The Season of Sapphires

The sapphire is the September birthstone (although many sources will list lapis as an alternate). It is a very popular precious gemstone probably since a large percentage of people say that their favourite colour is blue. However, the sapphire, although know for its beautiful blue, comes in many, many other colours.
The sapphire is a corundum (like the ruby!), made of aluminum oxide, and created by heat and pressure deep within the earth. Other elements are responsible for the colours of sapphires such as iron and chrome. There are pink sapphires, green siapphires, and I have quite a few yellow sapphires in my own stock as well as some white sapphires. When corumdum is red, it is called a ruby. So is a ruby a sapphire? Well, yes, in a manner of speaking. It is the red colour caused by an element in the sapphire that makes a ruby, a ruby!



Sri Lanka, once known as Ceylon, was one of the earliest places to mine sapphires successfully. Sapphires are also found in Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Brazil. Today the largest suppliers of sapphires are Australia and Africa.
Many legends have grown up around the mysterious blue of the sapphire. The sapphire gemstone has been believed to represent wisdom - and even to endow one with wisdom if worn constantly. Thought of as a "mind-opening" gemstone, it is thought to prevent jealousy and bring truth and health to the wearer. Perhaps this is why in ancient times it was believed to be an antidote to poison.
The first two pictures represent jewelry on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website. The bracelet is made of rather large (9mm-10mm) faceted sapphire rondelles and - yes! I added lampwork beads to a sapphire bracelet! These are good borosilicate lampwork beads that have beautiful shades of sapphire in them, and then a faint glimmer of green and a hint of a dark red. They are perfect for sapphires. See the bracelet on the Sapphire Bracelets page of our website.
The earrings are made of faceted sapphire rondelles and sterling added to give them a slightly "Moroccan" look. They are on the Sapphire Earrings page.
The last bracelet is a combination of two favourite gemstones I recently got in. The pink Peruvian opals are some of the most glowing and beautiful I've ever had although they are not very large. The pink colour is wonderful. And the aquamarine gemstones I just got in from Thailand are beautiful. I decided to combine the two beauties just for fun!
Otherwise, custom orders are keeping me busy. I try to make one or two new jewelry pieces a week to put on the website to keep it fresh. So keep looking, you may find your heart's desire (and a great piece of jewelry to wear when you're with him!)

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A Little Lapis

I've been working with lapis lazuli a bit this week, a stone I've always loved, especially if it has a sprinkling of pyrite that glitters and catches the light, and most of this does. I also like lapis because it has a connection to the ancient world; I cannot think of it without seeing in my mind the gold and lapis harp or the little goat-god, Tammuz, with his lapis beard. I like gemstones that give me this link to the ancient past, a romantic notion of mine and I'm sure, many others. Still working with the new Fall colours, I mixed the lapis with glittering sunstone and the loveliest borosilicate lampwork beads I could find. I decided to forget about lampwork beads for the bracelet below, and instead just mixed it with 14 karat gold fill ; it's a simple bracelet with presence. See it on our Lapis Jewelry page.

I also worked with citrine and created this citrine necklace (with matching earrings although you can't see all of them here; they have cabochon citrines in the earwires). I love these clear pale yellow faceted nuggets, and they look great with the Bali sterling silver.


Finally, an amazonite bracelet that I mixed with sterling silver and Pacific Opal Swarovski crystals. I love this combination, but it only works with good, deeply coloured amazonite.
I finally have some auctions listed on Ebay; I'm thinking of closing my store there. Meanwhile, the bids start lower than the usual prices for the jewelry. Do a search for Cluny Grey or look for my user id: chloemarie99.
Meanwhile, keep beading and keep enjoying summer!

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