It’s always great to see what customers make with my stones. Catharina Demos recently sent me some wonderful pictures of her work; I confess I have a real love for textured metal and all of Catharina’s pieces appear to vibrate with life. It’s not surprising, therefore, that she cites as her inspiration the majestic beauty of nature and wild animals and considers them the greatest expression of her art. In her pieces you can see the twisting lines of a vine, the plump outlines of a cactus, the intricate beauty of a spider’s web. A manufacturing goldsmith for over 21 years, Catharina grew up in Namibia, a place where it is possible to pick up semi-precious stones just by walking in the desert. Now she lives and works in Spain, creating each piece individually by hand. On the left are her silver and pearl rings, reminiscent of plant forms; on the right is 
her silver and apatite ring inspired by water droplets falling on a weathered stone surface. Although Catharina works often with topaz and aquamarine, she knew that as they got smaller they would become very pale so instead chose apatite for its vibrant colour even in small sizes. If you would like to see more of Catharina’s work, you can visit her website, her Etsy shop, or her Facebook page. If you would like to see any of the stones featured in her designs here, you can find the apatite here and the pearls here.
Indigo Iolite
Also new in stock I have 4mm and 6mm rose cut iolite, at $3.15 and $13 per stone respectively. An interesting stone, with its pleochroic qualities; an indigo blue face-up colour (ideally!), but demonstrating browns, greys and yellows from different angles. In fact I have sometimes had customers contacting me to tell me their iolite is faulty, so clearly grey is it when viewed from the side. No, not faulty, just the nature of this fascinating stone. Legend has it that is was known as the ‘Viking Compass Stone’, and that thin slivers of the stone served as glare reducers and polarising filters that helped Viking marine navigators locate the sun on cloudy days, and therefore locate their own position. It’s a beautiful stone, taking it’s name from ‘ios’, the Greek for ‘violet’. It’s a fairly hard stone, at 7-7.5 on the Mohs scale, and for those who are interested in such things, not treated. It can’t be heat treated as it has a relatively low melting point so would not withstand the kind of heat that, say, sapphire would be subjected to to intensify its colour. This material is slightly included but has a good, saturated indigo colour. Click here to buy!
Let the influx begin…
I’m currently involved in an enormous re-stock of the shop. Items that have been out of stock for a while are finally coming back in, and everything in huge quantity so it should be, oh, at least another month or two before I run out again! First up; almandine garnet. I’m just changing over all my descriptions in line with the new GIA policy so I will now be referring to it as almandine, not almandite. This is Mozambique garnet, deep red and vibrant. Almandine can be very dark, especially in the larger sizes; in fact it has long been a practice to hollow out cabochons to bring out their intensity of colour. I have 6mm cabochons, and 4mm, 5mm and 8mm rose cuts and even the 8mm has a clear red appearance, not black. The 4mm is at $1.35 per stone and the 5mm is $2.65 per stone. The price of this kind of garnet for larger sizes has sky-rocketed recently so take a deep breath and sit down; the 8mm is $26 per stone. But as you see from the pictures, it is simply beautiful, with none of the rustiness that can mar almandine. A gemstone with an inner fire, its good hardness and toughness makes it a versatile stone that can safely be used in all kinds of jewellery.
Finally Freeforms!
‘Finally’, because I’ve had these a long time and it’s taken me forever to get them sorted! Each one individually weighed, measured, photographed, priced and then listed. And I have lots. Choose from Brazilian amethyst, citrine, chrysoprase, labradrorite, rainbow moonstone, pink opal – in a pale or a deeper pink, white moonstone and black spinel. This has become a really popular cut, and the fact that the stones are cut quite shallow means that it’s possible to have a large looking stone for a reasonable price. They look great in necklaces, set in window settings, or they make fantastic statement rings in either a prong or a bezel setting. Because they are random freeforms, it’s not easy to pair them up, but coming soon I have some really beautiful translucent chrysoprase freeform pairs which would make great earrings. I’m currently sold out of turquoise – that sold out as soon as I listed it, but I do have some more on hand which I will be listing as soon as possible. They are also versatile, cut with a table on one side and rose cut on the other, you can set them either way up. Hard to choose a favourite – I love the pale pink opal, as it is so delicate, like the colour of a French manicure or perhaps more romantically, alabaster. Labradorite is always a favourite and I adore citrine for its bright, sunshine qualities. They are all lovely. Grab them while you can, because these do tend to go quickly. And why not check out my newsletter for an offer that makes them even more irresistible! There’s an offer in the newsletter every month; why not sign up on the Joopy Gems homepage to make sure you don’t miss out?
The freeforms are coming thick and fast…
The freeforms are coming thick and fast now! Latest is rainbow moonstone. High quality rainbow moonstone is scarce at the moment, and extremely expensive in larger sizes, and I have a real mix here; most stones have some cracks, veils and cloudy areas, but the flash is fair to excellent. Prices from $7 up, find them here:
4mm rose cut cushion cabochons
I’ve been trying for the longest time to get my cushion cuts faceted like this – with the flower on top to match the round rose cuts I carry. Finally success! Here we have African Amethyst and white topaz in 4mm cushions, at $2.35 and $1.25 per stone respectively. The African amethyst is a nice deep purple, a bit of colour zoning here and there and the white topaz clean with great sparkle.
New Peridot
I’ve been a bit short of peridot over the past few months so I’m really pleased to have some back in stock; 5mm rose cut round cabochons, honeycomb faceted pears and ovals. The 5mm rounds are flat back; the pears and ovals are cut with a small table on the base, which means that they can be set either way up; in a bezel, basket or window setting. This is nice quality material, gold-green saturated colour and pretty clean, with just a few inclusions. I love peridot – it is perhaps the most affordable green stone that remains untreated. It is fairly soft – 6.5-7 on the Mohs scale so you need to take care, as the facet edges can become abraded just from sitting in a bag. Best used in earrings or necklaces/pendants, perhaps, rather than in a ring that is likely to get more wear. Traditionally peridot has been associated with Arizona, US; this material is from China, a fairly new source that supplies beautiful lime-green material.
Small but perfectly formed.
I promised some time ago that I was going to increase my stock of 3mm rose cuts. It’s not easy to get these little chaps cut, as cutting prices everywhere are soaring (due to a shortage of skilled cutters and the increase of labour costs in countries like India and China – but that’s another story for another day…). However, I am now pleased to present citrine, rhodolite garnet, almandite garnet, Brazilian amethyst and peridot to my collection, all at $1.60 per stone. Very pretty, with the nice kite-shaped faceting characteristic of my stones.These are in addition to my existing stock of 3mm rose cuts – black diamond, blue and pink sapphire, ruby and London Blue Topaz. Coming soon I have new stocks of the AAA grade rainbow moonstone which proved so popular as well as white topaz in this size and cut.
Joopy Gems Newsletter April 2013
For any of you who don’t get my newsletter and are interested, here it is, for a round-up of new stock and a reminder about my Spring 15% discount offer.
http://www.icontact-archive.com/a-XpjZK-1tEA6Qaq8AYlpreQDHS_g1Co
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15% Spring Discount!
I’m offering a fabulous 15% Spring discount across all products in my store this Spring! A great opportunity to stock up on some sparklers for the summer, or even for your Autumn/Winter collections. All you need to do to claim your discount is to use the following code as you go through checkout: SPRING15. Offer runs until 31st May 2013 and is limited to one use per customer.
Joopy Gems | The Blog 