September's birthstone - Sapphire

Well September might be just about over, but there's still time for me to sneak in a little post about one of my favourite birthstones.

September's birthstone is sapphire. I did a little post about sapphire, back in 2013 - when I hardly had any sapphire goodies to show you. Well, in the last two years I've incorporated a load of them into my range....here are some of my favourites. (Click on the links for some more information!)

Sapphire studs 

Sapphire trillion ring

I think this is one of my all time favourite rings that I've made.

I use lab created sapphires in most of my designs as sapphire is a precious, rather than semi-precious stone and therefore a lot more pricey than other gemstones. Lab created sapphires have all the same chemical and structural properties as "real" mined sapphires, but they are made in a laboratory environment rather than over eons beneath the earth. As such they're more reasonably priced, and near perfect in colour and composition.

Check out the rest of the sapphire jewellery in my range.

I found some other lovely handmade goodies on the September theme... (click on the pictures to go through to the shops!).

Sapphire journal by BOUND on Folksy

I do have a bit of an obsession with notebooks, and this one is rather lovely.

Congratulations Card by Angela Chick on Folksy

How could I not love this card? Perfect. 

Moonlight hedgehog birdbath by Jo Sara on Folksy

I love this birdbath too - such brilliant work. And those gorgeous blues are just wonderful.

Stone shapes

I wrote recently a bit about the difference between types of stones, specifically faceted stones, and cabochon cuts, but that's not the only thing to consider in the stones you choose.

I'm making more and more sets of stacking rings these days, and it's so lovely to use a variety of shapes and sizes in the stack.

I'm always adding more options to my stone collection, so won't list here all of the different shapes and sizes I can offer in each stone choice - for the most up to date information, just get in touch and I'll be able to let you know the options. But here are the key shapes...

Round

These are the rose cut, faceted and cabochon stones that I use most often;

aquamarine rose cut ring

The size of cabochon I most often use within ring stacks are 6mm and 5mm. 

cz faceted round

The most popular size of faceted stones are 5mm, such as in this cz ring above.

Oval 

Again ovals are available in cabochon, rose cut and faceted stones, and come in a variety of sizes. The most common, that fits nicely into a ring stack is a 7x5mm oval.

7x5 london blue rose cut stone

star sapphire cabochon in gold fill ring

Square

The square sizes I most commonly use are 4mm and 5mm. These can be a little tricky to get hold of in a lot of gemstones but are readily available for rubies, sapphires, cz, and a few others.

Square sapphire with chunky band

The stack in the photo at the very top of this page shows a lovely turquoise cabochon.

cushion cut rainbow moonstone

A slight alternative to the square is a cushion cut which is a square cut stone with slightly rounded corners.

Triangle (Trillion)

Sky blue topaz trillion

The trillion stone has a few variations. It is a triangular cut, but can have straight or slightly curved edges, and often has soft points. 

Peridot trillion (a curvy number!)

This post is already a little picture heavy, but I hope it gives you an idea of the most popular stone shapes, that are readily available in a number of gemstones. I'll put together another post shortly with a few of the other options... octogon, teardrops and freeform. 

The Birthstone for November - Citrine

Or topaz...! 

Citrine ring by me! Click pic for more info.

Both citrine (a form of quartz) and topaz are recognised birthstones for November. And I use both in my designs. Although topaz comes in a huge range of colours, it's the browner (imperial topaz) hues that are traditional for the November birthstone. 

Citrine on the other hand can be found in shades of yellow ranging from pastel to a deep brownish orange. I must admit, in smaller stones I prefer the deeper shades, but I have used gorgeous pastels for rings before and they were just lovely. 

These shades just fit the time of year perfectly. Everywhere I look at the moment the lush green is giving way to yellow, gold and brown.

Sunny dog walk at Denbies Vineyard

Some citrine themed goodies I found recently....

Skydancer on Folksy

Amber wisp oil lamp (CatMacKGlass)

So gorgeous for this time of year.

I particularly like how citrine works in a stack of birthstone stacking rings.

I appreciate I'm not the best model with my sausage fingers, but doesn't the citrine just make the other colours sing.

I'm completely won over by it. My eldest is a November birthstone, and I admit, I haven't made a birthstone stack yet, but once the Christmas rush is over, I'm definitely on it!

Opal - The birthstone for October

Opals are unlike any other stone out there. I was struggling when listing some opal birthstone earrings items recently, to describe the colour properly. Because of course they are white, but also, blue, red, green, aaaah. How can that be?

Opals possess an internal structure which diffracts light, so depending on the conditions it can show flashes of white, grey, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, magenta, rose, pink, slate, olive, brown, and black. Of all of these hues, the reds against black are the most rare, whereas white and greens are the most common. 

Galaxy opal from Jundah Mine - Australia

I found this amazing site with lots of opal eye candy, including this chart detailing the different types of opal out there. 

However, for me despite it's obvious beauty and variety, natural opal does have some problems in that it is relatively easy to damage, plus a good quality stone can be very expensive. I tend to use white synthetic opals, which are lab created. They take nearly 18 months to create and can be quite stunning. These are imitation opals - the chemical structure of the stone is different - which is a positive in some ways as they are stronger as they don't contain water.

Oxidised opal earrings

However, I have used and am always very willing to get use a more expensive stone if preferred - just contact me for a quote and I'll jump at the chance!

As they change with the light around them, you'll notice that when the silver is oxidised as in these opal earrings above, the stone looks very different to when the silver is left shiny....(like in this opal and sterling silver ring)

Opal birthstone ring

Opals in olden times were thought to symbolise love and hope. Nowadays they are said to symbolise happiness, faithfulness, loyalty and confidence.

Hand stamped Jewellery

I reckon all jewellery is special; handmade jewellery is that bit more special but handmade personalised jewellery, well that is off the scale in my opinion. 

If you've been onto my website you probably know by now that I've got a bit of a thing for birthstones, but being able to inprint a name, phrase, or special date onto jewellery just adds that extra wonderfulness. And hows about combining the two, personalised birthstone jewellery. Excuse me while I have a little sit down.

I've had some stamps for stamping letters onto metal for a few years, but these were 4mm so not ideal for many of my smaller items. So, I thought it was about time I invested in some dinky little 2mm stamps. 

I got these ones from Cookson (I know a few people were interested in my suppliers), but Palmer Metals also have them, and I think they also have a few different fonts.

I'm hoping to get some items listed soon... like this secret message ring...

...but in the meantime, if there's something you fancy having stamped, do get in touch. It'll take me a while to add that option in the shop.

Such a gorgeous way to remind you of special people, or times. 

I'll be stamping me a couple of birthstone rings for the girls, with their names and birthdays on the inside, and I'll hand them down to them when they're older. 

July roundup (just a wee bit late)

Usually for us jewellery makers things slow a little in July and August; which to be honest is quite welcome for me as the girls break up for school, and I have less time to play work anyway.

But this year I've had more orders than probably the last four Julys put together. And now that the girls are older, (and spent the first week of the school holidays doing a drama and dancing summer school!) I've managed to keep up and it's all worked out well so far. Whoop.

So what have I been up to?

July saw a delivery of more rose cut stones...

(swoon - I am still a little obsessive about these)

I nabbed some of these blue chalcedony stones for me....(mine, mine, they're all mine)

But you can still grab your own pair if you're quick!

Some of my favourite other July makes were:

This moonstone and sterling silver ring. Moonstone is the alternative birthstone for June and I just love that blue flash as it catches the light. Apparently it's called moonstone because the Romans believed it had moonlight held within it. 

I also made quite a few other birthstone goodies. As you may know by now I do love jewellery with has that extra meaning...such as birthstones. This lovely ruby (July birthstone) set was particularly nice to work on, and I'm hoping to offer this across all the birthstones soon....

I've also been working on some druzy earrings. Remember that druzy ring I made recently? But more on all that in another post soon.

Hope you're all enjoying your summer!

Wooooooaaaah what happened to March?

It's mid- April already! How did that happen?

March was a complete blur for me. It was my birthday at the beginning of the month, and not just any old birthday, but the big 4 - 0.

I was hoping I'd finally feel like a grown up, but I guess that comes at 45?

So, March meant three weekends of celebrations with different groups of friends (followed by a lovely mothers day weekend at the end of the month). With all that going on, it was always going to be a fantastic month - but to top it all off,  my jewellery was featured in Glamour magazine!

I was beyond excited. You can imagine how I skipped around WHSmith!! I really must set up a press section on my website now....hee hee. The item they featured is the 5 band rolling ring (number 16!) which is  available on my website at the reduced price of £58, but the price will have to go up to £65 at the end of this month, so if you'd like one, get in quick!!

Phew - so far April has been pretty hectic too so far, but more on that later..... for now I just wanted to show you a few of my birthstone stacking rings...

How lovely is this Sapphire, Opal and Ruby combo?

January round up....

January  - it's usually so grey, and dark. And with Christmas (and most of my money) gone, it usually makes for a pretty low key month.

This time around though I planned ahead. First of all we bought the girls a trip to Harry Potter Studios for their Christmas present. They've got so much "stuff" so I thought an experience would work well as a gift for them. We loved it - have you been yet? It's just amazing to see all the detail on the sets. How much work and expertise goes into the making of the sets and props. Just stunning.

Diagon Alley

Minerva McGonagall's Office

4 Privet Drive

I also planned a night away with some buddies, way back in November (so it was all paid for and sorted before Christmas shopping had really begun). We just popped up to London and stayed in Camden, and went to the Roundhouse to see the Fuerzabruta show. It's the one that hit the news the very next week when this bit of the set fell onto the audience.

 

 Still on the night I went it was fab. That followed by dancing to until 2am (a time I had forgotten existed) was a definite cure to the January blues. 

As ever, every day starts with a dog walk. Rain or shine... and there's been one hell of a lot of the wet stuff round here,  it's always good to get out and about.

And then we get to the jewels... new for January was this amazonite pendant, this rolling ring (based on the russian wedding ring design but with 5 bands rather than three). Plus some more amethyst and garnet goodies - the perfect gemstones to cut through the winter gloom.

Amazonite pendant

Rolling ring

A++ Garnet earrings

 

Amethyst - February birthstone

February is usually my least favourite month, it always feels like the gloomiest weather wise (even more gloomy than January), but I'm expecting good things from this month. Snowdrops and cyclamen are popping up, the birds are making a racket, and the evenings are already that little bit lighter. Bring it on!

Birthstone Goodies for January

I've been working on some garnet goodies recently, as garnet is the January birthstone.

I always think the rich deep red of the garnet looks gorgeous next to that dark sheen of oxidised silver. What do you think?

I know lots of you prefer shiny silver so I tend to offer both options on my goodies. It makes such a difference to the look of the piece. Even if it's not stated on the listing, just ask - I probably just forgot to add it on as an option.

This ring is usually shiny silver, and I think it looks stunning, so I guess it depends very much on each individual item.

Another shiny silver  - last years' January favourites were these pearl and garnet dangles. The creamy pearl with the sparkle of the garnet is such a classy combination.

More info on the January birthstone on this post!

As well as the gorgeous garnets I've been looking head to February, the amethyst birthstone always brightens up that greyest of months.

Click on the pics for a closer look!

September birthstone - Sapphire

A maiden born when autumn leaves
Are rustling in September's breeze, 

A Sapphire on her brow should bind; 
To bring her joy and peace of mind.

The birthstone for September is Sapphire.  And the most famous of sapphires is known as the Princess Diana ring after .... well I'm sure you can figure that out. It's now worn by the Duchess of Cambridge. Not really my usual style if I'm honest, but I wouldn't say no. 

Did you know that sapphires come in all sorts of colours, ranging from clear to brown (except red - that is the closely related Ruby!). The most popular colour however, is that lovely, deep cornflower blue that we all think of when we think of a sapphire. One of the hardest gemstones next to diamond, the sapphire is perfect for use in jewellery. 

Sadly my sapphire jewellery isn't in the shop yet (school summer holidays put pay to that.. but I'll edit this post later in the month with some additions) But in the meantime I do have some sapphire blue crystal jewellery which is a beautiful alternative.

Enjoy!