerboard Cut Prasiolite (Green Amethyst), Chrysoprase, and Rose Quartz. And there are MORE!
Email hello@originaleve.com to preorder these gems in the Bud Briolette Setting!
Chiseled Prasiolite (Green Amethyst)
One of my favorite parts of being in Tucson is meeting new vendors from around the world. I am excited to report that I have added several new AMAZING people to my source list!
I was so happy to stumble upon one particular booth with really unique geometric forms of some of my favorite and most popular gemstones.
Check out these chiseled Prasiolite gems! I have so many ideas for ways to use these unique forms and I can't wait to show you more of the gems I found that have amazing angles and energy (Get ready for some seriously drool worthy Tanzanite and Aquamarine!!)
Earring Pairs
At times I find myself falling into the gemologist hole of picking out stones that I ultimately do not use in jewelry. I choose them because I think the science they share through their form, inclusions, or color is so COOL (In a nerdy way, I admit).
This year in Tucson, I looked at every stone I saw and asked myself, "Is it cool? Or is it cool AND beautiful?".
This was my mantra and my limiting factor in buying gems (Ok... Not much of a limiting factor. I blew the budget a few times over!).
The result was stunning finds like these Kyanite slices pictured here. Iridescent. Vivid hue. Light filtering through the layers of the gem and coming back to the eye to reveal shade upon shade of dazzling and different blues.
Jackpot: Cool AND Beautiful!!
Variety of Heshi Cut Gemstone Beads
This is just a small sampling of the Heshi Cut beads that I discovered while in Tucson this year! Pictured here are the strands I am going to start with in the Original Eve Collection.
From left to right we have: Amazonite from Peru, Rainbow Moonstone, Lapis Lazuli, and Dendritic Opal (!! How cool is that?) from Madagascar.
In and of themselves, these gems are beautiful with their vivid hues, magical phenomenon, and speckled black and white appearance that is the ultimate sophistication, but cut into the Heshi Cut beads, they take on a whole new level of WOW! A Heshi Cut create discs of the gems that are then faceted along the edges. They sparkle, they shine, and they are going to become incredible statement necklaces.
Stay tuned to see how these beautiful gems become incorporated into the Original Eve Collections! And remember to reach out if something speaks to you and you want to work with me to customize a piece using the stones I found!
Email: hello@originaleve.com