Amethyst and Citrine
Posted by Leah on May 13, 2008
Did you know that amethyst and citrine are both quartz? Amethyst is the purple variety of quartz, and citrine is yellow. Most people familiar with semiprecious jewelry know that - but did you know that citrine is made by heating amethyst to high temperatures?
There is even a gemstone called ametrine, which has purple and yellow occurring in the same stone. It can occur naturally, but is often manmade. It is a really beautiful stone. I bought some ametrine beads at a gem show once, and just recently decided to find out more about it, and I thought the explanation of how heat is used to change the colors was really interesting.
New Jewelry Display
Posted by Leah on Jun 10, 2007
I found this great torso jewelry display at a local salvage store. “She” is modeling a braided/woven necklace I made a while ago with citrine, carnelian, peridot, and labradorite beads on fine silver wire.
Care for your jewelry
Posted by Leah on May 13, 2007
It’s been a while since I last wrote about caring for jewelry - and since I use a lot of silver and pearls in my work, it seems appropriate to mention how to care for these materials.
The key to preventing tarnish on silver is keeping it clean, and storing it sealed off from air, humidity, and chemicals. Anti-tarnish cloth lining in jewelry boxes also helps.
The key to caring for pearls is to avoid contact with chemicals and anything acidic. Pearls are beautiful, but delicate, and can be damaged by seemingly innocent things like hairspray, so keep pearls clean, but avoid using chemical cleaners on them.
My favorite way to store silver jewelry is in plastic zip-lock baggies. Since I have a lot of jewelry - most of it stock that I take to art and craft shows or deliver to the stores and galleries that sell my work - I need a solution that keeps my jewelry from tarnishing but also doesn’t take up much space. Plastic bags are the perfect solution. Tupperware-style containers also work well. Pearl jewelry should be cushioned, so I recommend anti-tarnish cloth pouches for silver and pearl jewelry, especially if it is stored in a box with other jewelry items that could scratch the surface of the pearls.
Another thing that helps, and don’t ask me why, is to put a small piece of aluminum foil inside the container you use to store your silver.
It might work for the same reasons this simple recipe helps to remove light tarnish from silver jewelry (and is one of the *only* safe cleaning methods for pearl jewelry):
In a bowl, place a piece of aluminum foil. Put your jewelry on top of the foil so that the silver is touching the foil. Sprinkle baking soda on top, and add hot water. Swish the water around for a few minutes, then remove the jewelry and dry with a soft cloth.
Another useful cleaning tip: wipe silver with a polishing cloth after wearing it, and if your jewelry comes in contact with sweat, perfume, hair products, or other cosmetics, it doesn’t hurt to rinse it in lukewarm water and dry with a soft cloth. Then don’t forget to store it away from air and moisture to keep it looking shiny and new!
Some don’ts:
*don’t put on your jewelry until you are finished styling your hair, doing your make-up, etc. Chemicals in beauty products can accelerate tarnishing, and damage pearls and some gemstones
*don’t get salad dressing on your pearls. Seriously - vinegar, which is a common ingredient in salad dressing, will damage pearls. If you do spill on your pearls, rinse them in warm water and dry with a soft cloth.
*don’t keep jewelry in the bathroom - it’s the most humid part of your house, and an area that usually has the most chemicals (in the form of cosmetic products and household cleaning products, which can damage jewelry).
*remove silver and pearls before cleaning your house - again, the chemicals can damage pearls and accelerate tarnish on silver.
*don’t use a silver dip on jewelry that contains pearls, shell, stones, and other non-metal materials. Silver dips are really intended only for silver - try the baking soda and hot water rinse for jewelry that combines silver and other materials - it’s much safer, if not quite as instant.
I’m gradually transitioning from using standard sterling silver to Argentium sterling silver and fine silver, both of which are less prone (though not immune) to tarnish. I hope that by using these alloys, my jewelry will be easier to care for, so although Argentium and fine silver are slightly more expensive than sterling silver, I think it’s worth it for jewelry that resists tarnish and therefore looks new much longer.
Blog about Gemstones
Posted by Leah on Apr 3, 2007
If you want to learn more about gemstones, check out the Gemwise Blog, written by Richard Wise, author of “Secrets of the Gem Trade: The Connoisseur’s Guide to Precious Gemstones
I believe that people who love jewelry - whether buyers or makers - can never know too much about the materials that go into jewelry, so I love resources like this.
Stone Treatments: Dying
Posted by Leah on Oct 31, 2006
Stones (and pearls) are often dyed to enhance or change their natural color to one that is deemed more desirable.
Some dyes stones will retain the color permanently, but some won’t. If you suspect that your pearls or stones are dyed, and you want to check to see how permanent the dye is, soaking them overnight in water with a *mild* soap should remove excess dye, and the color that remains is likely fairly stable and shouldn’t come off on skin or clothes. This won’t prevent fading, however, as some dyes will fade when exposed to sunlight.
Another way to preserve the color of dyed stones and pearls semi-permanently is to spray them with a varnish or laquer. There are many products out there; one affordable and easy to find option is Krylon clear in matte or shiny. This can be found in the spray paint aisle at hardware stores. Use in a well ventilated area (or outside) and be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. I wear a respirator when I use sprays to protect my lungs from the fumes.
Zircon is not Cubic Zirconia
Posted by Leah on Mar 13, 2006
Some recent posts on the Orchid jewelry forum (hosted by Ganoksin.com) reminded me of this issue.
Cubic zirconia is not zircon. Zircon is not cubic zirconia.
They are completely different materials that have similar sounding names. Chemically, zircon is ZrSiO4 and Cubic Zirconia is ZrO2.
In addition, cubic zirconia is almost always manmade, while zircon is a natural gemstone. Both are commonly used to simulate the look of diamonds, but just to be clear: neither is chemically related to diamond at all. Diamond, zircon, and cubic zirconia are three completely different gem materials.
Yellow Turquoise, Purple Turquoise…
Posted by Leah on Feb 17, 2006
Turquoise is generally a bluish/greenish color, with some matrix that is brown or black. So what are these stones for sale called yellow turquoise and purple turquoise?
While I can’t answer that question definitely, I can shed a little light on the subject. Turquoise doesn’t come in purple, at least not from nature. Purple turquoise may very well by dyed turquoise, but don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that bright, almost magenta colored stone is natural.
Yellow turquoise, on the other hand, is trickier. I’ve heard that there is a rare variety of turquoise that is yellow in color. The keyword here is rare — and so-called yellow turquoise beads are most definitely not rare. Most of the beads I’ve seen that people are calling yellow turquoise don’t even really look like turquoise to me. Sure, they have some matrix, but a lot of stones have matrix. A yellowish stone with matrix does not equal yellow turquoise.
Why do I care about this? Mostly for the same reasons I cared a few years ago about “Cherry Quartz” which turned out to be glass, and why it irritates me that so many greenish stones are being called jade. I want people to be honest about what they are selling, and I have a selfish motivation for that. If I buy something from a vendor, and I’m told that it’s yellow turquoise, I might use it in a piece of jewelry and go on to sell that piece of jewelry, all the while claiming that I made it with yellow turquoise. Although I haven’t intentionally mislead a customer at that point, there is a chance that if the customer finds out the stone is not what I said it was, that I could be found guilty of fraud. Besides, I just don’t think it’s nice to lie to people in order to get their money.
Sometimes customers will ask my what kind of stone or shell I’ve used in a piece of jewelry - and often my answer is simply, “I’m not sure, but I thought it was pretty.” I like to use big stone beads - and big beads tend to be made of less expensive raw materials - stones like serpentine and various types of jasper and agate. These stones come in lots of different colors, and some of the jaspers and agates have really beautiful patterns in them - naturally. I see no reason to pretend that the pretty yellowish stone beads with the interesting matrix, which I bought in Tucson, are actually turquoise when I know full well that real turquoise beads (yellow or not) in that size would have been about ten times the money. Are my beads any less beautiful by not being turquoise? Absolutely not, and by being honest with my customers, I am able to build trust, and feel good about myself and the way I do business. Of course, I would like to know what these beads actually are, but that’s a whole different topic…
What is a synthetic stone?
Posted by Leah on Dec 20, 2005
Synthetic gemstones are becoming more and more common today. A synthetic stone simply means a stone created by humans, in a lab, rather than being naturally ocurring.
A synthetic ruby, for example, is a ruby - chemically identical and with the same crystal structure as a natural ruby - but it is grown in a lab.
Synthetic stones can be very high quality, and are usually priced much lower than natural stones, and can be an excellent, affordable alternative to natural stones - if you don’t mind that they are mandmade.
