The sun, sky and ocean all remind me of summer, and are frequently reflected in the stones I choose to wear and design with. I like to design with stones I consider warm weather material.  The choice of stone also has to do with the intensity of color, but since that is also a ‘mood’ element (subjective), there is no hard and fast rule.

The gemstones or semi-precious stones that come to mind are turquoise, coral, bright lapis (not deep blue unless it is just an accent), delicate or quirky shaped pearls. Also, I like contrasts; crisp black and white jade, yellows – colors that are intense. Here is a cute turquoise pet jewelry piece and a turquoise bracelet. This is a crisp black and white jade pet jewelry piece.

Coral makes for interesting beads.  Due to the fact that coral originates from a “living material” like a pearl, it is not scientifically considered a gemstone, but based on popular thinking for hundreds of years, it’s categorized as such. Coral is the skeleton of an animal called “coral polyp” which is almost plantlike and that is why sometimes you see it in its branch-like form.  Otherwise, it is carved or fashioned into beads.

There is a wide range of coral colors including white, flesh pink, pale to deep rose red, salmon and red to dark red.  The deep red color coral is referred to as “oxblood” and has been highly prized and most desirable in the Mediterranean where it is produced. This Beasty Bling for People necklace, I used both turquoise and coral.  Light pink coral is often referred to as “angel skin.”  There is black coral which comes primarily from Hawaii.  Taiwan is a big distributor of coral as well.

The pearl is another “non-gem” gemstone.  It too is the result of an organic process that yields one of my favorite beads.  The variety in shape, color, and luster is enormous.  The color that we observe in a pearl – pink, white, cream, black – is called the “body color” and there is often a second color that is referred to as the overtone color or orient.

As an example, white or cream color pearls do not have an overtone color, a pinkish colored pearl is a pink overtone on a white background.  There can be black pearls with a metallic overtone.   There are salt-water pearls which are formed by nature and very rare or cultured pearls which are the result of human intervention when a mother of pearl bead is inserted into the tissue of an oyster. Nacre, or mother of pearl, accumulates around the bead ultimately producing a pearl.

Both saltwater and freshwater pearls consist of the same material and can form in “baroque” or irregular shapes. It is very difficult to know whether a given pearl was saltwater or freshwater in origin.

Some cultured pearls that are used in Beasty Bling pieces are:

Keshi pearls are sometimes referred to as “cornflake”, petals, seed pearls or poppy seed which is what the Japanese word Keshi means. Keshi maybe freshwater or salt water and result from the oyster spitting out the bead before the process forms a complete pearl resulting in small odd shapes and a much brighter luster. Seen above is a Beasty Bling for People oyster necklace.

Biwa pearls are produced at lake Biwa, Japan using freshwater clams. They are produced in irregular shapes; often in the shape of a stick, a cross, rectangle, nugget and coin shaped. Instead of a bead, a small square of mother of pearl is inserted into the clam. Here is a Beasty Bling for People pearl necklace that are rectangular in shape.

Probably the most common freshwater pearl on the market is the Chinese freshwater baroque, some of which are crinkily and look like what I call rice krispies — seen here in this Beasty Bling for People pearl necklace.