On May 3 2010, one of TV’s sexiest mothers, Gossip Girl’s Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), was dripping in drama. The stylists for Gossip Girl selected our Diorissimo necklace to offset Lily’s man troubles with Serena’s (Blake Lively) father. The 24K gold necklace is stunning on brunettes, and amplified even more on blonds like Kelly Rutherford.

As a special tribute to Gossip Girl and the fashions the show promotes, we will be running a 25% fashion discount from May 3rd to May 5th. Enter LILY at checkout for 25% off your entire purchase of M. Sturman Jewellery and treat yourself to some Gossip Girl fashion. And treat your mom to some jewelry for Mothers Day. She will love anything you pick. Shop for the Diorssimo necklace at M. Sturman Jewellery (it’s a limited edition piece) >

We can also act as personal shopper help you pick something special, so contact us for personal attention.

This necklace is made of vintage yellow stones ordered by Dior from Swarovski after WWII.  The stones are bezeled with 14k gold-plated seed beads and suspended from a chain woven of the same beads.  All of it handwoven, totally one-of-a-kind fashion and totally Lily van der Woodsen, played by Kelly Rutherford.

Shop for the Diorssimo necklace at M. Sturman Jewellery >

I’m so excited about the new work I’ve just put up on the website, particularly about the “Aquarium” necklaces.  They feature “Lodenite” stones — rocks really!

Each Lodenite stone tells a story, visually speaking, with a different shape/size and with a different colorway.   Each stone is clear and domed and so refracts its bottom rock layer into a scene.   Peering into each stone is similar to the experience of being drawn into the exploration of an aquarium.  Here’s a close-up of one such stone, but unfortunately none of these pix does justice to the mystery in each of them.  (You may view this close-up by clicking on either or both of the links listed below.)

So, I grouped five stones in each necklace, using stones to offset their colorways.

One necklace pairs dark amethyst crazy-cut amethyst beads with hammered light amethyst beads, alternating with small purple-dyed pearls and finished with a new find in closures:  agate closures in different hues, this one with some amethyst shading.  http://www.msturman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=152&zenid=99cbfa9678d6b8557cdfcc24e7ce8548

In another necklace, responding to the coppery sort of colorways of the lodenite, I used rough-hewn red quartz stones and light peach natural tailed and circled pearls, alternating with tiny Akoya pearls and the agate closure in orangey hues.  http://www.msturman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=151&zenid=99cbfa9678d6b8557cdfcc24e7ce8548

I have another lodenite necklace in the works set off with natural pearls and a pearl closure.  My favorite, I think!

Do they look as exotic to you as they do to me?  By the way, they’re not heavy pieces!

Seems impossible to avoid the Oscar drama, it’s everywhere! Over my morning coffee, I scanned the usual yearly projections of winners and long shots in the New York Times.

Back at my laptop, I saw a blog post entitled “How David Rockwell’s Oscar Set Makes Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin Funnier” by Alissa Walker, that discusses the role of the set and focuses on the Swarovski curtain, appropriately named Crystal.  ” . . . the star of the show is still the 100,000-Swarovski crystal curtain, but 16 additional inches of topaz crystals were added to add a level of smokiness that matched this year’s color scheme.”

Then I read the SheFinds blog,”Oscar Nominees, Take Note: Our No-Fail Guide To Black Tie Dresses” that reviewed some of the past mistaken choices, contrasting them with the hit choices.  Seemed to me that few of the stars wearing the dresses wore much jewelry.

So with all this in mind, I entertained the fantasy of each of the stars wearing Swarovski jewelry — mine of course! — in what would become a blinding television extravaganza.

Earrings seemed to be the thing during the award season Oscar run-ups, so my fantasy features the long-shot, long-necked Emily Blunt, perhaps wearing my Peacock Earrings, woven with vintage Swarovski Atlas stones, contemporary CRYSTALLIZED — Swarovski Elements beads and gold-plated seed beads.

I can easily picture the always-tasteful and regal Helen Mirren in my elegant Queen’s Collar, trimmed with vintage Swarovski beads.

And if filling a neckline is out this year, a large, sparkly bracelet, such as my Double-Sided Cuff, replete with CRYSTALLIZED – Swarovski Elements, would not be amiss, gleaming on the wrist of Sandra Bullock, touted as winner in the best actress category, as she accepts the Oscar.

Not Harry Winston diamonds, but I think these Swarovski pieces are a lot more captivating — don’t you?

I saw a sneak preview of Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer” and was delighted to see Kim Cattrall in it, looking lovely as usual.  This got me to thinking again about whether or not some of my jewelry would be worn in the movie, and if so which pieces (these are being held at the studios as we speak) and on whom?

Would it be the Green Tea neckpiece or the Be Mine neckpiece, each of which was widely blogged about by Luxist.com, USA Today, CoutureSnob.com, and Jason of Hollywood.com?

I tried to find an official SATC2 movie site, but came up with the HBO home page featuring it http://www.hbo.com/sex-and-the-city/index.html#, with the four stars on it.  How surprised I was to see Kim Cattrall with short hair as opposed to her shoulder-length hair in “The Ghost Writer”.  I immediately thought that with that short hair, she would look great wearing a pair of my Vintage Atlas Earrings!

In my dreams, Sarah Jessica Parker/Carrie Bradshaw wears the Green Tea neckpiece, with something flowing; Cynthia Nixon/Miranda Hobbes would wear the Diorissimo with a low cut gown; and Kristin Davis/Charlotte York would wrap herself in my 96” necklace of natural pearls!

But who would wear Be Mine?

These are my dreams and I am waiting, impatiently!  What about you?

This morning over coffee I lingered over the Fashion page in the New York Times, “The Big New Idea Is Modesty” by Cathy Horyn.  I don’t know about “modesty” – the root that word is “mode”  and I was taken by the gorgeous Marchesa dress, a “column of bugle beads” and especially the Anna Sui “wool shift with an embroidered bib neckline”.  Those trends right up my bead alley!

I researched Anna Sui and learned that her collection was inspired by the American Arts and Crafts Movement!  Wow!  I’m all for that.  The accessories shown with her collection were large and chunky, “amazing handcrafted necklaces and brooches incorporating actual tiles from Detroit’s Pewabic Pottery, founded in 1903” (http://www.stylelist.com/2010/02/17/anna-sui-fall-2010-fashion-week-runway-review/).

I fixated on the bib neckline of the wool shift pictured in the Times and thought that the bib piece ought to be separate, so it might be worn again.  I make several bib necklaces and woven collars, any of which might compliment a simple dress and be right in style with the upcoming fall trends.

Which bib necklace would you choose to embellish your simple wool dresses?

Is it me? Or is it this time of year?  Or are the stars in poor alignment?  What?  Or am I just now noticing that nothing is easy when it comes to me making my jewelry?

So, I thought I’d share the process and perhaps get some pointers or something.

For me, beginning a piece always means being excited by the material.  Usually it is something I’ve just found and bought, so I go straight to work on it.  If I don’t work with something immediately, then the chances are that I never will do, unless there is a fortuitous moment in the future when the one purchase goes perfectly with something new.  I don’t hold my breath, though.

Having overcome the dollar signs and purchased something wonderful, the process continues.  I need to assemble accompanying or complementary beads to set off the original inspiration.  Think this is easy?  Have a look at my studio:  each drawer, large and small contains hundreds of beads, pearls, semi-precious stones, vintage elements.  I often need to access other boxes lingering on shelves above my table that contain still more inventory and look through them, too.  This takes time, as I rarely find what I’m looking for immediately, and sometimes not at all, which really puts me in a pout, since I just can’t compromise on my vision.

When I find and assemble everything I need for a project, sometimes I then move on to continue this process with other new purchases, and then set those aside, too, with the others.  Often, when I return to the original, I can’t remember what I had in mind or I’m not as excited as I was originally.  No, I don’t sketch, am simply unable to translate my vision onto paper, since I never know exactly how something will turn out:  my process is always a “what if” – I do this or that.

But the real kicker is finishing a piece and not being thrilled with the outcome!  I have this unreal expectation that everything I do must be a masterpiece.  More often than not, it just isn’t – it’s just another necklace, bracelet or pair of earrings, nice but not drop dead.

In between the finding and inspiration and finishing the piece is a long process, which is supposed to be ultimately the satisfying reward of creating: working in a sort-of zen-like zone of peace and enlightenment.  Well . . .

So, as I said, nothing is really easy.  At least now for me!

Last Sunday in the New York Times Magazine, David Colman wrote about pearls in “You Go Pearl!” http://bit.ly/8RxJhX.  Mr. Colman relates a credible, concise history of pearls in fashion beginning with Seneca.  These pearls were natural ones that indeed were prized and precious as there were so few of them to be found.

Pearls are nacreous organic gems formed in the body of a mollusk — a mussel or an oyster.  Natural pearls are those formed without human assistance.  So, due to constant demand, the world’s main pearling grounds were depleted by over-fishing in the late 18^th century.   Experiments in forming cultured pearls, those formed as the result of human intervention in the formation process by either bead or tissue nucleation, began in the 1890s, and by 1920, Mikimoto marketed cultured pearls internationally.

There are two main kinds of pearls:  saltwater and freshwater.  Saltwater pearls are nucleated with a bead and come in three main types:  Akoya pearls from the P. fucata oysters are white, round, lustrous and come from saltwater farms in areas of Japan/China. Tahitian pearls from the P. margaritifera black-lipped oyster, are relatively large and come in lustrous colors, farmed in saltwater farms around French Polynesia/Cook Islands.   South Sea pearls from P. maxima oysters are silver,white, or yellow, and are farmed in the saltwater farms around Australia.

Freshwater pearls are cultured in mussels in freshwater farms around China and Japan and come in various sizes and colors due to the way they are made:  Tissue nucleation, the insertion of a piece of tissue into the freshwater mussel, induces it to form a cultured pearl.  However, because up to 50 tissue pieces of tissue can be implanted in one mussel during the nucleation procedure, freshwater cultured pearls are plentiful and usually come in irregular shapes.

We’ve all seen examples of both types of pearls.  Who wouldn’t want a strand of one of the amazing varieties of saltwater pearls?  They are gorgeous and perfect, and quite expensive — the more perfectly round and lustrous, the more expensive.

If you have seen my work in pearls, you’ll know that I use freshwater pearls, of all sizes and colors.  But the main point here — and the reason I have bored you with a much-condensed review of cultured pearl history/formation — is that the less perfect, the more unusual the shape or markings on pearls, the better I like it.  Take for instance my necklace of  top-drilled, circled (the markings around the pearls), and tailed pearls here.  To me, this is interesting, dynamic jewelry.

Many women throughout the years, as cited by Mr. Colman in his article, are famous for wearing perfect, knotted and tied strands of pearls.  I however do something different with my knotted and tied freshwater pearls, as in my 96″ rope of natural (undyed), graduated size, pearls here.  These can be wrapped around the neck several times or looped in many ways — to me much more interesting than a plain strand, however perfect or expensive.

I particularly love natural (undyed), lustrous freshwater pearls that come formed into interesting shapes, such as Chicken Feet but using dyed freshwater pearls makes for a dynamic necklace too.

Mr. Colman remarks of Marc Jacobs that in his spring dresses the designer festooned them with “buckets of pearls” — a dynamic idea, indeed.  Wouldn’t you rather just wear a necklace of freshwater pearls?

The news is all over the place, everywhere you look:  bold statement jewelry is OF THE MOMENT– this moment!  Chunky chokers, multi-strand necklaces, intricately woven collar neckpieces are HAPPENING now.  Funny, but I’ve been doing this type of jewelry for years, so my time has come.

I am particularly excited about my “Conchita” collection.  These three styles are all of the above and I hope you’ll have a look at them.

But first, a word about the Conchitas:  These focal pieces are a form of Drusey Agate, known as Conchitas in Brazil.  The Conchita pieces are treated with the Vapor Deposition process wherein Titanium is vaporized in an electronically charged vacuum chamber and the Titanium molecules bond with the quartz crystals.  No photograph – not even the professional ones taken — is capable of picking up the sparkle and flash of colors achieved by this finish – silvery pinks, blues, greens on a background of blue/grey or amethysts, pinks, golds.

You can see what a non-treated stone looks like in my “Conchita with Three Strands”:  talk about statement jewelry – this is a big piece!  The non-treated Conchita is beautifully subtle in color and in the forms of the whorls in the Drusey Agate.  It is suspended on each side from three ropes made of graduated chunks of rough black tourmaline beads separated by beads made of hand woven silver/taupe seed pearls.

The colors in my “Conchita with Amethysts” are as boldly stunning as are the muted ones of  “Conchita with Three Strands”:  the focal piece stone here is treated, as mentioned above, and so produced the amazing colors of gold, pink, purples, that I needed to pair with the alternating chunky light and dark amethysts separated by hand woven beads of amethyst-dyed tiny seed pebble pearls.

The more subtle, but sparkling, colors of my “Conchita in Silver and Blue” is likewise treated but the stone picked up the lovely shades of silver, blues, greens and pinks that are reflected in the hand woven chains of 24k gold-plated and sterling silver seed beads, along with semi-precious stones of mystic topaz.

The inspiration for these pieces came primarily from the size, form and spectacular appearance of the focal pieces.  The remaining beads and stones were chosen to enhance the Conchitas, to reflect the flash and sparkle of the colors within them.

Are you willing to make a statement with today’s jewelry trends?

Maybe 1-2 years ago, I worked with a movie stylist who said she was looking for jewelry to use on an “Emily Watson” movie.   She pulled some of my work and eventually returned it, but on one piece, a very long lariat of gold-plated and onyx beads crocheted in different patterns and punctuated by large vintage blown glass beads, one of the vintage

beads had been broken.  They offered to pay for a new one, but I had a replacement bead and just let it go — the real cost was in the labor to redo the piece with the replacement bead, which, of course, was what I ought to have charged them for.

I asked the stylist if any of my work was used in the movie, but the stylist said she didn’t know and that no credit was available if it was used.  Not knowing how these things worked, I let it go.

Recently, I went to see a free screening of the new Paul Giamatti movie “Cold Souls” and was surprised to see that Emily Watson had a supporting role in it.  I watched her character closely to see if she wore any of my work.  So I nearly missed a quick scene where a secondary supporting character, a sexy woman played by Kathryn Winnick, was doing a dance, waving around my piece, — clearly how the vintage blown glass bead had got broken!  The scene went by in the blink of an eye, but there it was!  Since the movie was disappointing, I don’t think I’ll see it again, to check out my jewelry in that scene.

What a word: Artisanal. Artisan. Artist. …. The article in today’s New York Times Style section, by Tim McKeough, page D4, is entitled “Artisanal Treasures” and subtitled “Valuing the personal in an era of mass production”. Yes! Amen and Hallelujah! Not a concept as compelling as it should be today, especially in this down economy.

“Valuing the personal” — knowing that an artist’s eye was captured by the materials and compelled to create from them; knowing that an artist’s hands produced the treasure, rather than a machine; knowing that the treasure is a unique object — perhaps one-of-a-kind or of limited production — rather than having been mass produced.

The profiled entrepreneur, Stephen Burks, begins by saying: “Modern manufacturing processes are good at churning out one identical product after another. But shoppers in search of a little more character are increasingly drawn to objects handmade by artisans around the world.” Are you in search of “character” in what you buy?

Each piece of jewelry I produce is personal, each has a history of some sort, each piece is handmade painstakingly — an investment of time and love. Everyone asks how long it took me to make the statement piece “Be Mine” — but how can I begin to quantify the wealth of energy and commitment, no less the pleasure, inherent in its creation, or the ease of simply wearing it with something simple and black and standing out in the crowd? I assure you: I did not churn it out.

Mr. Burks continues to talk about treasures “having that immediacy of making, and that direct connection to people and community groups” – isn’t that what we are searching for these days with our Facebook and Twitter postings and connections? So why not in the treasures that we buy, wear or live with?