~ Info on Stones & Pearls ~

We do not make any jewelry from materials obtained from endangered species including, but not limited to the following:

Amazonite is the rare green variety of microcline that is used as a semiprecious stone. It is also known as amazon stone. The name microcline comes from two Greek words meaning little and inclined, referring to the cleavage angle's slight inclination from ninety degrees.

Amazonite color varies in shades of green to blue-green. It has a vitreous luster with transparency ranging from being opaque to translucent.

Amazonite is used as an ornamental lapidary material. It is said to alleviate muscle spasms and to relieve stress and exhaustion. It also stimulates clarity of thought, to enhance understanding and improves one's ability to interact with others. It is believed to pacify, soothe, harmonize, balance human energies. Amazonite creates a feeling of power and also leads a person away from the self-destructive behavior. It facilitates a feeling of peace and calmness that flows to the heart and aligns the physical and astral bodies.

Amethyst is the purple variety of quartz and is one of the most popular gems. If it were not for its widespread availability, amethyst would be very expensive. Amethyst is a widely used gem. Most amethyst is faceted or cut into cabochons for jewelry. Large chunks of amethyst are carved. Amethyst is also popular among mineral collectors.

The color Of amethyst, has become a coined phrase. Many things are said to be of an amethyst color. Even other, more expensive purple gemstones are often compared to its color and beauty. It must always be purple to be amethyst. But it comes in a very wide range of purple shades. Amethyst comes in long six sided crystals or can form as druzies that are crystalline crusts that only show the pointed termination's. Its color and nice crystal shapes make it a popular mineral specimen.

Phantom quartz shapes are sometimes present in the interior of quartz crystals, outlining an earlier stage of the crystal's formation. These phantoms are usually composed of other minerals or other varieties of quartz This leaves a coating on most or all of the surfaces of the crystal during its growth. The crystal then resumes its crystallization creating a phantom crystal outline within itself.

Aventurine

Distinguishing Characteristics:  As you move a piece of aventurine. The sparkling inclusions produce reflections causing a glittering effect. In the gem trade this effect is known as aventurescence.

Deposits are found in Brazil, India, Austria, Russia, and Tanzania. India produces the majority of the world’s aventurine quartz.

Very fine grades of Green aventurine that show little, if any, of the sparkling impurities. Has been miscalled Indian jade. It is usually pretty easy to tell the difference just look into the stone with a 10 power hand lens and see if you can see the very small mica flecks. Sometimes the flecks are so small that other gemological instruments are needed. These grades are probably as rare if not more rare than the jade they mimic.

The astrological sign of green aventurine quartz is Aries. Green aventurine quartz can be an alternate birthstone for the month of August.

Records from the late 1800's show that aventurine was being imported to the German gemstone center of Idar-Oberstein. After World War I, these lapidaries were importing the material in quantity and are still doing so today. American dealers have been importing it since World War II. Today a good deal of aventurine quartz is sold as beads.

One of the most impressive examples of cut aventurine is an obelisk carved by HelmutWolf. A famous carver from the village of Kirschweiler near Idar-Oberstein. It stands 5-1/2 feet high and weighs 2.5 tons. It was cut from fine green Indian Aventurine.

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Fluorite

Fluorite, also called fluor, fluorspar is a mineral often fluorescent in ultraviolet light.  Fluorite deposits form under a wide variety of conditions: as veins produced by hydrothermal alteration, as beds and cavities in sedimentary rocks, in hot spring deposits, and in pegmatites.

Fluorite has a long standing history. Though it is relatively soft, it was used by ancient Egyptians in statues and to carve scarabs. The Chinese have used it in carvings for over 300 years. It appears as translucent with green, off-white, yellow, brown, and purple.  Fluorite was also powdered in water to relieve the symptoms of kidney disease.

Garnet

With the exception of blue, garnet is found in every color of the spectrum. You may have heard of other names than red, to describe different garnet types. Some of these names are. Tsavorite (Emerald Green), Rhodalite (pink-purple), Mandarin (bright orange), Thai (reddish orange), Grape (almost purple).

Garnet has been dubbed the gem of faith, constancy and truth. Asiatic tribes carved garnets into bullets in the belief that their fiery color would inflict more deadly wounds. They were ground into powder for the treatment of fever or jaundice. If the cure didn't work, the apothecary was accused of using an imitation.

Garnets are fairly hard and durable gemstones that are ideal for jewelry use. Garnets have long been carried by travelers to protect against accidents far from home.

The name garnet probably comes from pomegranate. Many ancient pieces of garnet jewelry are studded with tiny red stones that do look a lot like a cluster of pomegranate seeds.

Garnet has become increasingly favored in recent years. One of the most popular has been Rhodolite, a lively violetish-red color liken to rose wine. Garnets of this color are also found in Idaho.

Spessartite encompasses the oranges from tangerine to rootbeer. The one called Mandarin, a newly discovered garnet from Namibia. Is a very bright orange. It is the most popular of this variety.

In the late '60s a new garnet was discovered which made green an important garnet color. This is the tsavorite, named after the Tsavo region of Africa. Its color may resemble emerald. The increasing scarcity of fine emerald has contributed to its importance.

Grape Garnet is mined in the Orissa district of Northwest India. It is a mixture of almandite & spessartite. It is an intense purple-red variety of garnet that has a distinctively different color than ordinary rhodolilte or amandine garnet. These garnets can be purple and could be easily confused with amethyst.

Grape Garnet is a small fraction of Indian garnet production. For many years this material was badly faceted. The stones were dull purple set in silver jewelry or as beads. But careful selection of rough and precision faceting brings out its unique fire and color. The result is an intense purple-red hue that flashes and sparkles even in low light, and is stunning in sunlight.

Color Change Garnet is a mixed garnet from Africa in which you can observe the distinctive color change as this gem switches from yellowish green under fluorescent light to a purplish red. It may also be highlighted by flashes of burnt orange.

Jade

The term "jade" refers to two different, yet similar in physical properties, semi-precious metamorphic mineral gemstones, Jadeite and Nephrite. Jadeite is almost never found in individual crystals and is composed of microscopic interlocking crystals that produce a very tough material. Nephrite is actually not a mineral, but a variety of the mineral actinolite. The nephrite variety is composed of fibrous crystals inter-twinned in a tough compact mass. Nephrite is usually only green and creamy white, while jadeite can have the full range of jade's colors.

Jade has resistance to breakage and chipping as jade and due to its toughness it was made a superior weapon and tool for early man. It has popularly become a symbolic stone used in ornaments and religious artifacts. Valued for its beauty, Jade is highly sought after by artwork collectors. Jade has a warm, approachable and desirable appearance, admirable for both it's simplicities and complexities. The Chinese consumed powdered jade as a medical remedy for just about every ailment known. It was also consumed by the dying, as a powerful embalming solution. Jade is mined in the regions of Canada, Australia, United States and Taiwan.

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Jasper

Jasper is an opaque, impure Chalcedony, traditionally thought of as red. It also comes in pinks, yellows, greens, browns, and grayish tones. Association with other minerals give jasper nice bands and patterns. In the ancient world Jasper was a favorite gem. We can find the name jasper in Ancient Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek, and Latin.  Jasper is usually named according to its pattern. picture jasper, ribbon jasper, orbicular jasper, abraciated and etc.  Jasper is found worldwide, although Picasso jasper is rare.
 

Picture jasper, because of it's unique landscape patterns and wide range of colors, is one of the most famous verities.  Picture jasper is a petrified or silicated mud. Looking at it's patterns. It isn't hard to visualize mud dripping into gas pockets in molten lava, becoming super-heated and then solidifying into this treasured gemstone.

Labradorite

A beautiful mineral, labradorite can produce a colorful play of light across cleavage planes and in sliced sections called labradorescence that ranges from the blues and violets through greens, yellows and oranges. Labradorite is usually cut with a flat surface in order to highlight the flashes of color.

The gemstone is found in the regions of Newfoundland, Canada, Ukraine, Ural mountains, and the USA. Finish labradorite is also known as spectrolite. The major sources include: Finland, Canada and the USA.  Labradorite is said to heal mental confusion and indecision allowing to understand ourselves on a deeper level. It is a solar plexus stone and strengthens the immune system.

Malachite and Azurite

Malachite and Azurite are both simple Copper carbonates. Azurite occurs as a secondary mineral in the oxidized zones of copper deposits. Where as Malachite occurs as an alteration product in the oxidized zones of copper deposits.

They are chemical twins. The only differences is that Azurite holds less water than Malachite. The green patina on weathered copper roofs is a form of Malachite. Both Malachite and Azurite are formed when carbon dioxide and water, weather copper ore or when copper ore weathers the mineral calcite. Azurite is found in shades of deep blue and is much more rare then Malachite.

Azurite and Malachite are very often found together. Blue bladed azurite crystals blending with the rich green of malachite is a very pleasing mineral combination. A rarer Azurite mixture, known as "Bluebird", is Azurite mixed with dark red Cuprite.

The massive, botryoidal, reniform, and stalactitic forms of Malachite have dense growths of tiny, fibrous needles and are almost always internally banded in different shades of green. These interesting bands and rich green colors, make Malachite a very appealing gemstone. Malachite also often forms as a mass with concentric bands of light and dark green.
Specimens with concentric rings are highly prized.

Moonstone

Moonstone is in the mineral composition group of silicate, and the sub-mineral group of tectosilicate. A significant portion of the earth's crust is composed of minerals from the feldspar group such as Moonstone, Amazonite, Oligoslase, and labradorite, most of which are not gemstones. In India, moonstone is considered to be a sacred stone and has a floating light effect and sheen called adularescence, compared to the light of the moon. This phenomena results from alternating layers of two kinds of feldspar, namely orthoclase and albite, which cause light to scatter.

Rare forms of moonstones are from Plagioclase Feldspars Albite and Labradorite. It is a popular gem and comes in an assortment of colors. It is usually set as a cabochon and extensively used in making jewelry. It is monoclinic; it has one two-fold axis of symmetry. Moonstone specimens commonly exhibit chatoyancy, and sometimes display a strong cat's eye.

"The practice of inducing mollusks to make pearls goes back more than 1,500 years.

As early as the 5th century, the Chinese produced pearls by inserting small objects, including images of Buddha, between the shell of a freshwater mussel and its nacre-producing mantle. These "blister pearls" were raised shapes attached to the shell. In the 1750s, the Swedish naturalist Carl von Linné, also known as Linnaeus, created the first cultured round pearls by spacing the inserted objects away from the shell with a silver wire.

Modern pearl culturing blossomed in Japan under the leadership of Kokichi Mikimoto. He harvested his first blister pearl in 1893, and by the 1930s he had transformed the pearl industry. By inserting round pieces of freshwater mussel shell into the flesh of akoya pearl oysters (Pinctada fucata), his workers produced perfectly round pearls by the millions." - American Museum of Natural History

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Peridot

Peridot, a volcanic gemstone is a yellow-green variety of olivine. It is composed of silica, magnesia and iron. It is the traditional birthstone of August. The gemstone is formed of olivine, a silicate found in igneous rocks and a major constituent of the Earth's upper mantle.

The word "peridot" is derived from French word "peritot" meaning unclear. It also believed to take its name from the Arabic word "faridat" meaning gem. Small crystallites of peridot are often found in the basalt rocks created by volcanoes and have been found in iron-nickel meteorites called pallasites. It is found in the USA, Myanmar, Egypt, China, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Faceted peridot is highly prized gemstone and is also used as birthstone and in making jewelry. It is used both as a faceted and tumbled gem.

Quartz ~ Agate

Quartz, in all its forms, is the single most abundant mineral on earth, making up almost 12% of the earth's crust. Quartz varieties are separated into two basic groups, macrocrystalline and microcrystalline. In macrocrystalline quartz the individual quartz crystals can be seen with the naked eye. In microcrystalline, sometimes called cryptocrystalline, the individual crystals are to small to be seen even under slight magnification.

Agates and chalcedony in other forms, like chrysoprase and carnelian, jaspers and flints, are some of the cryptocrystalline forms of quartz. Some examples of the macrocrystalline forms of quartz are amethyst, ametrine, citrine, rose quartz, rutilated and smoky quartz. Agates in many different varieties are distributed worldwide but localities of agate beds of major significance only number less
than a hundred.

Humanity has admired agates for thousands of years.  In ancient times the beauty and durability of agate prompted man to use it in both practical and ornamental forms. It was believed that agate had unique properties that protected the wearer from dangers and promoted strength and healing. Agates in general come in many different forms and are formed in at least five different ways. The main conditions necessary for agate formation, are the presence of silica from denitrified volcanic ash, water from rainfall or ground sources, and manganese, iron and other mineral oxides that form the bands and inclusions.

Rutilated Quartz:

Most varieties of transparent quartz, are valued most when they lack inclusions. But Rutilated quartz is transparent rock crystal with golden or red needles of rutile trapped inside, that create beautiful diverse patterns. Some have called it Venus’ Hair Stone.

Rutile forms prismatic or needle like crystals (tetragonal system), most commonly red-brown in color, streak is pale brown, luster is adamantine to metallic, Widespread in small amounts, rutile occurs in intermediate basic igneous rocks as a high-temperature accessory mineral, in gneiss and schist, and in high-temperature veins and pegmatite dikes. Because it is highly resistant to chemical and physical weathering, it is common in placer deposits.

Rutile is known to cause the stars in ruby and sapphire, and will also form in topaz and tourmaline, Today, the vast majority of Rutilated Quartz is mined in Brazil, but it is found in most of the major gem producing nations.
 

Tiger's Eye

Tiger's Eye is a durable quartz composite with the usual quartz hardness. It begins as the fibrous blue mineral called crocidolite, which is comprised of iron & sodium. Most of us known crocidolite as asbestos. The transformation begins when quartz becomes imbedded between the fibers of crocidolite. This process will result in one of two gemstones. A blue stone called Hawk’s Eye or the golden brown stone called Tiger’s Eye.

During the process, the asbestos is completely dissolved. But The quartz takes on the fibrous formations and the blue color of crocidolite. This creates the parallel lines within the gem which gives it that ever shifting play of light and movement, the stone is so loved for. This is also known as chatoyancy. This gleam that rolls across its surface, much like the eyes of a cat.

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