Monday, January 07, 2013

Garnets for January!


Ah, garnets, a favorite of so many people for so many years! This wonderful red gemstone was named after the pomegranate, most likely because of the color, although garnets come in many different colors including gold, brown, and green.  And I have seen red garnets so dark that they look almost black!
   I am a garnet lover.  I have a garnet ring, an oval that I wear almost everyday. I also have a garnet bracelet (with gold, of course) made of flat, faceted nuggets, made by me, that I wear almost everyday. Garnets are wonderfully versatile and can be worn with most colors.  
  Garnets are the birthstone for January, and we have quite a few garnet bracelets at Cluny Grey for you to peruse.  One of the new ones you can see here, above and below, is a double stranded bracelet with a variety of different garnets including faceted nuggets and my favorite little faceted cushion-cut rectangles.  This garnet bracelet is enhance with borosilicate lampwork beads that pick up the color of the garnets and adds just a touch more. Pretty sterling silver gives the bracelet a feminine touch, but I especially love the toggle clasp that has an bezel-set faceted garnet in it.

Of course, if you know me, you know that I love to mix gemstones, and the more I like a gemstone, the more that I want to mix it! I love aquamarines and thought these pretty deep blue faceted aquamarines would make a great foil for the garnets.  I was right! The sterling toggle clasp is in the shape of a butterfly. All of these gemstones are very fine.



I told you garnets came in other colors! I adore green garnets especially when they are translucent as these are.  Green garnets are rarer than red garnets and really pretty. The faceted nuggets and square here are mixed with plenty of sterling silver. The second strand of the bracelet features one of my favorite twisted rope sterling chains with three Thai Karen Hill Tribes charms hanging at intervals.
One strand simple garnet bracelets, below, for the purist who wants her garnets unadulterated. Accented only by sterling silver, these garnets show off their shapes, first in sterling silver, then in a gold version.

Next post, garnet earrings and garnet necklaces!


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