I've been having fun making some beautiful earrings with sterling silver wire, stones and fresh water pearls. One pair is iolite and fresh water pearls and the other pair is citrine with various colors of sapphire beads. These are not always the easiest to photograph! The citrines were faceted on the front and back, so they are laying one way or the other. Briolettes are a bit easier to photograph, but the citrines were just so pretty that I wanted to make earrings with them! These are all handmade, even the ear wires!
If you like blue sapphires and the way tanzantite looked back in the day, iolite is a great, affordable solution. Much of the tanzanite you see out there now has a lighter, lavender look to it. You can get crystals in more of a true tanzanite color, but they are crystals! I really enjoy using real stones and searching for nice stones to use with my jewelry.
