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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The Sparkle of Swarovski

For the longest time, I wouldn't use Swarovski crystals in my jewelry. I wanted the jewelry to be pure gemstone jewelry with only sterling or gold - I didn't use lampwork beads either. I soon learned what I was missing! Now my only quandary is how much mixing to do with Swarovski. Do I want to add lampwork beads? Pure Swarovski? Should I add some gemstones? And with the addition of the new Graphic, Helix, Cosmic, and other special beads in the very large sizes, Swarovski is more fun to work with than ever.
The first bracelet is one of my favourites: aquamarine, golden shadow, light amethyst, and alexandrite reflect the colours in the two small lampwork beads by Lynn Nurge. These beads have all the colours of an Austrian opal and a certain iridescence also. The Swarovski bracelet is assymetrical as are many of the bracelets I make from a variety of materials.
I stuck with the large Graphic and Cosmic crystals in the bracelet below. The Indicolite Swarovski crystals are accented only by sterling silver Bali beads. The bracelet is nice and chunky and sparkling, and those are good things! Plus, the colour of Indicolite is one of the most mysterious dark turquoise blues I've ever seen.
The last bracelet below is made of Caribbean Blue Opal Swarovski crystals (AB); once again I've only added sterling silver - delicious large filigree beads from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes as well as the neatest ring beads, about 8mm in diameter, that are also wide with some imprinting on them.
You'll be able to find these bracelets and others on the Cluny Grey Jewelry site on the Swarovski Crystal Bracelets page.



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