British Elle and Harper's Bazaar
The past two months, I’ve been honored to have my work featured in both British Elle and British Harper’s Bazaar! I still pinch myself that the jewelry I make has made it’s way into such world class publications!!!
The edition of British Elle is now appearing on US newsstands, while the Harper’s Bazaar issues will be in US newsstands beginning in August. You should be able to find them at most retailers that sell these issues.
I want to thank everyone for all of your love and support of my jewelry! It means the world!! I can’t wait to see where we will be “seen” next!!
December Gems!
Welcome December!!!
December is finally here and with it, brings us one month closer to 2021! 2020 has been an interesting year to say the least, and I know I’m really looking forward to the promise of a New Year on the horizon!
December also highlights my two favorite gemstones as birthstones for the month. Turquoise, with it’s variety of blues, greens and interesting patterns and Zircon, with it’s fiery flashes of light. Both stones are very unique and very different from one another, but both are also so beautiful!
I’ll start with turquoise. Turquoise is a stone that comes with so much history, lore and fascination. It’s prized for it’s perfection of color and interesting patterns. The most valuable turquoise possesses a soft and pleasing blue tone, reminiscent of Robin’s Egg blue. Turquoise was known and used as an ornament in antiquity. The earliest direct reference to turquoise occurs in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics*.
Turquoise ranges in color from beautiful sky-blue to pale green and present a wide diversity of shades. The most valuable stones contain no inclusions, however, as turquoise mines have become depleted over the years, this has changed. Now, the most highly sought gems come from mines that are no longer in operation, such as Bisbee, Orville Jack and a few others.
The most important deposits of turquoise are found in Persia, Central Asia, and the Southwestern portion of the United States.
Turquoise owes it’s color to the presence of copper in it’s molecule and iron exerts an influence over the color of the gem. The blue shades of turquoise are more readily influenced by copper, while the green shades have a greater presence of iron compounds.
Turquoise is a rather soft gem, and therefore needs care when wearing or working with the stone. Because the stone is rather porous in nature, it will easily absorb oils especially if it’s not a sealed stone. (I learned this the hard way with an unsealed sleeping beauty gem, and hand lotion). I always recommend removing your soft stone jewelry before applying lotion, washing hands, or bathing. Also, never put turquoise in an ultrasonic as the vibration can cause the gem to crack along any stress points.
Natural turquoise stone paired with a sparkling blue Zircon
Zircon is another one of my favorite gems, and is in an entirely different spectrum than turquoise. Zircon boasts bold flashes of light and refraction, making everyone aware of it’s beauty and presence. One of the things I love the most about Zircon is how brightly the gems shine! Zircon is best known as a colorless diamond imitation, but it appears in many different colors. Zircon is NOT the artificial gem material called Cubic Zirconia…which is an entirely different material, and not at all a beautiful as natural Zircon.
Blue, Golden and Raspberry Zircon stones
Zircon was widely used as a diamond simulant during the early 1900s. For that reason, many people have never really seen zircon. In the Middle Ages, Zircon was thought to induce sound sleep, drive away evil spirits, and promote riches, honor, and wisdom.Blue zircon was a particular favorite in Victorian times, when fine gems were often featured in English estate jewelry dating from the 1880s. Gemologist George Kunz—Tiffany’s famed gem buyer—was a notable zircon advocate. He once proposed the name “starlite” to promote the gem’s fiery nature. The name never caught on.**
*Source: “Turquois-Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences” by Joseph E Pogue.
**Source: GIA website
I hope you have found this gemstone information interesting. I always love to learn about the different gemstones I use in my work. One of my favorite aspects of making jewelry is working with these amazing stones and bringing them into wearable art!
Please visit it our website to see more of our work, and more interesting gems!
All the best!
Chrissi
AS SEEN IN HOUSE & GARDEN
Hello my friends! We are adding House & Garden magazine to the growing list of magazines where you can find our work!
House & Garden magazine is a beautiful publication and I highly recommend picking up a copy! The photography and articles are excellent!
Our beautiful turquoise and zircon necklace is the piece I chose to be highlighted in the ad and I feel that it looks fantastic!! The print version will be out July 1st and will be a 2-month title.
I hope you enjoy the ad and get a chance to check it out! We are truly honored to have been asked to participate in this campaign!
All the Best!
Chrissi