With over 41 shows, some that had 1000 vendors in them, I had to keep my sensory input from exploding!  There was such an array of the good, the fabulous, and the ugly.  I tried to bring back only the fabulous!

I had an exciting experience arranging this hank of freshwater pearls into a “wig” for this large Barrel Cactus in the middle of the desert.  It was a somewhat painful experience…

It was quite an interesting exercise navigating my way through a very thorny desert landscape to use these stunning cacti as props for some of the gems and pearls that I found here.  The natural crystals of Quartz on a cactus bloom, the wig of Freshwater Pearls on a Barrel Cactus, stunning Tahitian Pearls knotted over a spiny cactus branch, and watery Apatite graces a prickly San Pedro cactus.  This was an unusual show, at least that’s what I thought.  I absolutely saw and conquered some of the most beautiful high end pearls that I have had the pleasure of capturing.  I went to find pearls to use in the expansion of my Luxury Line and I was extremely pleased to bring home some mouthwatering finds, but I also did not find the medium range of pearls that are usually there.  Especially with the pearls, there was either the very high end or the absolute trash…
see the photo below.

With all of the beautiful jewelry that we focus on, we rarely get a chance to see the original raw beginnings.  One of the most fascinating parts of going to Tucson is to be able to see some of the most awe-inspiring and HUGE examples of these stones.