Amber ...

... I always think of it as a winter sort of thing, Amber.
Perhaps because my first amber was these beads, bought for me by my mum, for my 19th or 20th birthday I think, because I had coveted them for so very, very long.I'm a winter bebe you see. I love the rich golds, reds and yellows that flash out of amber, and the faults and crazes that make it look so beautifully less than perfect.

This isn't amber, it's glass, but until I find the perfect amber heart, like my mum has, until I find that one I'll settle for this. It's cold though, and heavy, two things amber is not.

This isn't amber either, it's topaz, set in old gold. I bought it for myself from some dinky wee estate jewelery shop. I've not worn it for years and years because it's perfect pinned to the throat of a black, woollen, high-neck jumper, which I've not worn since we moved to Sydney. Still, perhaps, one day I'll move back somewhere with a winter.These are amber, three attempts to buy earrings to go with the amber beads. The ball at the bottom was the first attempt, cheapies from a hippy shop. Not very good quality amber but pretty nonetheless. To the right the second attempt, again not the best quality amber I'm afraid.

To the left and below some really heavy Georg Jensen studs, my most recent and most successful attempt at matchy-matchy.

It's hard to get the light just right but at times the deep red gold comes through. They are really heavy thought, and so they don't droop I've got to pin them in hard, which makes my ear lobes go red. I suspect this makes me look like a high blood pressure victim ready to keel over. But I could be wrong.

Someone who knows told me the more faults in the amber the poorer quality it is. You want some, for interest, so it doesn't just look like plastic, but too much, like the ball above, and it's cheap. People who know these things notice. I once wore my beads and the ball earrings and this odd woman came up, extravagantly complemented the beads, and then said "pity about the earrings". This isn't amber, it's carnelian. Another estate jeweler find. Hmmm, macro lens shows up the dirt doesn't it?

And a final piece of amber, a ring, mid-quality I guess. I always thought it looked a bit like a cat's eye but up close it's now reminding me of the eye of Sauron.
Call Mr Brown to come take me away if I start whispering about "my precious".This isn't amber, but the evening sun shinging lights her up like she was made of it.