July's Birthstone - The Ruby

Ruby Gemstone

Every wonder what July’s birthstone is?  Well wonder no more:  it’s the ruby!  How did the ruby become July’s birthstone?  Well, like all birthstones they were derived from Aaron’s Breastplate and coincide with the 12 signs of the Zodiac.  Why Ruby’s were selected for July is unknown (let us know if you know why!), but Ruby’s are said to provide health, wisdom, wealth, and success in love, and this may be why the ruby was selected as July’s birthstone:  the vibrant nature of the summer season.

We are know that diamonds are judged by the 4 Cs:  color, carat, clarity, and cut, and  ruby’s are judged the same way, with Color being the most important aspect of a ruby’s value.   The most valuable rubies are blood red or “pigeon blood” red. (Are pigeon’s blood redder than other animals?  That’s a blog for another day!)  Next in terms of value are the carat (weight) and then the cut, with clarity rounding out the fourth “c”.

Rubies are almost as hard as diamonds:  they rank 9 on the Mohs hardness scale, with diamonds ranking 10.  Rubies are made of aluminum oxide with chromium replacing a small fraction of the aluminum ions.  The arrangement oxygen around the chromium is what makes those molecules absorb the yellow-green color spectrum and re-emit it as red….pretty neat!

Color imperfections, known as rutile needles, are found in every ruby, and this is what gemologists use to distinguish a real ruby from a synthetic one.  Rubies are generally heated before cutting, and almost all ruby jewelry pieces are heated, which slightly alters these needles.  Ruby’s that have excellent quality without ever having been heated are considered the highest quality.  Rubies are found in many counties, including the United States, but are mainly mined in Tanzania, Burma, India, and almost all countries in southeast Asia.  A final interesting fact about rubies:  the most expensive is called the Sunrise Ruby, which recently (May 2015) sold at auction for $30 million dollars.

So if you’re thinking about a gift for that July birthday, or just want to add to your collection, consider the beautiful ruby!  And to keep your ruby, and all of your jewelry, safe and secure, don’t forget the jewelry box!  Women’s jewelry boxes range from luxury jewelry boxes for the dresser top to large jewelry armoires for any size jewelry collection!

Noelle
www.chasingtreasure.com

Locking Jewelry Armoire

36 New Ways to Organize Your Jewelry

Many of us tend to have a lot of jewelry, so it's no surprise that the question of how to organize your jewelry pops up quite often.

A good choice is to organize everything in a traditional jewelry box, but it's not the only option there is.

Depending on the amount of jewelry you have, you can also choose to organize everything in a large standing jewelry armoire, or a small jewelry stand if you just have a few pieces of jewelry that you need to keep organized.

If you are a bit creative, you can also choose to go for a DIY solution like the ones shown in this infographic:

DIY Ideas

As you can see, the DIY solutions vary, so you should be able to find something that fits you, no matter how much jewelry you have.

Your solution choice shouldn't be too difficult to make if you are into crafting, but if you haven't got the time for a DIY solution, you might want to take a look at some traditional jewelry boxes, made professionally.

Standing Jewelry Armoire, Definitely Non-DIY

From your friends at Chasing Treasure and Axentric.com

Pearl - Beautiful Jewelry, Special Care

Various Raw Pearls

Pearl jewelry has a unique beauty due to the way in which the pearl is created. To help keep its brilliance, you can do a few things to store them properly and ensure their value across lifetimes.

First, a dedicated jewelry box or specific drawer or compartment is a great way to safely store your pearls, especially if you keep them in a cloth pouch.  The most important point is to not them come in contact with other pieces of jewelry (including each other!).

Because pearls are an organic stone, they need humidity to keep them from getting too dry and becoming brittle and susceptible to cracking or fractures. This doesn’t mean you need to keep them in a humidor, but if you do store them in a closed box, be sure you wear them or take them out frequently to “air out” in the outside moisture, especially if you live in a very dry climate.

Avoid keeping your pearls by a heat source, in plastic, or among hard jewelry pieces, as they can be easily scratched. And never let them sit in the sunlight for long periods of time or be exposed to other sources of high temperatures. And if you’re inclined do to the laundry or wash dishes, while wearing your pearls, remove them to avoid contact with common household detergents.

In addition to household detergents, don’t let you pearls come in direct contact with your perfume and hairspray:  the alcohol and acids can be damaging to the translucence.  Similarly, perspiration can dull a pearl’s luster. Do not use normal jewelry cloths on your pearls, as they contain chemicals that damage the pearl.

Use cleaning products & cloths that are made specifically for pearls. Be sure to wipe your pearl’s with a dampened cloth after cleaning them, and lay them on a soft cloth to dry, never hang them if on a necklace:  if the string is wet, the weight of the pearl’s will stretch the string (usually made of silk). Likewise, do not swim or bathe in a pearl necklace.  (Want to know a common household item that will quickly dissolve a pearl?  Vinegar, due to its high acid content!)

Speaking of the silk string, it will need to be replaced over time due to stretching.  A professional jeweler can take care of the re-stringing.

Ever wonder what makes a pearl so lustrous? As you probably know, pearls are created in mollusks when an irritant gets inside the shell. The mollusk creates a pearl sac to seal off the irritant as a defense mechanism.  As the mollusk adds layers, these layers reflect light, the tighter the layers the better the diffusion of light.  Natural pearls are very rare and have the tightest layering.  Cultured pearls are grown on farms, either in salt or fresh water lagoons using specific “pearl oysters” and are the most common for jewelry; these can be died in various colors, such as pink.

Below is a great place to keep your pearled jewelry, the large, divided drawers and huge necklace cabinets keep them safely separated.  You can find other examples of safe jewelry storage here.

Pearls will always be a popular piece of jewelry.  With the right storing and cleaning, they can easily be handed down across generations!

Large Standing Jewelry Armoire

April’s Birthstone: The Diamond!

Popular Diamond Cuts

As we continue our series on birthstones, let's take a moment to describe how birthstones came to be! In the first century, it was believed that the 12 gems of Aaron’s Breastplate (a sacred breastplate worn by the High Priests of the Israelites, and sometimes referred to as the breastplate of judgment) were directly related to the 12 months of the year, the 12 signs of the zodiac. This concept was adopted into Christianity when St. Jerome recognized the Foundation Stones of the New Jerusalem (an evolution from Aaron’s Breastplate over the centuries). Finally, wearing a different colored gem for each month of the year is supposed to bring good luck.

Back to April’s Birthstone: the delightful, beautiful, and ubiquitous diamond!  The diamond was selected as April’s birthstone as it was thought to be a harbinger of strong relationships, and improve inner strength for those born in that month. It is supposed to provide other positives, such as balance, clarity, and abundance. While so much is already known about the diamond, we’ll describe some interesting aspects here.

Did you know that diamonds can be manufactured?
Most diamonds sold now are created naturally when carbon (coal basically) is compressed under high pressure about 115 miles beneath the Earth’s surface, and transported to the surface via tectonic plate shifting and volcanic eruptions that have occurred over eons (millions of years!).

However, starting in the last century, two different forms of manufacturing (“growing” actually) diamonds have been optimized:  High Pressure, High-Temperature (HPHT) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD).  Basically HPHT simulates the pressure and temperature of the natural formation, and adds microscopic diamonds to carbon.  This extreme heat and pressure causes the carbon to crystalize to the microscopic diamonds, and “grow” a bigger diamond.  CVD involves the energizing various carbon based gases to form the carbon structure unique to diamonds.

Synthetic diamonds are harder than natural diamonds, and (so far) are the hardest materials ever produced!

Cutting Glass is Not the Correct Way to Determine if a Diamond is Real
Quartz will also cut glass!  Nor is rubbing two diamonds together a good idea either, is both can be damaged.  The modern way to determine if a diamond is real is to check how readily it transfers heat. A heat source is applied at one of end of a diamond, and the measuring device (connected to the heat source) measures how quickly the heat is transferred through the material.  Very fast means a diamond!

The 5 C’s of Diamonds as Jewelry
Carat – the size of the diamond.  Obviously larger carats carry higher prices because they are rarer, but higher carats does not always mean better quality.  Carats are measured in 100 points, so 50 points would be ½ carat.

Cut – the cut of diamond is the most obvious style choice.  Round, Princess, Radiant, Emerald, Oval, Pear, Asscher, Flanders, Heart, Cushion, Marquise, Old Miner, & Trillion are the main ones, but most any shape can be created with proper milling procedures.  Just be careful:  most of these cuts are designed to refract white light, which creates part of the brilliance of the diamond.  A smaller diamond can be cut shallower to have a larger face, making it appear larger in a ring, however, this reduces the brilliance of the diamond. Keep that in mind if you want to show a bigger looking diamond, at a lower cost. Diamond masters can only do so much with the physics of light!

Color – diamonds are graded D through Z, with D being the most colorless (refracts white light the best).  D, E, & F are considered colorless, G-J near colorless, K-M faint yellow, N-R, very light yellow, S-Z, light yellow.  Obviously, the higher the grade, the more expensive.

Clarity – almost every diamond contains some flaw.  The less the flaws and the smaller the size of the flaws, the less imperfections to refract light, increasing the brilliance of the diamond.  Clarity is measured on the GIA scale: Flawless, VVS1, VVS2, VS1, VS2, SI1, SI2, I1, I2, & I3.

Certification – a grading report from an independent gemological lab will almost always accompany your diamond, giving you confidence in your purchase.

So for those April birthday’s you have the Emperor of Gems as your birthstone, the diamond!  And to safely store your diamonds and other treasures, you’ll need a beautiful luxury jewelry box or standing jewelry armoire.  And with Mother’s Day coming up, a womens jewelry box makes a great gift for that special someone!

Guest Blogger:  Noelle Price

Large Jewelry Armoire for All Your Treasures!

March's Birthstones: The Aquamarine & Bloodstone

Aquamarine Gemstone

In ancient days, they believed that there was a spiritual connection between the twelve stones on the breastplate of Aaron, the twelve zodiac signs, and the twelve months of the Roman calendar.  This is the basis for the different birthstones associated with each month. March (which is unique) has two birthstones:  aquamarine and bloodstone.

Aquamarine: the First Birthstone of March
Aquamarine means water, and the sea varies in color from deep blue to blue green and is considered cool; this color is associated with keeping the wearer calm and levelheaded:  cool under pressure! Often referred as the poor man’s diamond, it is with the same family of gemstones like morganite, emerald, and heliodor. The legend of aquamarine derives from the jewel caskets of sirens, coming ashore from the sea depths. These gemstones were very sacred, representing Neptune the Roman god of the sea. Aquamarine is believed to help heal a large number of ailments, mainly related to the jaw, liver, throat, and stomach. Its decorative use in eyeglasses is well-known and dates back almost 2000 years back.

Relationship to the Zodiac Sign
Aquamarine is the first birthstone of the month of March and is also the 19th wedding anniversary’s gemstone (how’s that for an interesting tidbit?). The Zodiac sign for this birthstone is Pisces (born between February 20 & March 20). Pisces is also the sign of the fish and is the twelfth sign in the zodiac calendar, its ruling planet is Neptune. The Aquamarine birthstone is associated with courage, faithfulness, and friendship.

Jewelry has made with the aquamarine gemstone for centuries, for all types of jewelry, from rings, brooches, pins, cufflinks, bracelets, pendants, earrings, to, of course, necklaces.  The aquamarine makes a wonderfully rich and tasteful gift, especially to those born under the sign of Pisces!

There is a poem written for March’s birthstone, can you guess the author?

"A March born shall always be
Soothed by Aqua, gem of sea
This mermaid's treasured stone you wear
Will bring happiness, love, affection and care."

The Other March Birthstone

The Bloodstone or Heliotrope

The second (or alternative) birthstone for March is the Bloodstone which is also known as Heliotrope. The stone’s properties make it ideal for carving and this gemstone is believed to increase vitality and have healing powers. Character traits associated with the Bloostone are courage and solace.

The Bloodstone is dark-green in color, jasper flecked, with vivid red spots of iron oxide (hence Bloostone!).  This gem in the ancient era was used by Babylonians to make seals and amulets, and is believed to possess healing powers especially associated with healing blood disorders.

So for your March births, here are your gemstones:  Aquamarine and the Bloodstone.  And don’t forget, a beautiful luxury jewelry box or standing jewelry armoire is a great place to store these and other treasures!

Guest Blogger, Noelle, ChasingTreasure.com

Luxury Jewelry Box for Your Treasures!

5 Inventive Places to Keep Your Jewelry

Luxury Desktop Jewelry Box

Generally speaking, dressing tables are difficult to keep neat and tidy. During the mornings before work, no doubt finding the perfect piece of jewelry causes quite a bit of unnecessary stress. There are, however, plenty of organizational solutions; and you probably won’t even need to fork out any cash on a nice jewellery box. 

By following this guide you’ll be able to craft some very original storage devices that not only look great, but are highly functional.

Picture Frame Hanger

The picture frame hanger is perfect if you have a bit of unused wall space that needs jazzing up.
Sift through your attic, basement, or wherever you might find an old picture frame. Remove the backboard so it’s completely empty. Get some packaging string and tie each end to the frame leaving a gap of a few inches between each line. Use drawing pins to keep the string secure.

Hang up your jewellery, but be careful not to overload each string!

 

Basket Hanger

Image Credit: College Fashion

This design is perfect if you don’t actually have a dressing table and regularly prepare yourself sitting on the floor in front of a mirror.
Get an old basket and simply place it on a miniature easel. If you don’t have an easel, lean it against the wall.
The best thing about this jewellery holder is that it’s ready made. Just prop it up and away you go!

 

Wooden Necklace Holder

Don’t let the picture fool you, you can make this wooden necklace holder as big or small as you like.

Just get two flat pieces of wood – balsa wood is great for small bracelet holders – and either glue them together at the base with wood adhesive, or screw them using two right angle pivot hinges.
Cut out a few level slits on either side of the wood so your jewelry can slot into place.

I’ve seen some great examples of these wooden jewelry boxes placed outside in open plan kitchen spaces, such as the ones seen in this case study from Nicholas Anthony.

 

Coat Hanger Necklace Holder

Image Credit: Brit + Co

You could probably make this coat hanger necklace holder with just a few bits and bobs from around  your home.
Get a wooden coat hanger and insert a bunch of hook screws. If you don’t have any in your garage you can pick them up from most DIY stores for just a few pence.
When you’re hanging up your jewellery just make sure that the weight is evenly distributed to prevent the hanger from tilting.

Twig Necklace Holder

Image Credit: Brit + Co

This quick and easy design is ideal if you enjoy frugal living and recycling.
All you need to do is find a nice thick twig, screw in some hooks, and tie a piece of string to either end so you can hang it up.
If you don’t have any hooks you could attach a few drawing pins instead.

In conclusion, jewelry boxes come in many different kinds of designs, from desktop jewelry boxes like the one shown at the very top, to large, standing jewelry cases that act as a piece of furniture, to the unique & chic ones shown here.  Whatever your taste, you can make your own, or purchase an heirloom quality one!

Companies mentioned:

College Fashion
Nicholas Anthony
Brit + Co
ChasingTreasure