Laurie’s Blog
Zircon is one of December’s birthstones. It is a colorful gem with high refraction and fire that’s unfairly confused with cubic zirconia. It is a completely distinct, natural species, found in Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, and Australia. Zircon comes in blue, white, yellow, purple, green, gray, red, pink, orange, and brown. Its hardness is 7.5 on the Mohs scale.
Shown here is a stunning 12mm trillion blue zircon with .24ct Diamond set in 18KY.
Most recently created by hand in our workshop, Lenox, MA, in the Berkshires. These earrings feature a matched pair of pink zircon with large pink baroque pearl drops set in 14K red gold. Dramatic and elegant!
Bright golden topaz trillions top these luscious golden South Sea drop pearls. A stunning combo!
Topaz is the birthstone for November. Most Topaz crystals are colorless, however topaz crystals that are sold in jewelry stores are pink, sherry brown, or yellow, blue, gray, green, reddish pink. It’s hardness is 8 on the Mohs scale. Topaz in its natural state is a golden brown to yellow, a characteristic which means it is sometimes confused with the less valuable gemstone citrine. A variety of impurities and treatments may make topaz wine red, pale gray, reddish-orange, pale green, or pink, and opaque to translucent/transparent.
Orange topaz, also known as precious topaz, is the traditional November birthstone, the symbol of friendship, and the state gemstone of the Utah.
Imperial topaz is yellow, pink, or pink-orange. Brazilian imperial topaz can often have a bright yellow to deep golden brown hue, sometimes even violet. Many brown topazes are treated to make them bright yellow, gold, pink, or violet colored.
Blue topaz is the state gemstone of the Texas. Naturally occurring blue topaz is quite rare. Typically, colorless, gray or pale yellow and blue material is heat treated and irradiated to produce a more desired darker blue.
Tourmaline comes in a variety of colors. Usually, iron-rich tourmalines are black to bluish-black to deep brown, while magnesium-rich varieties are brown to yellow, and lithium-rich tourmalines are almost any color: blue, green, red, yellow, pink, etc. Rarely, it is colorless. Bi-colored and multicolored crystals are common, reflecting variations of fluid chemistry during crystallization. Crystals may be green at one end and pink at the other, or green on the outside and pink inside; this type is called watermelon tourmaline. Some forms of tourmaline are dichroic in that they change color when viewed from different directions.
The opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica. As such, its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. The internal structure of precious opal makes it diffract light. Depending.on the conditions in which it formed, it can take on many colors. Black opals are the rarest, white and greens are the most common. Opal is the national gemsotne of Australia.
Gem opals can be classified into four groups, light, dark, boulder, and black.
Light Opal, the most common, has a translucent milky to opaque white background. Crystal Opal is transparent to translucent. Fire Opal, a type of crystal opal, is reddish orange to red, is normally translucent to semi-translcent, and is found in Mexico and Ethiopia.
Dark Opal is opaque with a gray body color.
Boulder Opal contains sandstone or ironstone. Opal with matrix show visible ironstone. Opal with no visible inclusions is called opal in matrix. Most Boulder Opal is found in Queensland, Australia.
Black opal is opaque and very dark in body color. They are the most brilliant and often the most coslty because of their rarity and intense color. Most of these opals are from Australia.
Sapphire is 9 on the Moh’s Hardness scale, making it a superior gem for jewelry. It is second only to diamond, which is a 10 – the hardest mineral on earth. It comes in all the colors of the rainbow, except for red (ruby) making it a great design inspiration. Shown here is a necklace of pink sapphire faceted rondelles.
Pendant, a slice of blue tourmaline crystal, set in 18KY gold and accented with a 1.12ct. cushion cut blue tourmaline. 18KY leaves adorn the tourmaline creating an organic Berkshire piece. Truly an exquisitely handmade, unique pendant.
See this and many other tourmaline and opal jewelry pieces on our website. All of our jewelry is made by hand in our workshop.
Sapphire is the birthstone for the month of September and the traditional gift for a 45th wedding anniversary. It is a variety of the mineral corundum. It is typically blue, but natural fancy sapphires occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green. It is even found in brown, black, and white. The only color which sapphire cannot be is red – as red corundum is ruby.
Saturday, August 11, 10-8 and Sunday, August 12, 11-5.
Come in to our new gallery and see unique pearl pieces recently created in our workshop. Also on display will be strands of pearls of many colors, shapes, and sizes. Our jewelry features Black Tahitian, Peach Coin, White Baroque, White Fresh Water Drops and more. Be sure to come in and talk with our pearl expert on Saturday.