April Birthstone - Diamond!!

"She who from April dates her years,
Diamonds shall wear, lest bitter tears
For vain repentance flow."

I do love a diamond, nothing bounces the light quite like them, but wow do they cost!  

Incidentally do you know how to spot a fake? Apart from weighing half as much as cubic zirconia (commonly used in place of a diamond and a whole lot cheaper) you can do the fog test. Put the stone in front of your mouth and fog it like you would a mirror. If it stays fogged for a couple seconds, it’s probably a fake. A real diamond disperses the heat instantaneously so by the time you look at it, it has already cleared up, or if it happens to be a little dirty, it still clears much faster than a fake. Use a stone you know is real next to the suspect stone and fog both. 

So if it's that hard to tell some other stones from diamonds, there are obviously alternatives that the April birthday girl could wear that look similarly stunning, without eating beans on toast for the next 6 months.

White topaz is a lovely alternative birthstone, which shines and shimmers, yet is affordable. And another alternative I'm using this month is rock crystal. I have some stunning new onion briolettes (and I mean stunning.... watch this space) on my bench which I'm using in designs at the moment. I'll hopefully get a few listed in the birthstone section of my new shop shortly!! 

I do feel slightly guilty for not offering any real diamonds in my shop.... maybe in a few years. But for now, I hope you'll agree these'll do just fine. 

Happy Birthday to me!

It was my birthday on Friday, so to treat myself I spent the day at the Desire fair in Richmond.

Wow,  there was some truly amazing work there. It was great to see such a fantastic range of work in one room.

Things seemed to click into place for me about my jewellery style and where I'm going (and where I'm defintely not going!). People often ask me what type of jewellery I make, and now I think I could answer them a little better.

Ring by Sabine Konig

There were some stunning stalls, where I simply stood and stared at the goodies (possibly with my mouth slightly open, and  drooling a bit) and some where I had a chat with the artisan and got a real insight into the stories behind the pieces. So interesting.

The best thing for me from the day though, was that even looking at the most stunning works there, I felt inspired, and thought, "yep, one day if I work hard, I could do something as good as that". It probably sounds a bit silly, but in most other fields I seem to be the type of person who would think " oh dear, I'll never be that good, aren't they lucky to be able to do that"

A beautiful ring by Barbara Bertagnolli......

I wonder if it's just that I've found my path with jewellery.... or whether I'm just getting a bit more confident in my old age.

Speaking of which, I had a great weekend as well. We went up to London and had a Duck Tour - it's a tour on those amphibious vehicles - a drive around showing the girls all the sights, and then a splash down in the Thames. The kids loved it! After that we took the girls to see Stomp. Brilliant - sweeping up will never be the same again.

I got some fantastic pressies off my lovely family... I'll show you later in the week but I also made a little present for myself.

I've been looking into birthstones recently and thought it would be nice to have something in my own birthstone. As my birthday is March - that means Aquamarine. I have a little secret....don't tell anyone.... I don't really like it that much... (ssshhhhhh!). Don't get me wrong it's a really beautiful stone, but it just wouldn't look right on me with my pale skin and red hair.

The traditional stone for March is Bloodstone, which I admit would probably suit my colouring a little more, but I fancied something with a little more sparkle.

So what to do? I did what anyone should in my situation. Cheat.

I found a lovely moss aquamarine, wrapped it in sterling silver and voila! Happy birthday to me.
Let me know if you're a March birthday and would like to cheat too, I'll happily make you one!

Birthstones

This year I thought I'd get to grips with birthstones! These are the stones which traditionally symbolise the month of the wearers birth. Such a lovely idea, and I love jewellery with a some special meaning for the wearer.

I started with good intentions last year, with plenty of garnet (January), and amethyst (February) but a house move and the ensuing chaos meant that everything got put to one side, and I played catch up for the rest of the year. This year is going to be different .....oh ho ho, yes.

The above is a common chart, from the American Society of Jewelers (this seems to be the modern list). There are so many different charts and lists of birthstones. I always thought when I was younger that my birthstone was jasper, or bloodstone, but it turns out this is the traditional one, and I could also use aquamarine. 

Just in terms of planning I must admit I might not be able to stretch to much when it comes to April!! Traditionally it seems that the colour is the key, so a nice little cubic zirconia might just cut it.

In addition to the symbol of the month, some think that birthstones can bring luck or health to the wearer. This power is also supposed to be stronger if the stone is worn in the birthday month. I'm not sure I believe in the healing power of gemstones, but to each their own. And it can't do any harm and I can't think of a better excuse for those with an April birthday.

Do you have any jewellery in your birthstone? Have you swapped your birthstone for another symbolic stone that you liked better? Apparently lots of people do!

Look out for some gorgeous birthstone goodies listed in the shop!

More detailed information on the gorgeous January Birthstone (Garnet).
More information on the February Birthstone (Amethyst)