It’s Chaucer’s fault. Or maybe the ancient Greeks who celebrated Gamelion, a season dedicated to the marriage of Hera and Zeus; or the ancient Romans who observed a complex rite of fertility between the 13th and 15th of February. Or it could be an evolution from Lupercalia, another fertility rite specific to Rome.
In any [...]

Is it merely coincidence that some months have many associated birthstones while others have but one? December has, according to Bernadine’s website, thirteen of them! Two of these, zircon and lapis, are listed as the traditional birthstones while turquoise, blue topaz, and tanzanite are named as the modern birthstones. There are “talismanic” bithstones, astrological birthstones, [...]

Silver is a fabulous material with an inner glow and outer shimmer. Once valued as highly as gold, it has become an affordable precious metal without losing any of its beauty or marvel. It is very rarely used in an unalloyed form because of its softness but for the longest time its most common alloy [...]

Last week it was all opals. This week we will take a gander at luscious pink tourmalines. Tourmaline is not a single mineral in many colors but rather a group of minerals – in many colors. Pink tourmaline is, specifically, elbaite with a chemical composition that is Sodium Lithium Aluminum Boro-Silicate Hydroxide. And… it also [...]

Oh! October. The birthstones for October are opal and pink tourmaline. Let’s start with Opals!
Opals are an unusual mineral type in that they are up to 30 percent water! The chemical description is SiO2 · nH2O where n is often given as 1.5. There is some controversy as to whether or not opal should be [...]

Sapphires are the birthstones of September. Although most often thought of as blue, it is the name given to gem quality corundum of any color except red, which is the ruby. As rare as these fantastic stones are, it should come as no surprise that some of the largest, most beautiful examples have names.

Star of [...]

Green is the color for August gemstones. Peridot, the modern August birthstone includes several shades of green depending on the amounts of iron and trace elements nickel and chromium. The best colors seem to be for amouints of iron below 15%. Peridot is the name given to gem quality material of both fosterite (Mg2SiO4) and [...]

Basic Care for Your Fine Art – Part I: Paintings, Prints, Drawings and Photographs

UV-Protection UV glass lasts approximately 10 years but is rather more expensive than plain glass and at least one experiemtn calls UV filtering glass’ effectiveness into question(1). There are, however, inserts available that fit between the art and the glass that [...]

I adore the ruby; it is one of my most favortie gemstones. It isn’t my birthstone no matter how much I wish otherwise. That doesn’t stop me from admiring the stone or dreaming of using it in some spactacularly (and outrageously) gorgeous piece of jewelry – for myself!
It is, however, the birthstone of those lucky [...]

This week I am fortunate to have a guest post. Dr David Weiman straddles the worlds of business management and artisan jewelry. He is a psychologist specialising in management but he comes from a family of jewelers and thus has offered his understanding of the psychology of marketing and selling to us who create art [...]