November 8-14, 2004
In This Installment:
** New Items
** Coming Soon
** Stone Fun Facts
** News & Stuff
** Fortnightly Sale
** Insider's Sale
** Last Week's Top Sellers
New Items
Bargain Beads!
A new section devoted entirely to low-cost beads! I already have the
Closeouts section, but I just got some GREAT bead bargains and am so eager to
get them to you that I had to make a whole separate page just for beads!
Most of these, be warned, are highly irregular cuts or not-so-nice colors.
The rectangles are sometimes wobbly, the round beads won't roll around too much,
and the triangles are sometimes more diamonds than triangles. But for
those of you who are willing to take a chance, this is a great deal. Most
bags of beads are 75 cents to a dollar. Lots to choose from!
Agate Slabs
FINALLY! I used to have these on eBay from time to time (usually when
there was a free listing day), and they have generally been good sellers when I
offer them. The thought of creating an individual listing for every single
one of the 300-plus slabs I have seemed so daunting I just couldn't bear to get
started. Now I have decided to just lump-list, and do the choosing for
you. You get to pick your own colors and shapes (rounded or
elongated). Each is fabulous; it's impossible to choose a favorite!
Soapstone Elephant Candle Holder
A darling little votive holder with undercut elephants in a row.
Rainsticks
Exceptionally high-quality Rainsticks are made from bamboo, with wood-burn
decoration, wicker end caps, a hanging loop, and a high gloss polish. Just
beautiful. See them on the newly-created Instruments page.
Point Beads
I have update the Point Beads page to include Fluorite, Amethyst, and Smoky
Quartz Points. Check them all out (including the Rose Quartz, Clear
Quartz, and Carnelian Points) here:
New Marbles
Still going nuts with the marbles. We've now got
Moonstone, which is a pleasant-colored peachy-pink item with a
tiny bit of shimmer (but not much). Lapis shows a LOT of
white calcite, and has a somewhat lumpy texture. Mahogany Obsidian
is a stunning blend of brown and black. And we've got one
fabulous (and WAY expensive) Garnet marble. Plus,
Green Jade is back in stock. See the new acquisitions on
the Marbles Page.
New Chips
I am currently closing in on 180 different stone types. This week,
we've added some really rare and unusual chips.
Purple Lace Agate
This came to me as "Purple Crazy Lace Agate," but it struck me as looking a
lot like Blue Lace, so I cut the "Crazy" out of the name. A pretty, if
sometimes uneven, mix of white with several shades of purple.
Blue Opal
A very lovely gem-quality Peruvian Opal. Perfectly uniform color, a
very delicate, barely-there blue.
Pink Opal
Another nice Peruvian Opal. A little less fine, but really pretty
nonetheless.
White Fluorite
I have to laugh about this. There is this one wholesaler from whom I
keep trying to order "Purple and white striped fluorite." Every time I
try, I get something terribly different. Last time was the
Blue
Fluorite, which is so amazingly pretty I wasn't disappointed.
(I am almost sold out of that too, and have no idea if I can ever get
more!) When I gave it another try recently, they sent me a bunch of what I
could call "
Phantom Fluorite." It is mainly white, but
there's no mistaking the pale, delicate purples, blues, and greens that are
barely there. A good, ghostly looking stone. Again, this might be a
limited-quantity thing. One of these days we'll finally get the purple
& clear Fluorite!
Chrysoprase
I already have Chrysoprase Nuggets; now here are smaller chips. Great
bright apple green with surprisingly little brown matrix.
Red Lip Shell
A pleasant little shell chip bead with shades of salmon.
White Moonstone
This is the final color in the Multicolor Moonstone group that I don't
already sell. (We already have gray and peach!) A shimmering
off-white gemstone, nice and elegant.
Muscovite Quartzite
This is REALLY cool. Muscovite is a type of mica, which is the
mineral that gives Aventurine its glittery glow. Quartzite is a general
name for a massive type of Quartz. Thus, Muscovite Quartzite is a sort of
rutilated Quartz, with dark red Muscovite rutiles. It's a really striking
chip, with sparkling wine-colored needles. You owe yourself a bag!
Coming Soon
New Beads:
Kambaba Chips, Mexican Zebra Jasper Chips, Red Agate Nugget, Frosted Quartz
Round, Citrine Round, Citrine Brick, Large Garnet Round, Abalone Stick
Ocarinas (clay flutes)
"Fortune Cookie" Silk Purses
"Body Tattoo" Bindis
Silver Capped Point Pendants
Solid Perfume in Soapstone Jars
Stone Fun Facts
Rainbow Calsilica
This stone is shrouded in mystery, and it was hard to find a lot of info on
it, but here goes:
** Rainbow Calsilica is a very newly-discovered gemstone. It only
became available as a gemstone two or three years ago!
** This stone is used often in cabochons and occasionally in beads.
(While round and shaped beads are available in various places, Ephemerala is, as
far as I know, the only place you can get Rainbow Calsilica CHIP beads
online.) It has recently been seen in Zuni fetish carvings as well.
** As fake as it seems (with its sharp layers of bright blue, green, brown,
tan, and yellow), it is THOUGHT to be a real gemstone and not man-made.
However, there is a lot of controversy over its true contents. Some say it
is a Mexican product created by artisans from melted tiles, but this is
unlikely. Some think it might be a composite material found in Mexico from
dumped mining or oil-drilling wastes combined with leached minerals, but this is
suspect. One reputable source says it is composed of Calcium and Silica;
others say it is microcrystalline Calcite banded with a clay called Allophane
(which has a blue/green color). While theories abound that it is man-made,
most people nowadays accept that it is a real gemstone. It is said to
appear in seams of color in the host rock, which is volcanic Rhyolite.
** It is believed to be a very young gemstone, having only formed in the
last 30-50 years. Its youth makes it very soft, and to be used in jewelry,
it is heavily stabilized, which means it is held together by a hard clear resin
so that it won't crumble. (The stabilizing process is another reason why
most people believe it is a naturally occurring stone, as a man-made stone
wouldn't need stabilizing.) You can see this resin in the stone, as small
clear spots.
** It supposedly comes from only one mine in the whole world, and that
place is kept a closely-guarded secret. It is rumored to be in Mexico
or northern Central America.
** The first specimens to come out of the mine were mainly red and yellow,
with some greens and blues. More recently discovered stones have a lot
more greens and blues.
** As you can probably guess, this is an EXPENSIVE stone, especially when
it first came on the scene. Now that it is growing more common, the price
has dipped slightly, but it is still incredibly expensive.
Please see other Stone Fun Facts
here:
News and Stuff
New Pages
I have re-designed the front page of my online store by removing the
Pysanky page (I no longer do that art form, and the one remaining egg I had
recently broke!) and the Ankle Bells page (WHAT was I thinking?), and replacing
them with a Brazilian Agate page and an Instruments page. As mentioned in
the New Items above, I have finally made available my large selection of
Brazilian Agate Slabs. I since I already have Bamboo Flutes and will
eventually list Ocarinas, I decided to create the Instruments page to reflect
these items, as well as the newly-listed Rainsticks. Please see the
Home Page for
these two new categories!
Fortnightly Sale
Dollar Off Clear Quartz!
Everyone needs a little magic. Through the ages mystics have used
Clear Quartz to aid in magic wishes, and there's no better time for wishing than
now! So this week, all beads, pendants, and chip bottles made from Clear
Quartz are a dollar off. Enjoy this wonderful, clarifying, and "magic"
gemstone.
Or see a larger selection on Ephemerala Online:
Dollar Off Clear Quartz Sale is good through November 14,
2004.
Penny Sale
Every two weeks, I hide a new special offer somewhere on my online
site. This listing will offer a certain product for ONE CENT, with any
purchase of $10.00 or more. The item and its location will change every
two weeks, so be sure to look often. Simply go to my online store site:
and browse until you find the hidden listing. Add it to your cart,
along with the rest of your $10+ order, and it will be included for just a
penny. Happy Hunting!
(Recent keen-eyed customers got a bag of LEPIDOLITE CHIP BEADS for a
penny. What will you be able to get this week?)
Insider's Special
Free Surprise Gift
This week, with every single order you place (even the ones of less than
the usual $10.00), I will include a Free Surprise Gift. This gift is going
to be totally random, so it will be a real surprise when you open the
package. All I ask is that you make a note of your special subscriber
status when paying, so that I will know to enclose your
freebie.
Free Surprise Gift Offer is good through November 14,
2004.
Last Week's Top Sellers
(You know you want to be just like everyone
else!)
1. Gemstone Marbles
2. Gem Chip Bottles
3. Turquoise Chip Beads
4. Snake-in-a-Box
5. Gold Flake Bottle
6. Clear Quartz Tube Beads
7. Bamboo Flutes
8. Prehnite Chip Beads
9. Double Pyramid Pendants (nearly sold out!)
10. Stone Heart Pendants
That's it for this issue. Talk to you
again in a week.
--Suzanne Dallapè
eBay User ID:
ephemerala
Visit my online stores:
Please pass my store site to anyone you think might be
interested!
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