Hello! I wonder how many others like me have been enjoying a snow and ice day at home? This is the second day in two weeks that school was cancelled, so I took the opportunity to take some pictures of some artisan stones sent to me by Andrea, of sticksandstonebeads.com.
Most of her stones are drilled and cored in her studio in Ontario. I’m super fussy about coring so am really happy with the quality of these. I bought some stones last year and used them with the Redbalifrog Big Blue release. I like how these have interesting shapes, which distinguishes them from other artisan stones and Trollbeads stones. Perhaps my favourite of this bunch is the Citrine ($25USD). It is very sunny looking and I like the shape of it. The cores are all solid sterling silver and they fit Trollbeads bracelets. More info is on the sTicKs & StoNEs website.
The Rose Quartz is also super pretty. Most of the stones are $25USD and up, with some spacer sized ones costing less.
The Moonstone also has an interesting shape. I’m really obsessed with stones these days and especially with soft colours like this.
The last soft coloured stone I have is an Aquamarine (matte). Again, with a different kind of shape and the matte texture it adds interest to bracelets.
Here is my icy day combo, using three of the above stones and some True Beadz.
Next is an Amethyst, again with a unique faceted shape.
I decided to make a richly coloured bangle. Those are Trollbeads Denim Prisms on each end that I just bought the other day.
Lastly, Andrea sent a couple of thin spacer sized stones called Sky Blue Imperial Jaspers. I can only imagine how tricky it is to drill these without them cracking! They are $20USD each. In the middle is the newish Seeds of Hope from Trollbeads.
Here’s one more look at combo I made, using Trollbeads glass and the soft coloured stones.
I know a lot of readers are already familiar with Andrea’s work, but I had a lot of fun taking pictures of these beauties and hope it was fun for you to see them. Have you already incorporated any into your collection or have you some on your wish list?
Disclosure: For this blog post I may receive some items as promotional samples.
Thank you Martha for this marvelous post. I am not acquainted with this line and enjoyed browsing their site on this winter’s day.
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I’m so happy to hear that. I never know which readers are active on social media and so are familiar with every bead brand out there. I’m glad you enjoyed browsing the site.
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Andrea really comes up with some creative cuts for some beautiful stones. I am also a picky one when it comes to the core, having purchased some lovely carved ambers with terrible non-silver half cores (sold as silver of course), that can be a deal breaker for me. A nice core shows pride in craftsmanship and no skimping on the customer. Looking forward to more of Andreas works, and hopefully some rounded pearls? (I wasn’t thrilled with the quality of Trollbeads to be honest). Lovely review and bracelets Martha and Andrea!
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Good grief, non-silver half cores sound awful! Yes, I agree about a nice core showing pride in craftsmanship. As I’ve said privately to some people, there are so many micro brands these days but I don’t want beads that are copies of other beads. With the interesting shapes of these stones, I feel like they stand out from the crowd, so to speak.
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Wow! Her beads are georgeous. I just finished reviewing her collection and I’m very impressed with the incredible variety of stones and the beauty of them.
PS, I would like to add that you do a fantastic job with your bracelet stylings.
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I’m so happy that you like the stones and thank you for the lovely compliment!
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I only recently became aware of this brand, so it is very fun to see these beads in action! You always put together the perfect combinations!
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Thanks Audrey! It’s a lot of fun for me to play with beads when I have time!
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I like them too – the slightly rough-cut quality and different shapes reminds me of the long-retired Trollbeads LE gemstones release which I really loved. Nice!
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Sometimes it’s nice to have a different shape!
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