Labradorite Love

Labradorite

I love labradorite -- for its color and its ability to glow from within.  Labradorescence or abradorescence or schiller (or shiller) effect is the result of light refracting within the stone. Moonstone has this quality, too. Labradorite blue reminds me of one of my two favorite childhood crayon colors -- midnight blue. (The other was bittersweet, which I loved as much for its color as its name.)

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Takashimaya

Years ago, I saw a drop-dead gorgeous labradorite necklace in Takashimaya. [In searching for a link, I just learned that Takashimaya New York closed in June. I will miss visiting that store when I'm in NYC; I loved the building, the decor, the merchandise, the ambiance.Click on the photo to see part of the building a little better.] The necklace was made of thumb-sized round labradorite beads that had exceptional labradorescence. The clasp was a  large peacock-colored pearl with an embedded screw-type fastening; when the clasp was closed, all you saw was the pearl.  The necklace was probably worth all $5,000 of the asking price but I could not afford it. On hindsight, it might have been difficult to find an appropriate place to wear it, although, I've come to feel that if you have a showy piece, you should just wear it and enjoy it!

Pendant

Around 2003 or earlier, I bought about five pendants made from old Chinese pottery. I made this necklace to compliment this pendant, which lead me to labradorite beads -- an expensive venture in the world of beading. Wearing the necklace and matching earrings, I learned two things: I wanted bigger earrings, and I wanted the necklace length to be adjustable.

Bead It!

On Tuesday, my cousin Randi, gave me a generous birthday gift certificate to Bead It!, my local bead shop. That also reminded me I had a gift certificate from my friend, Kate, that was still unused. Friday, I went to the shop to complete my long postponed renovation job.  I can't say too many good things about the shop. The mother-daughter team that co-own and run the place are incredibly nice and helpful, the inventory is spectacular, and best of all, it's a happy bead shop.

Liver of Sulfur

I told them I wanted to blacken the metal setting around the pendant's edge. It had already started to darken on it's own, and I liked the way it framed the pendant. and wanted to speed up the process. Lucky for me, they had just been using some liver of sulfur and kindly offered me a try. Not much changed. Today, I did some research on liver of sulfur and found two really good videos (Part 1 and Part 2) with tons of good info about liver of sulfur and how to use it to create metal patinas. Based on that, I think the reason the liver of sulfur did not work is that the liver of sulfur had lost its potency (something that happens very fast). Alsok the process works better when you prepare the surface, which I had not done.

Changing the Earrings, or  Not

Some time ago, I bought extra labradorite beads to add to the earrings and necklace whenever I got around to this jewelry renovation.  I wanted more labradorite on the earrings because those beads only glow when they are facing the right way and when they are not glowing, they just look like boring gray stone. In the end, I decided to leave the earrings as is when I saw that stacking the labradorite beads accentuated their variations in an unattractive way. I have one more option that I'm not going to act on right a way -- I have another necklace that I never wear that has small round labradorite beads in it; perhaps it's time to take that necklace apart. Am I the only beader who is repeately renovating my jewelry?!

Necklace before renovation

Changing the Stones, or Not

I tried changing the clear beach glass to moonstone but it competed with the smoothness of the pendant, and the helio crystals no longer looked as dark and velvety. Furthermore, the beach glass picks up the subtle greens in the pendant, so I stuck with the beach glass.

Making the Necklace Adjustable

I used most of my gift certificate on two magnetic silver clasps that look like fancy Bali beads. It was a really good choice. Now, it's very easy to put on and take off the extender and the necklace. Here is a YouTube demo of a magnetic clasp on a bracelet. You can see how easy it is to use. Adding the magnetic clasp is a bit tricky because the magnets want to swing toward your pliers; a third hand is helpful!

Clockwise: Labradorite ball, extension, earrings, and renovated necklace.

Ta Da!

With the addition of ten labradorite beads, the two magnetic clasps, and about two dozen helio crystals, I eliminated some of the beach glass beads and labradorite chips. It's nice to have the necklace back in my collection of usable jewelry.  Big thank yous go out to Randi and Kate and the friendly, helpful staff at Bead It!