I was approached by Sheena Gill and Marie Chalmers (the owners of Chalmers Gems) to create a necklace using their gems to support an article they were writing for Bead&jewellery Magazine. 
This was to be part of a series of articles they had been commissioned to write for the magazine on different gemstones. In this case the article would be about opals. Opals are magical gems to wear and enchanting to work with, so I was delighted to be asked. I selected from their stock three different types of Ethiopian Opal - two strands of rough nuggets, a faceted opal cabachon and a strand of square slices. I was working to a tight schedule to meet the publisher's deadline, which was less than 10 days away, and was eager to make a start but there were delays in Royal Mail deliveries..... Buy the time the opals arrived I was raring to go and concerned that I wouldn't have enough time to complete the commision. As it turned out, nine-hour days would be needed.....
As soon as I started to work with the gems, I knew the direction my design would take. I gathered together seed beads, pearls, crystals and small gems from my own stock to use alongside the opals.
By Wednesday evening I was well underway ........
I'll let the images speak for themselves over the rest of that week
