The Art Jewelry Collective’s Earring Maddness continues through the month of September. Our Etsy shop is stocked with an array of earrings. If you like silver, copper, pearls, or colorful beads, you’re bound to find something that is sure to please!
Shop now: http://ArtJewelryCollective.etsy.com
Categories: In the Spotlight · News
Tagged: art jewelry, art jewelry collective, artisan, earring maddness, earrings, etsy, handmade, handmade jewelry, jewelry
~ SEPTEMBER ~
Sapphire is the official bithstone for the month of Septmeber and the Zodiac signs of Pisces, Taurus, Virgo, and Sagittarius. It is given for the 5th and 45th wedding anniversaries, which the star sapphire is given on the 65th wedding anniversary.
In ancient Latin, it was called “Sapphirus,” meaning the Stone of Saturn. And although sapphires glimmer like the heavens, this earthly gem is commonly found in the south Pacific. The island of Sri Lanka, nicknamed “Gem Island,” has been an important source of sapphires, rubies and other gemstones for over two thousand years. Sapphires from the island typically range from light to medium blue and have been cut weighing up to several hundred carats.
Although blue is by far the most popular and well known color for sapphires, they can be almost any shade including green, yellow, orange, brown, pink, purple, white, and colorless. Padparadscha is the name for the rare orange-pink variety and has a higher value than blue sapphires. Another precious variety is the color changing sapphire, which shows different colors in different lights- blue in natural light, and violet in artificial light. A similar effect is also seen in alexandrite. On the other end of the price range are yellow, orange, lavender, and other pastel shades, which are especially affordable.
Heating colorless and very pale blue sapphires to high temperatures is done to give them an intense blue color. This treatment can also improve the clarity of the stones by removing tiny inclusions. But not all inclusions are bad. Tiny rutile needles have an optical property called asterism. This is the star shaped effect seen in star sapphires and is usually only seen in cabochon cuts.
The first synthetic sapphires were in 1902 and is hard to tell from natural sapphires except by professionals. The price of lab grown sapphires differ quite a bit, and smaller stones are frequently used in less expensive jewelry. (more…)
Categories: Birthstone Guide
Tagged: art jewelry, art jewelry collective, birthstone, etsy, jewelry, jq jewelry, jqjewelry, sapphire, september birthstone, the curious lore of birthstones
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