On this last day of January I thought I’d share a little information about this month’s birthstone. Garnet as a gemstone has been popular in Jewellery for over 5000 years. Most of us recognize it as a deep red stone however, it does come in many other colours such as greens, orange, pink and yellow. However garnet has some other interesting uses outside of jewellery and you can read about them here:
http://geology.com/minerals/garnet.shtml
Have a great day! 🙂
I had my first art sale in over a year last month and when I took all my jewellery out to prep it I noticed the silver had tarnished. This is, of course, to be expected but I still had a brief panic about what to do. I do not like using harsh chemicals, all products in my home are natural so I decided to google natural silver polish options and found numerous articles about using baking soda.
My fiancé ran out to grab a soft toothbrush for me while I got everything ready. I laid out all the pieces that needed polishing on some microfiber cloths, set aside another cloth for drying afterwards. I prepared my baking soda paste (baking soda and warm water) and got started!
I was skeptical at first that it would do a good job, but with just a little light scrubbing…
Turns out I was very happy with the results! It didn’t scratch or damage the silver in any way, which was a concern since baking soda is abrasive. I polished up all my silver pieces in no time and got everything rinsed, dried and packed up for the next day! I’m always so excited when I find natural cleanser and options for household products so I thought I’d share this one with all of you!
The Pantone Colour Institute is *the* name in colour trends. They produce gorgeous palettes in the spring and fall, and come out with a colour of the year for each year, drawn from the spring palette. This colour ends up appearing just about everywhere, from fashion to paint and home decor.
Named after the fortified wine, Marsala is the 2015 colour of the year. It’s a deliciously earthy red. My favourite colour is red and I’m excited to see this colour as it makes its appearance in stores and on the runways.
True reds are hard to come by in gemstones. Dark carnelians come close to this colour, with their deep and earthy orangey reds. Poppy jasper is a brick red colour with small streaks of black and grey. Garnets are another great choice, often occurring with warm red tones. Tourmaline can also come in a deep warm red.
Of course, the colour is popping up already in a variety of products. I’ve put together a warm and earthy treasury from some of the loveliest items I could find in Marsala. I can’t wait to get a lip colour in Marsala. Where are you looking forward to seeing this colour pop up?
-Robyn
A diamond mine in South Africa as unearthed a spectacular beauty: a blue diamond reported to be worth more than $10 million dollars.
Renowned for other stunning blue diamonds such as the Star of Africa blue diamond, I think the Cullinan mine is a place I’d love to visit if I ever made it to that part of the world. I’d bet that would be an exciting place to be able to sift around in the dirt.
I always love when there’s a great story behind a piece of jewellery.
This article from the Daily Mail shows a simple amber necklace that’s going up for auction that’s likely to fetch £10,000. Why? Because the beads are 40 million years old, containing fossilized ants, mosquitoes, and other ancient critters.
What a fascinating piece of history to have! I love amber, and I’d have a hard time parting with a unique piece like this, but the collector who buys it at auction will have an incredible necklace for their collection.
Photo courtesy the Daily Mail Online
I love vintage shops, and I definitely have a taste for fashion from bygone days. What’s not to love about a classic “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” cocktail dress or a sleek cloche hat? Vintage jewellery can be particularly fun- people have been making and wearing necklaces, earrings, bracelets and other adornments for years. Centuries. Thousands of years. But would you believe a hundred thousand years?
That’s right, archaeologists have found beads dating back 100,000 years. The beads are small shells, and were excavated frome a site in Israel. The find shows some interesting insight into ancient human culture and our ever-present desire to adorn ourselves with the beauty of nature.
