Showing posts with label bracelets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bracelets. Show all posts

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Garnet: The January Birthstone

Although garnet is the January birthstone, it is a favorite with many, many people. It was a classic gemstone for Victorian and Edwardian jewelry and is still popular today. Perhaps it's because its colour makes it extremely versatile. What, red? Yes, although garnet is a red gemstone, most garnet is a very dark and deep red, almost a maroon or a bugundy. At night especially, it can look almost black. Because of its deep colour, it looks great with black clothing as well as all the neutrals - khaki, navy, white, cream, camel. Garnet necklaces and bracelets look fantastic when worn with light coloured summer clothing; the contrast between the darkness of the garnets and the pale clothing can be very dramatic.

But garnet is an ancient gemstone, mentioned several times in the Bible, usually by the name of carbuncle. Carbuncle, often used for any cabochon red stone in ancient times, particularly referred however to garnets. Supposedly there were carbuncles in Eden, and God even promises his followers that He will "...make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles...." The garnet also comes in almost every colour imaginable except blue. Grossular garnets come in grey, pink, shades of yellow and green although green is probably the best known. Uvarovite is a dark green; spessartine garnet is usally an orange or reddish-orange; pyrope garnet ranges from a dark red to a pinkish-red.Above are green (grossular) garnet earrings. Garnet bracelets, garnet earrings, and garnet necklaces can all be found on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website.

Monday, December 17, 2007

The Gemstone of the Great White North: Labradorite

If there were such a thing as a "winter" gemstone, it would be labradorite. I cannot see the blue flash without thinking of the Northern lights, fjords, and thinking of lands I read about in fairy tales with Hans and Gerda and the Snow Queen. Labradorite is one of the most evocative gemstones I work with.
The bracelet is new, and it has some wonderful flash to it - even where it doesn't show up in the picture. Every single labradorite stone on the bracelet, no matter how small, I chose for its blue flash, and the large smooth oval is simply amazing! Both pairs of earrings also have major flash - some of the best labradorite I've ever had.
Although I love jewelry, I work with gemstones everyday, and tend to get a bit blase about some - which is good because I am able to part with the jewelry I make (otherwise I'd have to build a new room onto my house just to hold the jewelry). But labradorite still gives me pause, so that I find myself sliding stones across my desk and later making something for myself from them (something I rarely do otherwise). There is magic in labradorite, and I love wearing magic.Labradorite Jewelry can be found on these pages on our website: Labradorite Jewelry Labradorite Earrings and Labradorite Necklaces.


Saturday, October 06, 2007

In the Pink?!


I wanted to entitle this post "In the Pink", but when I consider how I've been feeling lately (see post below about remodeling and dust, dust, dust!), I thought it was probably more appropriate to begin with something green, and to put a question mark after the title.
My green is really wonderful though, as it applies to this bracelet, because I was fortunate enough to get some even more beautiful peridot gemstones than the last batch - in nugget form - and these are practically inclusion-free. I mixed them with lampwork beads by Reeves which also has a very pretty blue aquamarine colour in it, so I added the a few of the blue aquamarine nuggets I have that are really nice. Very happy results.
Otherwise, I have been working "in the pink" as far as gemstones go, with pink tourmaline (see bracelet above), pink Peruvian opal (below) and rose quartz (last bracelet). It has been a good week as far as jewelry is concerned, but the work to do at home (the work we have to do when the workmen leave and we have to get everything sorted out and back to its rightful place) is a bit daunting. The peridot bracelet is already listed and the tourmaline, opal, and rose quartz bracelets soon will be. A short post then as I try to put my closet back together (groan).