Here’s the toy crab I made out of red felt for the Crab Feed tomorrow. He will be given away with the grand prize in our drawing. I just kinda threw him together last-minute, but I _think_ he looks like a crab??? (What you can’t see in this photo is the Lava Jewelry logo on [...]

Yehuda Diamond Company, an online retailer of clarity enhanced diamonds, has recently been sued by their online competitor Blue Nile. Blue Nile claims certain statements about clarity enhanced diamonds can be misleading to consumers. Clarity Enhancement is a process by which microscopic material is inserted into diamonds that contain feathers. This filling [...]

I think every creative person suffers from burnout once in a while - days, weeks, or even longer when the urge to create something new just doesn’t strike. I’ve been feeling burned out the last week or so, I’m sure because I’m 8 1/2 months pregnant and lacking energy, so I thought I’d make a list [...]

Guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow… Yes indeed, the vegetarian is trying to get people to go to a crab feed. My Rotary Club is having a crab feed to raise money for a local scholarship fund. There are a few tickets left, if anyone’s interested - just contact me. We’ll be serving all-you-can-eat crab, salad, [...]

Charlene Anderson gives us 10 excellent reasons for loving chain maille - and I add a bonus reason at the end!

Happy New Year! I’m feeling pretty optimistic going into a new year. I get to continue doing what I love to do. What more could I ask for? 2008 is the Year of the Rat/Mouse. I created a treasury on Etsy to welcome the Year of the Rat - there are a HUGE number of rat items [...]

Today’s gemstone of the day is another pretty pink gem: rhodochrosite. Rhodochrosite gets its name from the Greek, meaning “rose colored.” It is a manganese carbonate mineral with a hardness of only about 3.5-4 on Moh’s scale. Rhodochrosite forms by the oxidation of manganese-bearing ores in a carbonate environment (for example, stalagmites and stalactites in [...]

Entrepreneur Cheryl Coccaro specializes in finding needs and filling them. As a result, she's built a one-person, multi-faceted jewelry business that provides a variety of products and services. Enjoy her "just do it!" success story.

When buying jewelry, which metal do you prefer most? Brass Copper Silver Gold Plate 14K Gold Filled Yellow Karat Gold (14K-22K) White Gold Platinum Titanium View Results

For the third installment in my metal series, I’ve decided to talk about one of my favorite metals to work with: copper. Unlike many of the metals used in jewelry-making copper is an elemental metal; it is not an alloy like sterling silver or brass. Polished copper has a wonderful color - kind of a pinkish [...]