When Life Gives You Lemons…

Lemon Quartz Rose Cut 8mm Round
Lemon Quartz Rose Cut 10mm Round

Quartz is one of the most ubiquitous gemstones; whether amethyst, citrine, rose, smoky or lemon, it’s plentiful and reasonably priced and you’re not going to have to part with a limb to buy it. It comes in so many different colours, including the fascinating and beautiful rutilated varieties. I want to talk a bit about lemon quartz, as it’s one of the family of treated quartzes and is a bit of an unsung hero. It’s a stone that cuts and polishes nicely and you can have it in pretty large sizes due to the relatively low carat price. Whiskey quartz, lemon quartz; nice lustrous stones in good sizes. Lemon quartz is irradiated with cobalt 60 gamma rays at very low dose (the stones aren’t glowing!) and then heated. The other thing that people aren’t generally aware of is that comes in different intensities of colour – and I don’t just mean that bigger stones are more saturated; you can get it from pale to much more intense yellow-green. My supplier tells me that people use it as a substitute for peridot, but I don’t think it’s that dark. It is on the same fresh, citric yellow-green spectrum, however. I used to sell mine – which is darker than standard lemon quartz – as green-gold quartz, to differentiate it, but it was too much of a differentiation, as people didn’t know what I was talking about and after I got asked a few times if I stocked lemon quartz, just changed the title! But it does have good saturation and is more of a yellow-green than pale yellow; I think you need it with a bit of saturation otherwise it looks a bit wan. The colour is more like a chrysoberyl and I think it really comes into its own when it’s mixed with other gemstones. I love the combination with citrine, which you would think would be a clash; the warm gold and the cool lemon, but it works. I also absolutely love it with the ruby, and I never would have thought about pairing these two, but they look amazing. In fact, I think I do like this stone best when it’s warmed up with gold, or golden stones, as they just seem to make it glow.

Diamonds Vivid Rose Gold and Lemon Quartz Cocktail ring
Yen Jewelry Pendants with Citrine and Lemon Quartz
Yen Jewelry Pendants with Citrine and Lemon Quartz
William White Green Amethyst, Citrine and Lemon Quartz Cup Rings
Lemon Quartz, Citrine and Peridot Ring

You can browse my lemon quartz here

joopygems.com

Joopy Gems Yellow Diamond 4mm Rose Cut Rond

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

Which is how I see the Pantone colours this year. When I first saw ‘Illuminating’ and ‘Ultimate Grey’ I’ll admit I thought they were a bit uninspiring. I’m still not sure that grey is actually a colour. However, actually I think they work really well for jewellers, not least because they can refer to either your setting metal or your stones. Gold for yellow, white metals for grey. Then with stones, the choice is not huge but it is particularly beautiful with a flexible price range.

At the more inexpensive range there is lemon quartz with a cool, greenish overtone. This is a great stone for having cut in large sizes as it isn’t hard to find clean specimens and the carat price is reasonable even for large stones. Citrine runs from pale straw through to a deep almost orange-yellow and I think looks awesome with white metals. Golden rutilated quartz would often work, and these stones can be real showstoppers. More unusual stones might be tourmaline which again will come in any shade from pale yellow to deep gold, yellow beryl, which is often quite light or chrysoberyl. I have introduced some yellow diamond rose cuts in my shop; clean yellow diamond is very expensive but the included variety still offers plenty of glitter without making a hole in your pocket.

Grey stones can be simple grey moonstones; a very underrated stone that is really wearable and flexible; it just goes with everything and has an understated beauty, especially when combined with the chatoyancy that glides across the stone. Grey pearls can be pricey Tahitian or inexpensive freshwater varieties and there are all varieties of haematite, specularite and agates as well. I also have some lovely speckled grey diamonds, which like the yellow have amazing brilliance.

Below from left, I love Sarah Alexander’s multi-gemstone earrings; the mixed gemstones in different shapes and sizes and the use of colour. Natalie Perry’s ring is a pefect example of a non-traditional diamond ring, and I do prefer this style, with more included stones and irregular shapes; so much more exciting than the classic diamond solitaire. Sarah Alexanders silver and vermeil earrings demonstrate how you can work these colours using just metals and I love the chunky styling of Maviada’s white gold and citrine earrings; lovely big cabochons set in pleasingly rounded and chunky white gold.

  • Sarah Alexander Sahara Sun multi gemstone statement drop Earrings
    Sarah Alexander Sahara Sun multi gemstone statement drop Earrings, £125.00
  • Natalie Perry Flower Set Salt and Pepper Diamond Ring
    Natalie Perry Flower Set Salt and Pepper Diamond Ring, £2,400.00
  • Sarah Alexander Calla Earrings
    Sarah Alexander Calla Earrings, £65.00
  • Maviada St Tropez 18k White Gold and Citrine Earrings
    Maviada St Tropez 18k White Gold and Citrine Earrings, £1,950

To shop all of my Pantone 2021 themed stones, click here

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