On my bench right now

Well over a year ago now, I purchased a beautiful pair of chrysocolla cabochons from a lapidary artist. They have been sitting quietly in one of my many bead and cab boxes, just waiting for a chance to get out and spread their wings (they look a little like wings, don't they?)

I thought about making a couple of rings with them, or some kind of butterfly pendant, but in the end I decided that I'm going to turn them into a pair of earrings. Most of the time, I make dangle earrings, but for some reason, these cabs look to me like they belong in post earrings.

I played around with a few designs that I drew up. The first one in the square backing is too geometric and for some reason reminds me of the 80s (I can almost hear the Miami Vice soundtrack in the background).

This second design with the beaded wire around the bezel is ok, but a bit, I dunno, blah.

Now with this third design, I feel like I'm getting somewhere, but it's still missing a little spark of something.

I pawed around through my faceted gem collection, and found a nicely matched pair of round peridots. I think the spring green of the peridot plays nicely off the greens and blues of the chrysocolla and pulls out some of the lighter greens. Plus, I like combining transparent faceted stones with opaque cabochons.

I'm not 100% done with my design yet, but I think I'm getting pretty close. Keep an eye out on http://www.taboutreasures.etsy.com/ for the final piece :o)