This interior view of a spinel immediately brings to mind the chains upon chains of different coloured lights that are wrapped around trees during special days! In Sri Lanka:)

You are looking at strings of hercynite octahedral crystals in an angular distribution in one plane (more…)

“I am not afraid to go to jail because it will be an opportunity to do human rights work inside jail.”

The above image and quote is from The Guardian.

The quote is the voice of Rafael Marques de Morais. An award winning and prominent investigative journalist in Angola, who is on trial for his book Blood Diamonds : Corruption and Torture in Angola.

The book is said to contain details of more than 100 killings and over 500 cases of torture in the (more…)

As we all know, diamonds are ‘The Stones’ with the most arresting sparkle in its tiniest size.

With the highest quality of adamantine luster, cut in the right proportions, a ‘round cut’ with all 58 facets, certainly sparkles with brilliance.

The tiny studs that you see on my earlobes are made with round brilliant petals. Wearing these give me the opportunity to wear big cocktail rings. Long dangly earrings with huge rings are a little too fussy for me. Also I am truly grateful to these studs during my daughter’s baby years!!! A worry free season of anything being yanked off my ears! They worked well for the day as well as the night.

Now the thing with Diamonds is, that it is generally thought of as pretty “indestructible”, right? (more…)

The stunning 113.24ct Aquamarine was cut to reflect optical illusions in three dimensions. Michael Dyber won 1^st prize in the International Competition: 40^th German Award for Jewellery and Precious Stones IDAR-OBERSTEIN 2009 ~ for Gemstone Design.

I don’t think we appreciate enough the work that goes into cutting any gemstone and cutting it (more…)

Jeremejevite is a lesser known gemstone and you are looking at a rod like inclusion found within one.

It’s one of those calm Sundays where I had time to glance through previous images I have taken. (more…)

Here we are, already in February!

As I looked around at beautiful pieces set in Amethyst, the gemstone of the month, I found this particular jewel inspiring: Bird Motif, necklace from Cartier ~ in pink gold, lapis lazuli, amethyst, sapphire, and diamonds.

…Of a colourful bird that ‘opens the door of its golden cage to take flight into the open skies’.

When I gaze at this jewel, I am reminded of the various cages many of us find ourselves in. We, like birds are born and (more…)

This is a characteristic inclusion in an Amethyst Quartz: wavy bands on a twinning plane known as ‘Zebra stripes’ or ‘Tiger stripes’.

Love, love, love this one!

What you’re looking at is hexagonal flakes of black Hematite and Rutile needles within a colourless Quartz (known as Rock Crystal). Weighing approximately 54.8ct.

Garnet is the gemstone of January.

To honour the Garnet, I picked a jewel for this post, which is a favourite from one of my recent books ‘Jewels by JAR’. Joel Arthur Rosenthal is the creator of jewels that are works of art, each in unusual combinations of gemstones and metal. It really has been a feast for my eyes.

This particular jewel is ~Mughal Flower Bracelet, 1987. There are garnets, rubies, sapphires, amethysts in titanium, silver and gold. Exquisite.

More images of some of his pieces can be seen here: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Garnet is a name that covers a group of minerals that are related in composition and with a similar crystal structure.They (more…)

The Gems & Jewellery magazine is by The Gemmological Association of Great Britain. This is where I learned all about gems (and still learning as new things pop up…) I have always loved the photo competition and I congratulate all those who won. Stunning images!

I’m delighted to share this article especially because one of the first prize winners is Mr Dayananda Dillimuni who trained my group in preparation for the gemmology practical exam.

(more…)