Venus hair

Joopy Gems gold rutile quartz rose cutJoopy Gems golden rutile quartz rose cut freeformJoopy Gems golden rutilated quartz freeformJoopy Gems gold rutilated quartz rose cutJoopy Gems golden rutilated quartz rose cut freeformJoopy Gems golden rutile quartz rose cut

I love these. Golden rutilated quartz rose cut cabochons. I mean, I really, really love them. I love looking at them, I loved photographing them (and I don’t always love that part) and I love imagining what you’re going to do with them. A customer asked a while back for rutilated quartz or white topaz freeforms, and I thought about photographing 100+ white topaz stones and I confess my heart rather sank into my boots. Not that I don’t like white topaz, far from it, I just couldn’t get all that excited about photographing it. But the gold rutilated quartz; well that’s another matter. It’s all different and it’s all fascinating. I’ve got stones that have thick gold needles that look like straw, stones with fine strands, like angel-hair, some aligned, some in thick masses, some beautifully and artfully arranged into intersecting patterns. It’s fabulous stuff; known also as Cupid’s darts, Venus Hair stone and Fleches d’Amour. Can be hard to get it to look nice, as the quartz host and the gold rutile crystal inclusion have different hardnesses, so you can easily get pits on the surface, but most of these stones have an excellent polish. I think these stones make fabulous one-off contemporary pieces; the kind that get you noticed and get people talking. As with all of my rose cut freeforms, these are rose cut on the domed side and tabled on the reverse so can be set either way up in a bezel, window or prong setting. Why not have a flick through and see if anything grabs you? I have a feeling that these will not hang around for long. Shop now.

http://www.joopygems.com/categories/freeform-rose-cuts-polki-and-cabochons/rutilated-quartz-freeforms-golden.html

Somewhere over the rainbow… is tourmaline

I’m always excited when I have new tourmaline in stock. I think it must be my favourite stone, with its unparalleled variety of colours, from soft pastels to vibrant primaries.

Freeform watermelon tourmalineWatermelon tourmaline
Freeform tourmalineCFRTOUR35 3
CFRTOUR92 1CFRTOUR22 1
CFRTOUR32 2CFRTOUR44 1
CFRTOUR3 3CFRTOUR4 3
CFRTOUR7 2CFRTOUR91 3
CFRTOUR49 2CFRTOUR99 2
CFRTOUR106 2CFRTOUR95 3

Egyptian legend has it that the tourmaline, when travelling up from the centre of the earth, passed over a rainbow, and in so doing assumed all of its colours. Whether or not you believe that, the name tourmaline comes from the Singhalese ‘tura mali’, which translates to something like ‘stone with mixed colours’, referencing the spectrum of colours which this stone displays. Here I have just listed a veritable bouquet of rose cut freeform tourmalines. I have single colours, bi-colours and parti-colours, with quality ranging from included to nearly clean; soft pale pinks, to vibrant bubble-gum shades, sharp apple greens, neon yellows, and deep, dreamy blues. All of them are lovely; every stone with its own special character and each one unique. These would look fabulous on their own, or keeping each other company in spectacular fashion. As with all of my freeforms, these stones are rose cut on one side and tabled on the other, so can be set either way up, in a bezel, window or prong setting. Prices from $7.50 up, click here to shop. http://www.joopygems.com/categories/freeform-rose-cuts-polki-and-cabochons/tourmaline.html

It’s all a little bit topaz…

Imperial topaz 2Aren’t these beautiful? They aren’t actually for sale, but I thought I would share them with you as I am rather pleased with them! These are imperial topaz brilliant cuts in a variety of shapes and sizes, and I have them because my eldest daughter’s birthstone is topaz and I thought it would be nice to get her some imperial topaz. They are not top colour, although a couple of them are pinkish and all of them seem to have a pleochroic reddish tint which you can pick up from the picture. They’re not calibrated either; I picked them out of a bag of pre-forms and so I got what I got! What do you think? I could get more of these, if I get some interest…

www.joopygems.com

It IS easy being green…

CFRCHRY+5 1I’ve just listed some absolutely sublime high quality chrysoprase; pure apple green and beautifully translucent. I have singles (see left) and a few matched pairs (see right) and the matching is very good indeed. These are rose cut freeforms, also known as ‘polki’; a cut I have been stocking in increasingly large nuCFRCHRYPR1 1mbers as it is just so popular. The name comes from the Greek and means ‘golden apple’, a reference to the slightly yellowish hue these stones have, and the name should be confined to stones that are naturally this colour and not dyed. Needless to say, the chrysoprase I carry is not dyed! These stones are really special and I can see the pairs as earrings in gold window settings. I also have some new standard grade chrysoprase too. TCFRCHRYPR12 1his is not quite as translucent; some stones are more translucent than others, but is still of good colour and quality and additionally I have some pairs in this material as well (see left). Chrysoprase is becoming increasingly popular; it’s a little bit emerald-like, a little bit jade-like, but without the attendant price tag, of course. Prices for the finer chrysoprase start at $21.50 for a single stone and $88 for a pair; for the standard grade, from $7.50 for a single and $35 for a pair. Click here to buy the high grade; click here for the standard grade, and click here for matched pairs.

http://www.joopygems.com/categories/freeform-rose-cuts-polki-and-cabochons/chrysoprase-freeform.html