Pietersite, silver, and gold cuff by Wolfgang Vaatz.
Blue gems comprise a large percentage of colored gemstones, whether transparent or opaque.
Transparent gemstones are commonly faceted, carved, or cut as faceted beads, while opaque gemstones are mostly cut en cabochon, carved, and cut as beads in many shapes and styles. Almost every mineral group contains at least one blue member: corundum (blue sapphire), quartz (chrysocolla in quartz), tourmaline (indicolite), beryl (aquamarine), topaz, spinel, apatite, and zircon, just to name a few.
Blue gemstones came into the spotlight this year, as the Pantone® Color Institute, Inc. announced the 2020 Color of the Year as being Classic Blue. Their description for Classic Blue states, instilling calm, confidence, and connection, this enduring blue hue highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which we build as we cross the threshold into a new era, referring, of course, to the new decade of 2020.
In recent years, we’ve seen the colors of jewelry fashion are influenced by fashion color trends in clothing, textiles, furniture and home décor. The ideas flow from the runways to the stores. And a driving engine for this movement has been Pantone.
I love reading, on Pantone’s website, the sophisticated names of the chosen colors along with their concise but elaborate descriptions. The color names exude a luxurious feeling, an exotic or natural sentiment that may add some poetic sensation to our jewelry artwork. Designers can find inspiration for new designs within those few words, or tie in already created artwork and give it a new highlight and marketing focus.
This story is from the June 2020 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
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This story is from the June 2020 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORGAN HILL POPPY JASPER
In California, there are very few places to collect semi-precious stones. Many locations from the past have been either exhausted of the material or the land has been developed.
THE ACORN
The briolette gemstone has the same design attributes of a regular gemstone, however, the pavilion is elongated and the crown is usually domed. This is perfect for an elegant pendant, earrings or a pendulum.
HOW TO PUT A PROTECTIVE CAP ON A CAB
To protect a specimen cab, often a cap is needed. In my case, I had a slab with the because of the color of the background and the pattern. This background had a more silicified consistency than most sandstones. It had no graininess like most sandstone, so I'm inclined to compare it to a jasper. The pattern was typical of a dendrite.
The Resilient Revival of Anne Brontë & Her Stones
For the first time, the Anne Brontë rock collection underwent complete description and identification, and along with Professor Hazel Hutchison of Leeds University and Dr. Enrique Lozano Diz at ELODIZ (a company specializing in spectroscopy analysis), an analysis of that collaboration, Anne Brontë and Geology: A Study of her Collection of Stones, was published in April 2022 in Volume 47, Issue 2 of the peer-reviewed journal, Brontë Studies & Gazette.\"
Amazing Women with Rock-Solid Careers
Explorers, Geologists, Educators & Jewelry Makers...
The Case of the Bleeding Glacier
It's a gory sight called Blood Falls. Ever since British geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor first noted it in 1911, it has been a mystery.
Asteroid Samples Are Said to Hold Invaluable Secrets
If Only Scientists Can Pop the Lid!
Paleontologists Embrace a New Method for Seeing Fossils within Rock
Fossil bone can be delicate. Attempts to remove it from a hard rock matrix by picking and scratching or etching with acids can be time-consuming and/or may end up obliterating that which you hope to study.
Need a Map of the Ocean Floor?
Call in the Seals!
A Step Closer to Hydrogen, the "Climate-Friendly Fuel"
As I reported last June, the world is racing to find sustainably renewable, nonpolluting sources of energy to replace our carbon-based reserves of coal, oil and gas.
