Handmade Horse Lover's Jewelry
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Facet Facts:
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At Adornables Handmade Jewelry, we use mainly materials found in nature. As great lovers of all things natural, we feel a special reverence for gemstones, pearls and amber. Our talent for handmade jewelry is God-given, as are the following treasures. This page will share interesting facts about some of our favorite materials - facts ranging from the metaphysical to the egghead :-).
Gemstones and Jewelry Materials
Agate
Agate is a form of chalcedony quartz colored primarily by bands or wispy inclusions. These patterns may be straight, concentric, or shaped in landscape-like patterns.
In ancient times, agate was highly valued as a talisman or an amulet, said to miraculously quench the thirst of its owner and to protect him from fever. Agate was also said to cure insomnia, facilitate greater discretion, and bring its wearer strength and victory in battle.
Agate bowls have been popular since the reign of the Byzantines, and collecting agate items became a pastime among European royalty during the Renaissance.
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin, the material that flows beneath tree bark and protects the tree when its health is threatened by boring insects or heavy weather. Over many years, the resin hardens, possibly trapping insect specimens inside, and becomes amber.
Amber is typically a dark-brown to a pale-yellowish color, albeit interference of light with any bubbles trapped inside may result in green, blue, or violet overtones. Several ways of testing for genuine amber exist.
First, amber will float in a saturated salt water solution, while plastic imitations will sink. Second, amber, when burned emanates a sweet, piney smell, while plastic imitations emit a strong, penetrating, and distinctively unpleasant smell.
Also, amber will not melt – it burns like incense, while plastic and poor quality amber, called copal, will melt. Finally, amber will chip and disintegrate into powder when cut, while plastic will form curled peelings or large chips.
Amber has never been synthesized.
Amethyst
Amethyst is a fairly common purple-to-lilac-colored gemstone, ranging in translucence from the fairly opaque to the more highly valued and higher quality transparent stones. Amethyst is a purple variety of the quartz family, and the stone is generally regarded as the most valuable type of its kind.
When left in the sun, amethyst tends to lose its color, which can only be restored by a fairly expensive radiation process.
Heat-treated amethyst may change to other colors, such as yellow (citrine), red, brown, green, or clear, at which point it is no longer properly called amethyst. Amethyst is the state gemstone of South Carolina.
It is also a symbol of sincerity, security, and peace of mind. Its name comes from the Greek word “amethustos” which means “without wine.” According to legend, drinking from an amethyst chalice will prevent intoxication.
Amethyst can be imitated by purple glass, albeit its low price makes imitation relatively infrequent and fairly unattractive. Amethyst is the anniversary stone for the 4th, 6th, and 17th years of marriage.
Black Onyx
An opaque, black member of the quartz family, black onyx is also known as chalcedony. Onyx tends to chip or crack rather easily. Take care to protect it from scratches and blows.
Bloodstone
Bloodstone is actually a green jasper dotted with bright red specks of iron oxides (rust). This stone, also known as heliotrope, was treasured in ancient times.
Medieval Christians often used bloodstone to carve images of the crucifixion, a common practice that lent it its eventual moniker, the "martyrs' stone." A legend states that at the Crucifixion, the blood of Christ dripped onto and then stained some green jasper, forming the first bloodstone.
Fine, powdered bloodstone is used as medication and as an aphrodisiac in India today. In general, the polished surface of this type of stone will dull and later wear away upon contact with water. As with other jewelry, avoid scratches, sharp blows, and contact with harsh chemicals.
Carnelian
A finely grained form of quartz mineral, carnelian has a uniformly reddish-brown color that shifts to a deeper red when left in sunlight. It is a member of the chalcedony family, which derives any color from the presence of iron.
Carnelian was a useful material in the making of official and royal seals, since wax would not adhere to its polished surface.
Garnet
Although garnet is actually a family of gemstones encompassing a wide range of colors, the classic jeweler's garnet, known as pyrope, generally has a deep red color.
Other garnet species include the dark red Almandine, the reddish-orange Spessartine, the yellow-green Grossular, the brown-green Andradite, and the deep green Uvaroite. Recently, all five of these other garnets have found their way onto the gem market. A fairly hard mineral, Garnet is about 7-7.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness and is the state gemstone of Connecticut and New York.
Garnet is given and received as a symbol of consistency, perseverance, and good health. It is a power stone, and, according to legend, it guides its wearer when he’s traveling at night. The stone also supposedly protects its wearer from nightmares and depression. It is the anniversary stone for the 2nd and 6th years of marriage.
Green Aventurine
This is a largely green crystal that may have brown overtones due to inclusions of fuschite crystals. Aventurine may fade in the sun.
Hematite
Hematite is a shiny black mineral similar in appearance to polished black steel. Its name is derived from the Greek word “hema,” meaning blood, because it will leave a red streak when handled and will dye water red when powdered.
Rouge, a common facial powder, is actually powdered hematite. Hematite is a form of iron oxide and is somewhat subject to rusting over time.
Specular hematite is relatively brittle and less durable than the jeweler's type, but it displays a spectacular range of rainbow colors. Originally, hematite was used as “mourning jewelry.” Hematite was also supposed to stop bleeding, and it was said to bring good fortune to those addressing kings, judges, and entering litigation. Additionally, hematite was once used to bring invulnerability to warriors.
Hematine is the best-known hematite imitator. It is a mixture of stainless steel and sulfides of chromium and nickel. Hematine will leave a red streak as does true hematite, but it is magnetic, whereas hematite is not.
Howlite
Howlite naturally occurs in a white or delicately black-veined state, often in masses weighing two kilograms or more. It is often stained blue to imitate turquoise.
Howlite is usually used to fashion cabochons, carvings, and beads.
Jade
Jade is a pale-green-to-orange stone once treasured in China as the imperial stone. Jade appears in two forms, jadeite and nephrite, with jadeite being the higher valued for its more vivid green colors and finer translucency than nephrite jade.
Jadeite jade also comes in lavender, pink, yellow, and white. Nephrite is found in less intense dark spinach greens, white, browns, and black.
Jadeite jade is often fashioned into dome-shaped cabochons and is a bit harder and more durable than nephrite jade due to its microcrystalline structure. Jade is sold by the piece rather than by the carat.
The most important factor of jade is its color, though attention is also paid to its texture, translucency, and pattern. Certain patterns, like moss-in-snow, are highly valued.
Jade was once thought to preserve the body after death, and for thousands of years, has prevailed as a symbol of love, purity, and status. It was also, for a time, viewed as prevention and a cure for kidney problems.
Moonstone
Moonstone is a variety of feldspar that gives off a shimmer, known as schiller or adularescence. Moonstones come in a variety of colors, ranging from clear to gray, brown, yellow, green, or pink, and it may be translucent or transparent.
The highest quality moonstones have a bluish sheen, a truly colorless body, and perfect clarity. Moonstones are usually cut in a smooth-domed cabochon shape to maximize their shimmering effect, although they are sometimes carved to show a man-in-the-moon face.
Moonstone tends to chip or crack rather easily. Take care to protect it from scratches and blows.
Opal
Opal is a shiny, variegated stone that reflects light in many different colors. Generally white, orange, or black, all specimens have flecks of purple, red, green, and yellow dancing inside. Black opals of extraordinarily dark body color display the most brilliant flashes of color and are the most valuable form of opal. Transparent opals are the second on the scale of value, since many layers of color can be seen inside their depths. Milky or white opals are the most affordable, but they tend to have diffused colors as a result of the light background. Water may compose up to 30% of an opal’s content, and drying out an opal may cause cracks to appear.
Preventing the formation of these fine, internal cracks, known as crazing, is believed to require the perpetual soaking of opal in a water or oil bath. Crazing does not usually occur in Australian black opal, but it is characteristic of Virgin Valley opals.
Virgin Valley Black Fire Opal is the state gemstone of Nevada. Opal is given and received as a symbol of hope, happiness, and truth, and it was described in medieval times as a cure for diseases of the eye. Typically white, these stones are first soaked in sugar and then placed in sulfuric acid. The acid bath turns the sugar black, giving the stone a black body color appearance. Opal is the anniversary gemstone for the 14th and 18th years of marriage.
Pearl
Not a true gemstone, the pearl is actually formed in a shellfish as a reaction to irritants, like sand or other debris. Cultured pearls may be formed by artificially placing irritants inside mussels.
Pearls are usually white, brown, silver, cream, black, or pink, depending on the type of shellfish that created them and the type/quality of the water in which the shellfish lives. Their prices vary widely as a result of luster, size, nurturing method, color, and type.
Natural pearls are the most expensive, followed by cultured pearls, and finally by freshwater pearls. Pearls are relatively soft, having a hardness factor of 3, and they are state gemstone of Tennessee.
Pearls are said to encourage sincere introspection and boost self-confidence. A gift of pearls is said to symbolize the love of the person who presents it. Pearls are also emblems of modesty and purity, symbolizing love, success, and happiness.
They are said to foster a happy marriage and are often referred to as the “Queen Gem.” The freshwater pearl is the anniversary gem for the first year of marriage. Natural pearl is the anniversary gem for the 3rd, 12th and 30th years of marriage.
Peridot
Peridot is a lime-green-to-olive gemstone often worn in the form of necklaces and earrings. It is created from volcanic eruptions and is sometimes even found on meteors that have fallen to earth.
Its color is dependent on its body size, so the smaller stones cannot produce the intense greens for which the larger ones are especially prized. It is the state gemstone of Nevada and has a hardness rating of 6.5 on the Mohs scale.
Peridot is a fairly soft gem and is susceptible to attack by acids, which can quickly remove the polish from its surface. Peridot is a symbol of fame, dignity, and protection, and it is used to transform dreams into reality.
When set in gold, it also protects its wearer from terrors of the night. Legend has it that pirates favored peridot to protect them against evil. Peridot is the anniversary gemstone for the 16th year of marriage.
As with all gems, protect peridot from scratches, and sharp blows. Also, avoid large temperature changes (such as those that would result in leaving it near a heater vent or in a hot car). Do not clean peridot in a home ultrasonic cleaner.
Picture Jasper
A fairly hard member of the chalcedony/quartz family, jasper is a fairly all-inclusive term for opaque, colored chalcedonies. Jasper displays patterns as often as not, but it usually has a rich body color in shades of red, brown, green, and yellow.
A very fine-grained and dense material, jasper polishes easily and brightly.
Quartz
Quartz is one of the most common gemstones, and it is also one of the most variegated, often used as a surrogate for more valuable gemstones, ranging from the diamond to jade. Pure quartz is colorless, but inclusions of other minerals may provide color. Varieties of quartz include the rose quartz, a pinkish translucent quartz; smoky quartz, a brown transparent quartz; and the water-clear rock crystal used in crystal balls. Quartz is also found in forms valued for their inclusions, the rutilated and tourmalinated quartz, which contain hair-like filaments of golden rutile or tourmaline crystals.
Rose Quartz
Rose quartz is a much rarer, considerably more expensive form of the extremely common clear quartz (or rock crystal). It has a rosy-red hue that may be fairly cloudy as a result of straking by small fissures.
Rose quartz is somewhat less common than the other color varieties, and it sometimes contains rutile inclusions dense enough to form a star.
Tigereye
An opaque form of included quartz that, when beaded and polished, is streaked by spindle-like bands of light. These bands of light are a result of the presence of compact fibers of quartz that have replaced the original asbestos.
Albeit typically of a brown or brownish-yellow to a blue or blue-green hue, heated yellow-brown tigereyes may take on a reddish color due to oxidation of iron present inside the gemstone. Tigereye may also be bleached in hydrochloric acid and then dyed in colors such as pure red, yellow, blue, gray, or green. These colors are relatively attractive, but do not occur in nature.
Tourmaline
The word "tourmaline" is derived from the Sinhalese term “turamali”, which means “mixed colored stones.” It has likely one of the richest and widest color ranges of all gems, and, like garnet, it is actually a group of individual gems/minerals.
Tourmaline is actually the general group name of several different minerals with similar atomic structures and chemical compositions. The gemstone family has perhaps the largest band of colors, ranging from colorless to black and every color in between. Reddish-purple tourmalines are the most valuable and may have brown, pink, and orange gradations. Greener tourmaline are modified by shades of blue, yellow, and brown, with particularly rich varieties selling for more than $100 per carat. Tourmaline is piezo-electric, which means it will generate a charge if put under pressure; and it is also pyro-electric, which means it will generate a charge if heated and then cooled. Tourmaline is associated with level-headedness, meditation, and compassion. It was also believed to enable alchemists change base metals into gold.
Turquoise
Turquoise is a vibrant light-blue-to-green-gemstone with a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale. It is often fracture sealed, which means it is sealed with acrylic resin to enhance its color, texture, and hardness, not that it has fractures.
Turquoise made in a laboratory has a very uniform color, and chalky varieties of turquoise are often coated with wax or oil to enhance its color. When thus treated, the color change is not permanent.
Under heat (roughly about 500 degrees Celsius), blue turquoise will adopt a greenish hue. Turquoise is porous and will absorb oils (including skin oils) over time, gradually changing to a yellowish color.
Turquoise supposedly prevents procrastination, and it has been thought to warn its wearer of danger or illness by changing color. Turquoise is the anniversary gemstone for the 5th year of marriage. Turquoise is somewhat soft, so avoid scratches and sharp blows. To be certain that no coatings are removed, also avoid hot water and household chemicals.
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Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness In 1812 the Mohs scale of mineral hardness was devised by the German mineralogist Frederich Mohs (1773-1839), who selected the ten minerals because they were common or readily available. The scale is not a linear scale, but somewhat arbitrary.
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