Black Friday Savings Coupons

And so it begins. The official start of the holiday shopping season is Black Friday, which seems to have undergone a transition over recent years. No longer is Black Friday people literally camping out in front of their favorite retailer, waiting for the latest tech gadget or the toy that every kid wants, only to find that their prize is gone by the time they can get inside the store. Common sense and self preservation are winning out. Rather than risk trampling by a crowd of crazed bargain hunters, reasonable people are choosing to let their laptops and smart phones do the walking. They can get a good start on their shopping in the comfort of home, without the risk of a trip to the emergency room, and still have the time to spare.

If handmade jewelry is on your list for gift giving this year, or if you want to reward yourself for outgrowing the high risk habit of Black Friday shopping in person, check out my online shops! You can save by using my holiday coupons in either of my shops, Chrysalis Too on Etsy or Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry.


HOLIDAY10 - for 10% off purchases of $50 or more

HOLIDAY15 - for 15% off purchases of $100 or more


Prices have already been reduced on many items in both shops, so shop early for the best selection. If you missed out on Black Friday, don't worry, coupons will be active until December 20th.

Happy Holidays, everyone !!!

Autumn Mookaite

Mookaite Bracelet

Autumn and mookaite are made for each other. Richly saturated dark red and yellow mookaite is not for the meek. Confident women wear mookaite; women who want to attract attention. And in my opinion, mookaite is an underappreciated stone that deserves more attention, so again "made for each other". A sedimentary stone formed in ancient sea beds, mookaite is a jasper that gets its name from the Mooka Creek area of Australia where it is mined. Its beautiful and wildly bold coloration is from the organisms and minerals that were contained in the sea sediment.

My bracelet design features a dramatic combination of faceted mookaite nuggets, vintage green heart trade beads in coordinating brick red, a strand of African solid brass beads, more vintage Czech seed beads in dark plum tones. Ceramic end caps repeat the colors of the stones, and a large rustic copper toggle clasp finishes the design.

Mookaite Earrings

Natural edge slabs of mookaite, cut so that the image on the stones mirror one another, wrapped in oxidized copper wire. These slices of stone really show off the range of color in mookaite, with the mustard yellow being the dominant color and even including some tiny droplets of rusty orange on the lower portions of the stones. I added a burnt orange bead to the wire wrapped connectors to pick up the naturally contrasting bits of color in the slabs.

Mookaite Statement Necklace

Mookaite doesn't need much help to make a statement! To the mookaite stone nuggets, I added some of the same elements that I used in the bracelet design. The brick red (green heart) trade beads, African brass and vintage Czech glass seed beads. For an unusual touch, I wrapped brass cones in recycled sari silk echoing the burgundy tones, and bronze wire. A large Saki bronze toggle clasp adds to the exotic character of this choker length statement piece.





Gloria Ewing

The Kristi Kollaboration

Mayan Style Copper Clay Earrings

The "kollaboration" to which I am referring is between me and Kristi Bowman-Gruel. We found one another on Facebook, and I have been using her metal clay components since she first began to sell them. It was a pleasant surprise when I found Kristi because we share an appreciation of rustic style jewelry. So, of course, the components that Kristi designs are rustic and sometimes tribal, both of which fit well into my approach to jewelry design.

As you can see, we both have a wild side. I love to come up with new ways to use these amazing components, so you will see them often in my work. The earrings in the above left photo are called "Rag and Bone", and are listed in my Etsy shop.

Kristi is branching out into polymer clay (in the picture on the left) and is applying her uniquely original style (she calls it "wonky") to this new medium. I look forward to working more with her polymer clay creations and whatever brilliant idea she may dream up in the future. The bracelet on the left is also available in my Etsy shop.

Gloria Ewing
Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire