Achievement Unlocked!

It's not perfect, it's simple, and the prongs still need to be burnished, but I just made myself this ring!  Sterling silver and a genuine 4 x 6 mm peridot oval!  It's step one, but this is a little sneak-peak at a new type of jewelry I want to offer in the future.  It will take many steps to get from here, to where I want to go, and some of my experimental pieces will be put on etsy at a price to reflect my learning curve.

For example, I bought two different types of Sterling Silver earring findings to make simple post studs.  I bought the "snap-tite" brand of quick setting, and I bought the traditional cast type.  I have made one pair of "snap-tite" (sterling silver) genuine peridot stud earrings (5 mm rounds), and I do not plan to buy these again, as I want to make a higher quality product.  However, as I do not have pierced ears, these will be going up on etsy at a very reasonable cost.  I have looked around on etsy and there are a lot of people using "snap-tite" brand settings (a lot of them don't even mention that they're using "snap-tite" instead of traditional cast prongs, they just say "genuine sterling silver setting" which is entirely true, but it does explain why you're getting them for around $20 and under.)

So, keep an eye open for that, but I do have goals beyond just simple "plug and play" jewelry - but we all have to start somewhere!  And this is my first step.  (Step 2 is actually making a special necklace for my Mom.  It involves putting several components together.  I will post pictures of it, but it will not be for sale, nor will I be making duplicates of it.  It's just for her <3.)

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I've obviously been doing lots of reading and lots of research while building up to this, and I'll be working in Sterling Silver almost exclusively, because I can afford it, and I've never been much of a gold girl.  However, I love, and highly recommend to those of you who prefer something measured in K, to look into rose gold.  I love rose gold; ever since my Mom bought me my first nice ring as a tween that was made from Black Hills Gold.

Most of the really jaw-dropping entries under "rose gold" are over my personal price cap; I very rarely plug anything here over $100, and try and keep most entries under $50.  (If you want to see something nice, or you can afford things with 4 digits, not counting the decimal, take a peek over here at Anjays Design )  However, for the rest of us . . .

I found something much more affordable and still amazingly gorgeous!  Efy Tal Jewelry has many beautifully wrought, organically inspired pieces, like this one at left which is a combination of white bronze, 18K rose gold and cubic zirconia; all for less than $100!  Beautiful!  Definitely worth browsing through her pieces.