Finding a foothold in modern history within the art nouveau era, moonstone jewelry was adulated by designer René Lalique in naturalistic artwork and later adorned as a vessel to express connection to the spiritual world in the later “new age” movement of the late 20th century.

Moonstone is one of the most important gemstones of the feldspar group of silicate minerals, with opalescent shimmer, myriad colours and adorned as a deity stone with lunar connection since ancient Greeks likened it to trapped moon light over two thousand years ago.

Moonstone in Art Nouveau and New Age Fashion

Starting from the turn of the 20th century the Art Nouveau movement embraced natural forms with colourful design and curving free shape, casting away the rigour of previous traditionally staid styles.

René Lalique was a French designer who as apprentice goldsmith to the leading Art Novea artist of the time Louis Aucoc forged a deep connection to these visionary ideas of nature inspired design.

With flowing natural lines of delicate golden tracery he created numerous examples of tiaras, pendant necklaces and numerous other works many featuring moonstone that with it’s smooth cabochon lines and pearly iridescence acted as natural point of art nouveau style.

Moonstone jewelry shone once again on the global stage in the later “New Age” movement of the 1970’s.

With spiritualistic beliefs emphasising independence of soul and connection to a greater cosmos that transcended material existence, the new age movement in moonstone jewelry found natural plays of light and colour that integrated well within their a spiritual framework of contrasting light and energy.

Appearance of Moonstone

Presenting numerous colours from colourless to pale browns including blue, peach, pink and yellow, moonstone is highly light reflective and along with better known “adularescence” some specimens show a “cat’s eye” of banded light.

Adularescence otherwise known as a light “shimmer” is created from tiny nanometre layers of light changing structural differences that exist throughout the structure of the moonstone crystal.

Under the right lighting moonstone displays an impression of moon light rippled across an ocean surface that is created by changes in the path of light as it passes across these variations in the crystal structure.

Contemporarily sought after in art noveau and much later the new age period moonstone jewelry pieces, this “shimmer” of wave like light is mostly found producing a white rippled lustre, though can also be found in orange and blue lustre.

Modern moonstone’s currently most sought after examples are those close to examples which are highly reflective to light and exhibit a strong blue “flash” of adularescence visible from a range of angles when mounted as highly polished cabochon jewels.

Moonstone Jewelry in History

Known since ancient Greek times as the gemstone “Aphroselene” – a merger between the names of ancient Greek goddesses of love and the moon, moonstone was believed by philosophers of the Roman Empire to be drops of moonlight frozen into crystal.

Roman historian “Pliny the Elder” wrote of moonstone with it’s shimmer of wave like light as being connecting to the changing phases of the moon and this gemstone was associated to Roman and Greek lunar deities.

Moonstone jewelry is associated with the moon in Roman and Greek mythology, the goddess Selene was a Greek mythological figure, daughter of the Sun god Hyperion who represented the Moon as a silver chariot chasing across the sky.

Later deity Artemis whose temple at Ephesus is one the seven wonders of the ancient world also represented the Moon and is twin sister of Apollo.

Roman and Greek peoples associated moonstone with deities that represented the moon and though they were less frequently worshipped than household deities they could be worshipped anywhere in the world where the moon was visible.

Moonstone jewelry of these ancient times would likely consist of either natural stones polished to best show the pearly shimmer of adularescence or be ground into cabochons and set into precious metal setting pendants and rings.

Moonstone is still mined from the Alp mines of St. Gotthard in Switzerland where it has been found since ancient times with most deposits found across the world presenting with clear colour and visible blue lustre, while deposits in Indian are known for a multitude of different colours.

Moonstone Feldspar Family

Of the feldspar family moonstone is a silicate mineral comprised of a three dimensional repeating lattice of silicon and oxygen elements called a “tectosilicate“.

Feldspar is a large group of minerals whose members while sharing a common repeating structure differ in some of the elements that constitute it.

Orthoclase is a type of feldspar that has some oxygen elements interchanged with potassium and aluminium and is known as the primary mineral constituent of moonstone.

Found in most granite and forming large crystals in the chemically similar rock called pegmatite, orthoclase commonly crystallises into these rocks when cooling from igneous magma that is comprised of the right elements to form it.

In the process of cooling a wide variety of other feldspar minerals will form alongside the more common orthoclase and where sodium is present including sodium rich feldspar – albite.

Under the right conditions the two feldspar crystals will grow together forming a rarer mineral called “perthite”.

Moonstone is the gem quality crystal of this blend of two feldspar minerals, the residual microscopic differences between the two crystals slightly altering light through the crystal producing the famous shimmer – a magical light and historical marker of the unique process of formation of the moonstone.

Attributes of Moonstone

Though not naturally found in Florida moonstone is naturally the gemstone that represents this state that with the first manned missions of project Apollo launching from Kennedy Space Centre is so intimately connected to the Moon.

Moonstone is the birthstone for June and in metaphysical writings as with previous Greek and Roman beliefs is still entwined to the energy of the moon.

Jewelry grade gemstones are typically selected for the amount and quality of adularescence that is displayed, with deep coloured flashes that are visible from a range of viewable angles being most sought after if incorporated into pendant pieces.

Discovering the crystal axis that best exhibits adularescence and then forming a cabochon from a solid crystal whose shape will show off the effect is one of the hardest parts for designers who shape moonstones.

Blue lustred moonstone is one of the more sought after varieties, though many different coloured lustre and body colour also naturally found.

Along with bright moonlight like shimmer some moonstone examples carry an effect of “cat’s eye” chatoyancy occuring where parallel inclusions in the crystal preferentially reflect light in one direction, forming a bright band of light similar to a cat’s eye.

Moonstone also possess a wide natural body colour range that in our jewelry allows matching to many colours of different gemstones, with single colours from black to grey and white and more colourful varieties from yellow to brown and blue to green being found.

Contemporary Fashion and Moonstone Jewelry

The moonlight like opalescence of moonstone is naturally suited to silver and other cool colours when mounted in precious metals.

Present market jewelry will often set rounded cabochons that best show a wide angle of reflective shimmer into pendant necklaces with minimalist detail to show the stand out natural beauty of the gemstone.

Flowing from the naturally rounded curves of a cabochon pendant some examples of modern jewelry can be found to still preserve the now classic art nouveau style of flowing lines and floral shaping.

Our perspective upon moonstone jewelry is that the most important design element is the lustre of the gemstone.

With colourful reflective lustre varying from deeper purple to light yellow and blue, and actual gemstone body tones all the way from white to black and grey and varied rainbow colours in between moonstone is an incredible palette for a designer.

We use the best points of the moonstone to create fashion styles which are both mysterious and carry a fashionable look with the new modern style as basis for design.

From the meaning of the name “moonstone” most of our work tries to create an atmosphere that carries the meaning of the moon’s appearance in the sky, in one of our ocean concept pieces we use blue apatite and blue lustred grey moonstone to describe the theme, giving you a picture of the moon at night reflected in the surface of a tranquil ocean.

Moonstone has always carried an otherworldly air of mystery within the pearlescent shimmer that plays within light reflected from this beautiful gemstone, from ancient Roman scholars to modern lovers of colourful fashion, moonstone jewelry projects a magical air seemingly carried down from our lunar companion.

Tourmaline frequently found in anthracite coal like black columnar crystals and scattered inclusions in granite is more popularly loved for dazzling displays of primary colour from deep red hues and mellow lemon yellow to rarer electric blue, vibrant green and ranges of every tone in between.

Tourmaline refers to a gemstone group that belongs to a type of silicate mineral family, with members sharing a repeating circular hexagonal ring structure of fantastically varied interchangeable elements.

From the most common darker “schorl” gemstone to deep coloured Hungarian “dravite” and scientifically important “Elbaite”, the family of tourmaline gemstone is one of the most extensive of all minerals.

Found widely across Brazil and Africa and with lesser commercially important sources in Asia, tourmaline has been described as a magnet for volcanic ash, used as a polarising filter for important scientific pursuit and well known for fabulous water melon dual colour varieties.

Loved for radiant colour since it was first discovered before the modern age, tourmaline has been selectively imported into China by previous Emperors and was found in ancient Indian burial sites as an offering for the ancestors.

A Family of Tourmaline Gemstone

Sharing a common six sided ring of repeating elements the tourmaline gemstone family group is described as one of most complex and largest families of silicate minerals.

In common with quartz and most of the minerals of the Earth tourmaline is a crystal whose principal connecting units are atoms of silicon connecting to four neighbouring atoms in a repeating lattice.

Less common is the complexity of the natural structure with numerous boron and aluminium atoms forming interconnecting and substitutable links in a dimensionally complex structure that is found on Earth in many different varieties.

Though sharing a similar spatial arrangement of atoms, tourmaline family members differ most strikingly in ranges of colour that vary from as black as coal to as vibrant as electric neon light.

Named from the German Saxony village from near where it was first recorded “Schorl” presents coal like blackness and texturing in the way it forms and is rich in sodium and iron trace elements.

“Schorl” was discovered before the 1400’s and today is recognised as the most common variety of tourmaline – found in small amounts in many metamorphic and igneous rocks such as granite as an accessory mineral.

“Dravite” rich in magnesium and sodium is a tourmaline family member recorded in the early 1800’s in Slovenia and named after a local river, with colouring rich in emotionally deep golden brown and dark forest green.

“Elbaite” is a lithium rich tourmaline gemstone and was the first mineral within which elemental lithium was discovered, named after the Elba island in Italy it has colourless transparent types to lighter natural colour varieties including strawberry pink, rare electric blue, red green and other primary colours, and is also famous for watermelon crystal bicolour tourmaline.

Prized by collectors of gemstones for it’s propensity to form large crystals, the tourmaline member “Uvite” is also known as “Flour-uvite” due to the presence of the element fluorite which gifts this gemstone rich reddy brown colours, though other tones are also found in nature.

There exist in total 32 family members of the tourmaline gemstone group found widely across the world, often in mineral inclusions as part of other rocks where the right makeup of diverse constituting elements leads to many more rare types of tourmaline gemstone.

With so many family members tourmaline is usually sold simply according it’s colour and not according to chemical differences, names from canary yellow tourmaline to red and blue tourmaline are more typically found.

The Formation of Tourmaline

Tourmaline is found around the world in igneous rocks such as granite, where it is scattered throughout the rock as a minor mineral inclusion.

As a commercially viable crystal tourmaline is extracted from the similar rock “pegmatite“, which is an important source of many other gemstones.

Pegmatite though similar in composition to granite is distinguished by a different process of metamorphic change, that results in the parent rock being a composite of large well separated crystals sometimes reaching massive sizes.

Gemstones including aquamarine, beryl and tourmaline among many others are found in pegmatite rocks as well as important commercial elements including lithium and rare earth minerals.

In the complex rich mineral environment at the high temperatures and pressures of geological process tourmaline gemstone crystals form into rocks and cavities sometimes exceeding several tens of centimetres in size.

Tourmaline is known for forming long trigonal crystals with curving striation, heavy faces and easily distinguishable by three sided faces that are not found in other gemstones.

Tourmaline gemstone is most famous for a wide variety of colour across the rainbow of the visible light spectrum that in nature will sometimes display two pronounced tones across the breadth of a single crystal.

The kaleidoscope of colours is believed to arise from differences in tourmaline’s chemical makeup that encompass many variations of different elements across family members.

“Schorl” crystals rich in iron display deeper bands of colours while “Dravite” varieties including magnesium cover dark shades of gold and brown, lithium containing “Elbaite” tourmaline cover most colours including transparent crystal finds.

Other coloured varieties include natural radiated pinks where deep underground radiation alters manganese varieties of tourmaline producing deep pink and rich red colours.

In the long process of tourmaline crystal growth the environment of the crystal will sometimes change just slightly enough to alter the colour of the crystal during formation.

Many tourmaline “water melon” crystals are found to vary from green to pink from one end to the next or from the outside to the interior and are a popular faceted gemstone showcasing the best of bicolour gemstones.

Tourmaline and the World

Tourmaline at approximately the same hardness of quartz on the moh’s scale is a durable mineral that persists through weathering that wears away most surface rocks and can naturally accumulate in river and alluvial flows where it is later sieved out of sediment by gemstone collectors.

Many beautiful gemstones of slightly rounded rough stone are found in the downstream rivers of Tanzania with Africa being one of the more important modern producers of colourful tourmaline gemstones.

Though used since ancient ages by Mediterranean peoples where it was locally found, tourmaline was first identified as a unique mineral by the Dutch in 1703 who imported the colourful stone from Sri Lanka and named it “turamali” from the Sinhalese for “multi colour stone”

Some of the early discoveries of tourmaline where made in North America Maine and California by native American people who used the rainbow coloured gemstones as offerings to ancestors, later 18th century development and commercial marketing of these localities produced the world’s most sought after green and pink varieties in the latter 19th century.

Chinese Empress dowager “Ci Xi” had a special fondness for the lighter colours of pink gemstone and imported significant quantities to be used as carvings and faceted gemstones that decorated grand summer palaces and adorned the social elite.

The modern world’s love of this natural rainbow gemstone has seen commercial sources opened up further from Indian to Sri Lanka and Africa, though the most notable finds come from Brazil.

“Paraiba” tourmaline is a colourful variety found in Brazil and is exported widely, the largest find of Paraiba tourmaline is a hefty two hundred carat gemstone named “The Paraiba Star of the Ocean Jewel” which is a flawless sapphire blue gemstone mounted in a colourful diamond encrusted yellow gold necklace.

Presentation of Tourmaline Gemstone

With a greater range of colour than any other gemstone tourmaline is the go to jewelry stone for lovers of vibrant colour and natural energy.

Rainbow colour is the hallmark of the lighter varieties of tourmaline gemstone such as “Elbaite” though darker coal black toned “Schorl” and golden brown “Dravite” varieties are more common.

Asides from radiant colours tourmaline has many other special properties including pleochroism and chatoyancy effects with pleochroism being found in most tourmaline varieties to different extents.

Pleochroism happens when rays of light passing through the crystal are changed with the path taken through it – observed as changes in colour when viewed from different directions.

Tourmaline gemstones vary in these colour changes quite significantly, red varieties will vary in intensity, green colours show changes in the amount of yellow and blue and brown types change from light to dark.

Faceted gemstones are cut to maximise the amount of colour projected from the setting, and the axis of the crystal displayed must be chosen carefully to minimise less desirable colour changes that result from the strong pleochroism of tourmaline.

Some tourmaline gemstone crystals including some of those from Brazil show great “chatoyancy”, where microscopic inclusions are oriented in a way that focuses light along an axis perpendicular to the inclusions, producing a bright band of reflected light known as a “cat’s eye”.

Tourmalines Special Properties

Along with beryl and opal, tourmaline gemstone is the modern US birthstone for October, sharing with these other gemstones a similar range of bright rainbow colour.

In the scientific world tourmalines greatest contribution to science was it’s use as a polarizing filter in 1678 by the Dutch scientist “Christiaan Huygens” in an experiment that was used to prove the wave theory of light.

Tourmaline is also known for a range of special properties including one which no other blue gemstone is known to produce.

Extensively analysed by the world of science in the 1900s minerals of the family member “elbaite” produced the first detectable traces of the element Lithium which now forms an important part of the modern low energy economy.

Tourmaline show interesting piezoelectric and pyroelectric effects with all crystals that lack a centre of symmetry accumulating electric charge when subject to mechanical stress or change in temperature.

Due to these special properties tourmaline was known as the “ash puller” gemstone and when heated was used to clean ash from smoking pipes due to it’s electrical charge attracting dust and soot – this effect also leads to tourmaline requiring more frequent cleaning than other gemstones.

Coal black “schorl” varieties that are heavily saturated with iron show strong magnetic response while “elbaite” varieties show different magnetic responses varying from red and green types with the lowest response to yellow, green and blue showing the highest.

Blue “indicolite” tourmaline shows the strongest paramagnetic response of any gemstone, though not generating a discernable magnetic field of it’s own it will however follow a neodymium magnet when it is placed next to one – being the only blue gemstone to do so.

Tourmaline Jewelry

Loved by jewellery artisans the rainbow of colour that tourmaline is found in is suited for all manner of design, from dark mysterious “schorl” to deep emotional “dranite” and the more popular kaleidoscope of lively tones that come from “elbaite” varieties.

Tourmaline is found in the market in a range of jewelry pieces from ear rings and rings featuring crystal cut faceted gemstones to pendants of single cabochons and bead necklaces and bracelets.

The colours of tourmaline are often enough to entirely carry the style of a design, some of our own designs are carried by the weight of radiance projected by the range of colours present in one bead of tourmaline.

“Water melon” tourmaline and other bicolour tourmaline crystals are an exception to the avoidance of buying bicolour crystals by gemstone buyers, with examples of faceted bicolour tourmaline crystals being found in a variety of beautiful jewelry types.

Many larger carat size faceted gemstones preserve the frequently found long elongated shape in specially designed settings.

Though “paraiba” gemstones that show radiant electric colour are some of the most sought after varieties of tourmaline, recent finds in Africa have similar radiant colours that are – with the exception of trace element analysis – indistinguishable from the Brazilian localities.

YAN Tourmaline Gemstone Fashion

Tourmaline is one of the craft maker’s most sought after gemstones, loved for the fascinating plethora of colour that can be used in an abundance of design.

Our own jewelry range use the natural colour range of tourmaline gemstones in evocative emotional pieces inspired by art, nature and our brand of new colourful styling that reaffirms beautiful design.

Matching ocean blue cordierite with the deeper emotional ranges of colour from selected natural tourmaline varieties our showcased matching set of cordierite blue necklace and bracelet projects eye catching beauty.

Lighter in colour and filled with colourful gaiety the rainbow tones of our silver bird pendant necklace is awash with colour from the principal tourmaline supported by the addition of light silver spacer and white quartz crystal supporting bead.

Natural deep purple amethyst colours match well to the lighter colourful gamut of tourmaline in the floral concept combination necklace that is further set off with additional silver flower brocade clasps.

YAN jewelry designs carry the vibrant colour of tourmaline in a range of attractive bead necklace and bracelet design where our designer has sought beautiful combinations of natural colour that carry the living vibrance of this popular gemstone.

Prehnite with soft green glow and translucent spring colour tones is one of our natural gemstone elements woven into jewelry tapestries of natural colour, projecting a feeling of wooden glade and rolling fields of open grass.

Seemingly filled with radiant light this silicate mineral is new to the world of gemstone jewelry, discovered as recently as the 1800s and found in ancient rocks of Africa and in silica rich rocks of deep oceanic crust.

Prehnite with light seasonal tones is matched to pink quartz crystal in our range of designer jewelry, presenting a cheerful colour gamut that adds life love and energy that is well matched to lighter toned apparel.

How is Prehnite Formed

As a silicate mineral prehnite is notably found in silicon rich basalt rocks deep below the ocean, these oceanic plates cover the deeper part of the Earths crust, and ride upon tremendous currents of heat and energy that shape and have reshaped the surface of our world across countless millennia.

As a metamorphic rock prehnite is born where great sub oceanic plates are formed from deep mantle at “mid-ocean ridge” spreading centres.

Prehnite gemstone is formed at temperatures of around three hundred degrees and several kilo bars of pressure when the rocks that are being formed are dense silicon rich “mafic” rocks.

Found not only in dense oceanic plates, prehnite was discovered in the “Great Karoo” of South Africa by Dutch Colonel Hendrik Von Prehn in 1788, from whom it takes it’s name.

The “Great Karoo” is a large region of exposed rock in South Africa that represents the earliest recognised part of the “Karoo Supergroup” of ancient Pangaea continent rocks.

Formed during the birth of the massive Pangaea supercontinent, the surface strata lifted into this area was subject to high temperatures and pressures, leading to various metamorphic changes that has resulted in the Great Karoo being a special place of crystal formation.

Presentation of Prehnite

Prehnite gemstone in common with rhodonite and jadeite is a type of silicate mineral called an “inosilicate” which comes from the Greek for “ino” meaning chain.

These chain silicates are long single strands of repeating crystal groups closely packed together, with substitutions of other elements such as iron – or aluminium in the case of prehnite, changing the colour and other properties of the gemstone.

In nature prehnite is often found as a crystallised grape like “botryoidal” mass of crystal with notable radiance, green hue and radiant pearly vitreous lustre, and seen seldomly with a cat’s eye effect of reflected concentrated light.

Typically of translucent semi-transparent nature the most notably trait of Prehnite is the famed green colour with a strong inner radiance from scattering of light and uniform tone throughout the crystal.

Softer than quartz with a hardness of around 6 on the Moh’s scale, prehnite is seldom seen in large pendant jewelry due to a tendency to being brittle to knocks and easier to scratch if not careful, this gemstone is more frequently seen in bead jewelry and smaller cabochon ear ring settings.

With large commercial deposits in Africa and Australia, prehnite has turned from a gemstone limited to collections of rare minerals to a crystal for hand crafted jewellers to work into a range of beautiful fashion accessories.

Prehnite Gemstone Jewelry

Prehnite with her buoyant green radiance is a gemstone frequently found in ear ring settings matched to silver surrounds that elegantly add colour and light to apparel.

YAN fashion designs use of prehnite gemstone continues our designers love of the outdoors and nature, weaving her ideas and passion into necklaces, bracelets and ear rings.

Naturally matching well to pink crystal colours, pink quartz and prehnite gemstone together are a combination of gemstones that both project light energy, filled with spring time radiance of airy open forests and breezy grass plains.

Spring concept design pieces are light in colour tone yet filled with a vibrancy of light that adds depth to light clothing while preserving lighter character.

With lighter blue aquamarine, chalcedony shell pendants, pink crystal quartz and light green prehnite gemstone, these ranges of necklaces and bracelets carry spring and summer vibes of idyllic glade and sunlight soaked beaches.

Prehnite is a colourful gemstone with a soft emotional energy, carrying a youthful joy of life that connects well to new colourful styling in simple and beautiful design.

You can see more of our featured prehnite gemstone necklaces and bracelets in our collection gemstone page on our website.

Culturally important to the Nordic peoples of ancient Europe who used thin sheets of crystal as a polarising filter to help them navigate from the sun, synthetic cordierite helps to clean the modern world every minute of every day – being used in nearly every catalytic converter on Earth.

With our fashion design cordierite with strong blue colouring projects a confident palette for lovers of ocean blue tones, contrasting beautifully to clothing with mesmerising eye catching flashes of lightness.

Formation of a Cordierite Gemstone

Cordierite is part of a special family of silicate minerals known as a cyclosilicate, in common with tourmaline and beryl these silicon rich minerals have their primary elements joined together in a ring.

Silicates are some of the most important contributors to the geologic cycle of our world, involved in processes where they are weathered, crystallised, melted and metamorphose into countless varieties of minerals such as quartz gemstones.

Cordierite begins it’s journey countless aeons ago as silica rich clays that are pressed down into the earth in endless plate tectonic upheavals.

Bearing great pressure under the Earth’s surface, these silica rich clays are compressed into sedimentary rocks called pelite.

Pressed ever downward these rocks are continually heated proximately or through direct contact with extrusions of deep hot igneous rocks and further change in composition, forming minerals that include garnet, spinel, kyanite and cordierite.

Shifted onward and upward these changed rocks can resurface or are exposed by weathering of surrounding rock, sometimes found on the surface in concentrations of tough durable “hornfel” outcroppings of colourful banded rock.

Appearance of Cordierite

Known as “iolite” when described as a faceted gemstone, cordierite has been called the “water sapphire” where discovered in Sri Lanka due to it’s simultaneous display of ocean blue tone when viewed from one direction, to water clear transparency when viewed from another.

“Pleochroism” is the display of different colours when viewed from differing viewing angles, and cordierite exhibits some of the strongest pleochroism known among gemstones.

In early European history cordierite was named “dichroite” after the Latin for “two colours”, these special crystals that exhibit pleochroism bend light differently depending on the polarisation of the light that enters it.

Cordierite shows very strong pleochroism, from violet and darker blue tones to yellow and transparent tones can be viewed from different directions and are a useful way to determine if a gemstone is genuine cordierite.

Though frequently cut into faceted gemstones, cordierite’s special affinity to changing colour requires careful selection of the principal face of the gemstone to ensure the strongest desired colour projects along that axes.

The most sought after colours of cordierite are the violet-blue types in larger carat faceted gemstones, these predominately blue colour tones as with amethyst and many other gemstones comes from the presence of iron elements scattered throughout the crystal.

Included cordierite gemstones are not sought after in faceted gemstones though the tracery of natural fracture lines and traces of other elements are often present in beads and cabochon jewels.

In some cases these included elements locked within the crystal can form long rutile threads that produce “cat’s eye” chatoyancy in similar vein to the gloss of light reflected from a spool of fine threaded silk.

Cordierite Gemstone Culture

Historically cordierite is best known for it’s use by ancient Viking seafarers who pioneered the use of using the sun and the stars to navigate away from the coast on steady bearing towards unknown shores then back home again.

Owing to the often clouded skies of Northern Europe these ancient mariners with their dependence on the sun for daylight navigation found that thin sheets of these blue mineral would show the sun even through heavy cloud, allowing them to successfully hold a fixed course in unforgiving weather.

The same crystal properties that change the colour of cordierite from ocean blue to crystal clear scattered the randomly polarised light of the sun as it passed through heavy cloud, preserving more of the original light and consequently changing colour when proximately directed at the true location of the sun.

In the modern age cordierite was named as distinct mineral gemstone by the French geologist Louis Cordier in Spain 1831 and was found to have additional remarkable properties that are now utilised to this day.

Though of a hardness on the same par as natural quartzes, cordierite was found to be exceptionally stable when exposed to large changes in heat.

Reproduced into synthetic gemstones, countless small crystals of cordierite act as a super hot medium aiding the catalysts work of making exhaust emissions less harmful.

Cordierite Gemstone Fashion

Deep ocean blue is one of the first impressions that comes from the natural palette of cordierite, balanced with clearer tones that change with the angle of view and lighten the overall feeling like the crests of waves on the sea.

To lovers of blue tones cordierite is a devoted companion, naturally matching well to light blue apparel where it adds depth to a look, and darker blue tones layering further attention in detail.

Our designer necklaces and bracelets crafted from cordierite gemstone belong to our ocean concept designs, featuring peaceful projection of stable emotion and rich blue colour that is very eye catching.

Larger carat size cordierite beads show deep blue colouring with shifts of colour tone with viewing angle that enhance the overall lightness of the piece when worn, a befitting addition to our range of vibrant colour necklaces and bracelets.

Cordierite is a colourful crystal that guided ancient mariners across new seas and today guides us towards a cleaner world, with ocean blue colouring and life full shifts in tone this gemstone adds life and energy in a new way to jewelry and dress.

Agate with bands of beautiful colour is one of the most important gemstones of the early crafting world, with Brazilian “Rio Grande do Sol” agate being traded around the world after the discovery of commercially important deposits in the 19th century.

Famed for bands of beautiful colour agate is found in a wide variety of forms, ranging from blue eye agate with cool blue bandings to fire agate with incredible multi-colour iridescence and warm red tones.

Cherry blossom agate gemstone is one of the more recent discoveries in the agate family, with delicate patterning of chalcedony inclusions forming a natural display of flowers in bloom, and an oil painting like composition of detail that matches well to our artist’s love of painting and new colourful style.

Making of an Agate

Frequently found in volcanic geodes that have filled with this near opaque gemstone, agate is an aggregate micro crystal comprised of countless tiny crystals of chalcedony and quartz, sometimes found accompanied by quartz crystals such as amethyst and white quartz.

Though comprised of chalcedony, agate is not considered such unless it displays bands and layering where the chalcedony has been deposited in rhythmic crystallisation cycles.

Agate forms both from parent rock and upon earlier pre existing rock, where silica rich minerals have crystallized into natural hollows, crevices and even into fossilized shells.

Mostly found in volcanic rocks such as the finds at Brazillian “Rio Grande do Sol”, agate is believed to form where solutions rich in silica minerals penetrate into rocky nodules, within which high temperature volcanic gases have created spaces that allow the minerals to seep into.

Over the passage of time layers of silica crystallise into an aggregate of chalcedony and quartz, continuing in a cyclical process of deposition and crystallization that forms beautiful banding.

Owing to differences in the environment of the nodule as deposition occurs, silica rich mediums carry small changes between each cycle, over time these differences forming the distinct layered bands of colour.

Cherry Blossom Agate Gemstone Family

Cherry blossom agate gemstone is special in that it belongs to agates that do not display conventional horizontal banding, instead the “layer” of chalcedony forms volumetric impressions in a lighter layer of quartz with soft blossoms of chalcedony as if peach blossoms in spring bloom.

In similar vein the more well known “scenic agate” shows translucent quartz landscapes studded with delicate traces of trees and plants in all manner of forms, creating spectacular landscapes of detail similar to our own artist’s traditional free hand painting styles.

Not alone for company, both dendritic agate and moss agate show similar impressions of fern like leaves and small moss like grass patterns, giving the viewer a sight into a natural microcosm of picturesque scene.

Cultural History of Agate

First recorded between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, agate takes it’s name from the ancient Greek name for the river “Achates” in Sicily, where it was discovered by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus.

The ancient Greeks discovered this beautiful natural gemstone produced a hard fine surface for shaping, and was excellent for holding small detail in carvings that would resist erosion.

Fashioned into portraits, figurines and beautiful household adornments such as handles and plates, agate is still widely seen as a material for contempory fine artisan handwork.

Agate has a special connection to the “Idar-Oberstein” region of Germany where early commercial sources of agate were discovered in large nodules with bright primary colours which were turned into works of art.

Producing natural bright colours these local agate finds where exported widely as beads across the world, with local artisans fashioning colourful bead necklaces and bracelets up until the 19th century.

After local deposits were eventually worked out the same German emigrants discovered new sources in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul in the early 19th century.

Fashioning an early global marketplace of resource exchange, Brazilian agate was shipped back to Idar-Obstein, then machined into beads and other jewelry pieces that were sent on across the world.

You can read more about the culture history of agate along with other related agate gemstone family members in our featured gemstone blog agate article.

Cherry Blossom Agate – New Look

In new colourful fashion design, with floral gaiety and lightness of presence, of all the myriad agate family members, cherry blossom agate is one of if not the best suited to our designer’s love of flower and oil painting.

Better seen in larger pendant and cabochons, the natural patterning of cherry blossom agate gemstone is as it’s name suggests, a vista of blooming flower blossom painted within a lighter quartz layer set off against richer earth toned chalcedony.

Of first glance a mottled complexion of lighter white and peach pink lustered stone, upon closer inspection cherry blossom agate reveals further detail, with subtle colouring between layers of chalcedony, each small bauble of colour traced blossom like upon both pendant and bead.

Though cherry blossom agate tends towards opaque in larger carat sizes, smaller beads show transparency of light through layers of quartz, setting the white blossoms of opaque chalcedony into a peach pink sky of colour.

Cherry Blossom Agate Gemstone Fashion

Cherry blossom agate forms some of the key designs of our bead and pendant necklaces and bracelets, with it’s floral like visages of blooming flowers and soft detail of natural patterns well matched to our designer’s love of flower and oil painting.

Our ranges of cherry blossom agate jewelry take the natural colours and vibrancy of this beautiful gemstone as a fount of natural palette that lends natural levity and soft colour to a variety of design.

Verdant in feminine softness this gemstone is well matched to silver floral brocades and baubles, conveying light gaiety that soften apparel and are rich in a soft cultured elegance.

Matching to white moonstone, blue aquamarine, soft rosewood, light green prehnite and clear crystal quartzes, cherry blossom agate with it’s own natural range of soft contrasting tones is perfectly at home with diverse ranges of different gemstones balanced in smart designs.

Our designs including cherry blossom agate gemstone as both pendant and bead are many and varied, covering different styles that project ideas belonging to new modern fashion styling, you can see more of those necklaces and bracelets that include this beautiful semi-precious stone in our agate gemstone collection.

As a newcomer to a gemstone family that has been the staple crafting material for bead jewelry designers over the past several hundred years, cherry blossom agate brings a new look in a familiar way to the world of gemstone design.

Citrine yellow and warm like the sun, this radiant gemstone and naturally rare variety of quartz is a sister crystal to amethyst and was prized by ancient European peoples as a ward and healing stone.

With colours ranging from light yellow to dark golden brown, citrine derives it’s colour from traces of iron within the crystal in the same way as amethyst does, in fact within the precious stone “ametrine” both citrine and amethyst are found together in the same crystal.

Often confused with yellow gemstones such as apatite and beryl, citrine with it’s yellow topaz like colour is also trade named as “Rio Grande Topaz” after one of the more famous places it is found.

Citrine Gemstone Distribution

Citrine is a species of quartz – a mineral of silicon and oxygen that is found widely in nature both upon the surface of and deep within the Earth.

As a hardy crystal with a hardness of 7 on the moh’s scale, quartz is very resistant to weathering and will remain long after the parent rock which it formed within has eroded away with the passage of time.

Quartz with it’s evident resistant to weathering will slowly accumulate in streams, rivers, glaciers and other places that gradually wash and wear away other rocks, leaving deposits of this semi precious stone visibly exposed and contrasted well against other rock.

Tiny crystals of quartz are widely present on beaches around the world as the greatest constituent of sand, fine white sandy beaches are indicative a process of weathering that has taken place over millions of years, leaving behind these small fine crystals.

Below the Earth quartz is found in rock such as granite and other igneous rocks that have slowly crystallised from subterranean flows of magma.

Other quartz containing rocks include sedimentary rocks such as sandstones where quartz crystals have accumulated on the surface over time, and metamorphic rocks including quartzite – where sedimentary rocks have been compressed, heated and transformed into new forms.

Formation of Citrine Gemstone

Under the presence of heat and time trapped minerals of quartz will slowly grow into crystals wedged between fissures in rocks, filling the hollows of geodes and even growing outwards into rock cavities and caves.

Quartz grows into two types of crystal that are called macro and micro or “crypto” crystalline crystals, micro crystalline quartz is comprised of countless small faceted crystals that are invisible or “cryptic” to the unaided eye and include well known chalcedony.

Macro crystalline quartz varieties include well known amethyst, citrine, smoky quartz, rose quartz and rutilated quartzes among many many others, are all quartz family crystals distinguished by numerous different inclusions that include previous crystal impressions, mineral rutile inclusions, gas bubbles, metal inclusions and many others.

See our quartz gemstone article for more about the family of quartz.

Amethyst and citrine gemstone are quartz crystals whose crystal structure is interspersed with iron atoms that were part of the environment that the crystal formed within and were slowly incorporated into the crystal as it grew.

The presence of iron in the otherwise near transparent crystal changes how light is transmitted through the gemstone, for example amethyst will slightly absorb visible light tending towards red, with the opposite purple showing through.

In citrine gemstone the interaction of the iron elements with the surrounding crystal exists in a slightly different state, shifting the absorption of light towards blue leaving a yellow tint.

The small difference between amethyst and citrine is so slight that in nature the two crystals can grow together into a single crystal called an “ametrine” that shows both purple and yellow colouring, while in the market of gemstones “poor quality” amethyst that displays little purple colour is frequently heated to change the colour.

In nature the difference between citrine gemstone and amethyst is often a result of the temperature at which it formed, our jewellery uses natural unheated citrine that shows only slight yellow colouring as opposed to the much stronger yellow of heated citrine.

Where is Citrine Found?

Natural citrine crystal is rare when compared to other quartz crystals with the majority of market citrine being heat treated amethyst.

Natural citrine shows common light yellow colour to less frequently seen golden yellow in “Madeira Citrine” and also includes dark gold brown colours.

Heat treated citrines will often have a red tint and “citrine” quartzes that display dazzling lemon yellow colour are irradiated, heat-treated amethyst can also display inclusions of small lines in the crystal.

The most sought after citrine comes from Madeira and shows strong golden yellow colours, with no visible eye inclusions and no variation of colour across the crystal that is more typical in other citrine.

Citrine is found in a few select places around the world with the most popular coming from Brazil’s “Rio Grande do Sul” area though many heat treated Brazilian amethysts are also sold as natural citrine.

In Brazil it is not uncommon to heat large quartz crystal finds, including geodes of amethyst to become more valuable citrine yellow, producing large clusters of crystal that is more valuable with the sought after yellow colour.

It is considered best to store citrine in a place away from sunlight and strong heat, as both can lead to the gemstone’s yellow colour fading over time.

Citrine Gemstone Culture and History

Citrine has a strong connection to the ancient Celtic people of Western Europe who incorporated it into pendant jewelry that would shield the wearer from both evil thoughts of others and poisons and sickness.

In metaphysical writings citrine is considered to be linked to the sun, and is a stone that is described as giving a boost to energy, as well as the more ancient uses of a ward and health giving stone, other sources describe citrine as a “money stone” and bringer of prosperity.

During the era of ancient Greece citrine was fashioned into large crystal motifs and shaped into figurines, though it was not considered especially valuable – perhaps due to the rarity of stones of good quality compared to more prevalent smoky and milky “included” varieties.

Citrine has a connection to healing and health with the Scottish people believing the stone can protect from the bite of the poisonous local “adder” snake and historically was considered to protect from plague.

Victorian era citrine was very popular and included brooches of large carat crystals set in gold and silver surrounds, citrine jewelry of the era was influenced by the production of Citrine from the “Cairngorm” area in Scotland which continues to produce prized quartzes to this day.

Citrine Fashion

Citrine fashion ranges from large carat designer gemstones that have been carved into beautiful shapes to more common earrings and rings, often matched to gold the natural yellow gemstone colour shines with a warm attractive energy.

Citrine as well as topaz and amber are some of the “go to” gemstones for lovers of natural yellow colours and are frequently cut into faceted gemstones that maximise reflected light and matched to gold and silver.

Our natural citrine jewelry take the light straw yellow colouring of this beautiful gemstone to form designs carrying a lightness and brevity that project life and energy while lifting the colour depth of clothing.

Citrine is an elegant gemstone and is well matched with pink quartzes and the light white jelly agate shown in our beautiful pink crystal necklace piece.

This beautiful citrine necklace uses a pink thread laced through supporting citrine bead whose soft yellow light adds levity of tone to the whole piece.

Matched to seldom seen purple phantom quartz the light purple and citrine yellow of our flower pendant bracelet support each other with fresh spring colour tones and a light airy feeling.

In our design ranges the natural beauty of gemstones is shown with selections of gemstones chosen to support each other in colour and lightness, threaded together in designs that carry an evident emotional feeling and new colourful life concept.

Citrine belongs to our lighter range of necklaces and bracelets, it’s light spring colour is well matched to the silver flower brocades and floral themes of the pieces shown above.

More of our citrine featuring bracelets and necklaces can be seen in our collection page on our website here, the pale yellow colouring of natural citrine is suited to floral jewelry necklaces and floral jewelry bracelets – belonging to those concepts in which a floral blossom feeling is very evident.

Our amethyst gemstone necklace and bracelet page features the sister gemstone of citrine.

Citrine is a beautiful light gemstone and a rarely seen variety of quartz that when incorporated into bead jewelry design gives a sunny lightness to clothing, lifting the presence of elegant apparel and perhaps more importantly brightening the day of not only the wearer but the people around them who catch sight of this lovely warm radiant gemstone.

Kyanite as an alternative to sapphire shows the same deep crystal blues with brilliant lustre that makes both gemstones some of the most extravagant and sought after crystals in fashion.

From the Greek word “Kyanos” – which means of blue colour, this precious gemstone was named in 1789 by the German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner, a geologist and famed teacher who taught talented students from across Europe.

Forming under high temperature and pressure in metamorphic rock, and famous for being found in the rock bed deep underneath Manhattan island, kyanite shows peculiar differences in hardness across it’s crystal planes as well as a cat’s eye chatoyancy that draws gaze deep into the blue serenity of this beautiful crystal.

Origins of a Kyanite Gemstone

Following the passage of time across Earth’s geological ages, multitudes of great continents and oceans have formed together then rifted apart, riding upon the trapped heat of the core that is slowly released from the centre of our world.

One of the most famous of these previous continents is the so called “super” continent Pangaea, a vast hemisphere spanning land mass covering the Earths surface that existed over 300 million years ago.

In the early formation of Pangaea the core geological “craton” of Laurentia – which is the stable body of continent that forms most of present North America, rode across the planet from a position on the Equator ever Northwards.

As Laurentia travelled North it merged together with the ancient micro continent “Avalonia” and the Northern European landmass “Baltica”, forming what would later be the first building block of a supercontinent that would exist for over 160 million years.

The merging of these massive Northern American landmasses took place under tremendous energies, leading to great masses of rock being pressed downwards into the Earth where tremendous heat and pressure altered the original minerals.

The bedrock underlying Manhattan, and that rises to the surface in some rock outcrops of Central Park, carry the indicators of this ancient exchange in the form of kyanite crystals which can be found within them, a beautiful crystal remnant of an ancient upheaval.

Structure of Kyanite

Comprised of aluminium, silicon and oxygen – an aluminosilicate, kyanite forms naturally in aluminium rich rock at high pressures, and is used as a geological index to determine the history of temperature and pressure the parent rock has been exposed to.

Forming long columnar crystals of strong blue colours to colourless and blue tinged brown, and even green varieties, kyanite is found where rocks have been exposed to extreme pressures – typically in “regional” metamorphism that has accompanied continental shifts across geological time.

Kyanite exhibits strong anisotropism – with the crystal exhibiting different properties in different directions, the most noted of which is two different hardnesses along and across the axes of the crystal, that vary from 5.5 to 7 on the moh’s scale and make this a gemstone that is difficult to cut.

Asides from the famous and sought after deep blue colouring Kyanite also displays strong changes in colour when viewed from different angles, ranging from deep blue to blue and then colourless – a display of “pleochroism” where light is absorbed differently as it passes from one axes to the next.

Lesser seen is a “chatoyancy” or cat’s eye effect that appears in gemstones with fibrous qualities or aligned rutile inclusions.

The chatoyancy of gemstones is caused by reflected light being reflected more strongly against the lengths of the fibres or aligned rutile inclusions, and is the same as the effect seen in a reel of silk and polished hardwoods.

Cat’s eye gemstones reflect light very strongly in the direction perpendicular to their long axes, producing a line of light that is better known in tiger’s eye crystal, beryl and aquamarine.

Kyanite Gemstone a Short History

Found across the world where metamorphic rocks have been exposed enough for people to find them, Kyanite was first identified as a unique gemstone by the geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner.

Born into a mining family in the 18th century Abraham developed an interest in studious classification of minerals and would later publish the first text on physical traits of minerals in 1774.

Claiming fame as a teacher of geology his teaching style drew students of mineralogy across Europe, many of whom would later send him minerals to be identified.

He would later name Kyanite from the word of “Kyanos” which is the Greek word for blue in 1789.

Fashion of Kyanite

With a colouring like the blue of a sapphire, Kyanite in the form of faceted gemstones is a sought after crystal that possesses a deep lustred colour on par with any other precious stone and a perfect match for elegant and beautiful fashion wear.

With deep blue like colours being the most sought after, as with it’s more famous precious gemstone equivalent, kyanite is often cut into larger carat gemstones and mounted with silver and gold surrounds in simple pendant necklaces and earrings.

Best worn in stronger light where the blue colours are more apparent, though faceted kyanite rings do exist due to the ease of which kyanite is fractured, and the softer than usual hardness along one crystal axis, rings are not seen as often as well secured pendant pieces.

Our YAN Jewelry Kyanite Gemstone

Softer in texture our kyanite beads are treated with resin to aid in milling and polishing, our beads are of natural colour and not artificially enhanced, showing cat’s eye chatoyancy and a range of famed blue colours varying from deep to light intensity.

Natural veining of mineral inclusions in our lighter kyanite beads are well matched to the ocean concept theme, carrying feelings of rolling blue sea and peaceful in projection of natural energy.

These lighter blue beads are well matched to the kunzite crystal that clearly varies in colour along it’s axes, flashing pink violet bursts that act to soften the transition from opaque blue to clear crystal, likewise aiding in the incorporation of lotus pendants and other light silver adornments.

Upon first glance the lighter kyanite beads may lack some of the deep sapphire blues of our other pieces but upon gazing into the crystal a wealth of inner beauty and detail give great depth to the viewer.

Kyanite cabochons and beads are rich in deeper colour and lend great depth to design, lighter rutile inclusions, texturing of colour and visible sheen of light from cat’s eye create rich tapestry of living blue colour that bring life into our designs.

Kyanite Gemstone Summation

Nature bestows the growth of each kyanite crystal with a unique detail that differs from each and every bead, carefully choosing the spread of colours across the piece creates necklaces and bracelets that are full of energy and a sum beauty greater than any individual gemstone.

Though each of YAN jewelry designs is crafted independently with love of vibrancy and life, the deeper regal blues in our single loop kyanite and amber bracelet piece stand against other designs in moody deep blues that are very evocative of feeling.

Kyanite is a gemstone very suitable for matching between light and dark colours and differences in textures, matched with yellow amber with bright vitreous lustre and simple colour, the white sheen of chatoyancy and fibrous character of the crystal act to bridge the differences in colour and produce a stunning design in the above photos.

Our designs featuring kyanite gemstones and shown in the photos above can be seen under our our beautiful kyanite necklace and bracelet collection here, while ocean concepts with natural blue coloured gemstones are also in store.

Kyanite is a crystal formed deep under the Earth under tremendous pressure, a gemstone of the deep world underneath us that has marked the formation of the great continents of our world in their slow and massive evolution.

As a gemstone of the deep each kyanite crystal with deep blue colour and fascinating further detail carries with it a rich sensual display of tone and quality that mark this gemstone as a special addition to the world of fashion and designer jewelry.

Kunzite discovered recently in gemstone history is alive with subtle changes in colour when viewed from different angles and set apart from parent mineral spodumene by it’s beautiful crystal pink violet colouring.

Discovered in the early 1800’s the mineral spodumene – and related crystals kunzite and hiddenite, are gemstones that project energy into worlds of both energetic fashion and modern technology.

Famous in spodumene for a source of lithium powering our modern world’s electric cars, gadgets and gizmo’s, the crystal form of kunzite is known for being a stone of feminine energy in metaphysical writings, and vibrant accessory for the rich and famous of our time.

Formation of Kunzite

Kunzite has traced a path of fame that has followed closely in the footsteps of it’s parent mineral, as our modern world finds this beautiful crystal and useful mineral entwined together with our love of new energy.

Both kunzite and spodumene are found together in distinct layers of large granular size mineral sheets called “pegmatites”, as well as very fine grained layers in granite called “aplites”.

Pegmatites are some of the most famous gem producing rocks on Earth, with crystal sizes commonly greater than 2.5 centimetres in size, even reaching as large as 14 meters in size.

These granite like rocks are made up of quartz, feldspar and mica and form in large layers of intrusive rocks that have been pushed up by heat from deep below the earth.

The pegmatite quarries of the Greenbush’s region of Western Australia produce most of the worlds production of spodumene, with demand for this mineral increasingly growing with our world’s changing energy needs.

Kunzite Gemstone Presentation

The gemstone kunzite was discovered and named as a gemstone distinct from spodumene by George Frederick Kunz, a jeweller of Tiffany & Co in 1902.

Kunzite displays a delicate pink violet colour which comes from trace elements of manganese and is well known for evident display of pleochroism.

Pleochroism in Greek means “more colour”, and is seen in gemstones whose crystal structures alter light in different ways depending on the path that light travels through them.

Showing different colours with different viewing angles kunzite’s display of pink lilac to crystal clear transparency is a sought after effect in faceted gemstones that has seen this gemstone being used to stud royal tiaras and large carat rings.

Frequently heat treated or irradiated to increase the depth of colour most natural kunzite shows only light colouring with delicate splashes of pink to purple that change with the angle from which it is viewed.

No matter treated or untreated natural colour kunzite gemstone is known to fade to a lighter colour tone when exposed to sunshine, and is seen as a gemstone best worn at night and safely stored away in the day.

Composition of Kunzite

As a silicate mineral kunzite shares a basic commonality with over ninety percent of the Earths other minerals that belong to silicate groups.

Made up of a type of rock called a pyroxene – which is comprised of long interlocking lines of silicon and oxygen atoms, kunzite is found crystallised in igneous and metamorphic rocks that have formed from or been exposed to high temperatures.

Pyroxene means stranger of the fire in Greek, and was named for the appearance of ghostly crystals of these minerals which were found in otherwise uniform volcanic glass.

Other pyroxene gemstones include popular jadeite which can be found in our collection of beautiful jadeite gemstone jewelry.

Gemstone Family of Spodumene

As an important source of lithium spodumene is a sought after mineral that in the right conditions forms large crystals up to 14 metres in size, with clear to pale yellow colouring known as “triphane”.

In addition to yellow crystals of triphane there are two additional known varieties of spodumene crystals.

Hiddenite is a light green crystal of spodumene whose emerald green colour comes from trace amounts of chromium in common with emeralds.

Discovered in North Carolina by a local boy who then presented them to a keen gemologist, the nature of hiddenite was at first unidentifiable, and was sent across America passing between gemologists for many years, until finally being identified as a form of spodumene, the name “hiddenite” came from the hidden nature of the gemstone.

The town where the crystals were first discovered marketed these emerald green crystals as “lithia emerald” and the success from commercial sales of this new gemstone led to the local town changing it’s name to “Hiddenite” which is still named to this day.

Though related to emerald green hiddenite, kunzite’s colour instead comes from trace manganese with delicate colours varying from pink to lilac purple seen in nature.

Frequently heat treated to enhance colour kunzite gemstone crystal’s natural colour and charming display of pleochroism carries a feminine touch and is considered more valuable with stronger displays of colour.

Kunzite in Modern Culture

Kunzite gemstone’s energy and distinctive sought after pink colouring has made this crystal a glamorous alternative to diamond for many of the world’s rich and famous past and present.

Set against brilliant gold and surrounded with a flash of diamonds the final gift that President John F Kennedy gave to his wife Jacqueline was a 47 carat kunzite gemstone crystal ring bought as Christmas gift for his beloved.

Worn by the Duchess of Gloucester at a banquet to greet the prime minister of India on his state visit to the UK kunzite made an appearance set into a Russian tiara as a large central gemstone.

Most frequently seen as cut faceted stones which maximise the amount of reflected light kunzite is often seen matched to precious metals in large carat rings and earrings.

Kunzite is a gemstone which is notoriously difficult to cut and mount due to the ease with which it fractures in different directions, similar to diamond most settings aim to reduce the pressure exerted on the stone, with bezel mounts that entirely surround the stone being the safest

Due to kunzite’s propensity to fade in sunlight, and quick to take damage from knocks and falls, this is a gemstone that is most suitable for evening wear and less suitable as engagement rings and every day wearing.

Believers of the metaphysical energies of gemstones tend to hold that kunzite is a gemstone of feminine character and beneficial to soothing ailments that align with feminine energies.

YAN Fashion Kunzite Jewelry

Our designer fashion design uses the natural colours of gemstones in complement with each other to project colour and energy in new concept fashionable designs.

Transparent kunzite used in our jewelry is of a high quality stone with natural lilac colour which give tender and soft feelings.

Generally speaking the colour of our kunzite tends towards a lighter lilac than a stronger purple, our single present design of bracelet uses kunzite as a bridge between the opaque blue kyanite and silver lotus pendant, emphasising natural light in the design and presenting mesmerising flashes of lilac colour.

Our presently small collection of kunzite jewelry bracelets and necklaces can be viewed in our collection here, the matching ocean concept to which it belongs to is available under our concept page.

A gemstone of the modern world kunzite is a stone alive in energy with a tangible connection to the electricity that powers our world and projecting feminine fashion in a confident way.

Agate varying in beautiful bands of colour with layers of chalcedony and quartz crystals sublimely folding together, presenting swirling ranges of natural rainbow colours.

Agate has been a traditional gemstone for the making of colourful beads, cabochons and carvings since it was discovered alongside a river shoreline in ancient Greece by philosopher Theophrastus over two thousand years ago.

With names including “cherry blossom agate”, “scenic agate” and “crazy lace agate”, the family of agate gemstone types is both colourful and a fascinating look into a world of natural colour and variation.

Popularly used as an ornamental stone for it’s hardness and resilience to weathering, agate has been a canvas for artists that have carved such wonders as the Roman “Holy Grail of Valencia“, and the Byzantine “Rubens Vase”, acting as relief to beautiful carvery with no indication of great age.

In the modern world agates are fabulous presentations of colour that are used widely in cabochon jewelry such as pendant necklaces and bracelets, and takes centre stage in our selection of designer jewellery with confident new modern life design.

Formation of Agate Gemstones

A cryptocrystalline gemstone, agate is comprised of multitudes of tiny micro crystals of quartz and chalcedony, with small changes in the environment of the growing agate forming differences in the bands of colour.

Much as tree growth is represented by lines in the section of a growing tree, agate forms layers as the minerals that it grows from deposit slowly over time into the bands it is so famous for.

When volcanic rocks are the parent rocks, agate forms when gases released by the heat of volcanic action escape and expand into molten hollows, forming cavities that will become the birthplaces of the subsequent agate.

Surrounded by volcanic minerals rich in silica minerals, water seeps into these cavities, coating the inside with an initial, often green tinged “priming layer”.

In the cosy birthing nodule the silica rich water then crystallises into chalcedony, coating the interior layer in a ring of new material that continues to grow so long as the mineral rich fluid provides for.

Over time the environment of this crystalline nodule slowly changes, and with the change in the environment the deposition of the agate bands change in colour, depth and constitution, ever so slowly growing towards the centre in changing bands that will forever reflect this passage of time.

No matter how these changes occur, perhaps a change in flow, a make up of the mineral rich fluid or otherwise a change in the environment around the nodule, the changes are unique to the agate’s birth and identifiable to the place where the agate comes from.

Myriad Presentations of Agate

The result of this gradual formation presents as beautiful bands of shining colour, a blend of quartz and chalcedony shifting between light and dark layers, sometimes finished with stunning arrays of quartz crystals filling the centre of a volcanic geode.

Not just limited to volcanic rock, under the right conditions “cold water” agates can be found forming from silica rich fluids in pockets of marine limestone, producing muted layers of white and grey colouring.

Given the right environment agate gemstones can also be found growing into stalactites in caverns deep under ground, into the voided husks of fossilized coral – slowly taking the internal shape of the coral, or into the shells of fossilized “Turritella” – ancient marine gastropods.

Hardier than the ancient rock cocoon it comes from agate will often separate and later found in “agate nodules”, these are found with a rough outer surface and a shape taken from the environment which it grew from.

When taken in cross section the beautiful bands of chalcedony and quartz present as lines of colours starting from an initial prime layer and then proceeding inward in a succession of bands.

These agate bands vary considerably in colouring and shape across the family of gemstone types.

Though many agate gemstones are found to be light to dull grey in colouration and subsequently dyed with colours, many ranges of colour across the visual spectrum are found in nature.

The Family of Agate

Though agate is comprised of chalcedony, chalcedony itself is not considered agate unless it shows banding, though there are some exceptions where the bands present as fern and landscape type patterns.

With the majority of agate gemstones found in Brazil these “Brazilian agates” have ranges of colours that are finely separated into even layers of banding, which have historically been dyed to enhance their predominately white and grey colour.

Less common “cherry blossom agate’ is a form of agate gemstone that presents soft translucent peach tones and is famous for inclusions of milky flower like “cherry blossoms”.

Dendritic agate and scenic agates show subtle ranges of colour with fern like and landscape like impressions respectively, found in Brazil these agate families form in similar ways to traditional agates.

Moss agate of India is often shown in small plates of material to better show translucency, this agate is green to brown in colour, with moss like inclusions that show micro landscapes of nature.

Discovered only in Central American regions “fire agate” is named for a fire effect of iridescent light similar to mother of pearl colouring and gifted with red colours and vibrant dynamic reflections.

There are many many varieties of agate gemstone with each showing different features in the structure of bands which are uniquely coloured and make for beautiful inclusions into jewellery matchable to many different fashion styles and personalities.

Agate Gemstone Finds

As nodules that have become separated from parent rock agates are found to size from less than a centimetre to almost a metre in circumference.

Nodules of agate are often opened to reveal crystals inside them, these are called druse’s, quartz, amethyst and many other crystals can be found within.

Where the nodule is completely filled with agate it is referred to as a geode.

Once found in the German town of Idar-Oberstein agate was extensively used in the gemstone trade and lauded for size and natural ranges of colours.

Over many centuries of activity agate was subsequently mined out, and in the 19th century many local people seeking escape from poverty found their way to South America.

In Brazilian Rio Grande do Sol these emigrants found what was to later be the most important economic sources of agate ever discovered, a massive commercial source of regular even striations, readily accepting dye that increased the value of the stone.

Shipped back as ships ballast to their town in Germany, this foreign source of agate renewed the old town and turned it into a gemstone hub that sent colourful patterned gemstones to jewellery makers across the world.

Though later finds in Indian and Thailand have opened up the global market for agates the original gemstone hub of Europe has retained fame for accumulated experience, and continued it’s heritage as a centre of agate excellence.

Cultural History of Agate

In nature agate shows good weathering characteristics that stem from it’s higher hardness of over 6 on the mohs scale, and can be readily polished to a smooth finish when worked with polishing wheels or rubbed against sandstone.

Agate has been widely shaped into much more than beads and cabochons for jewellery.

In headstone carving many cultures have turned to this precious gemstone as it holds detail very well, with pendant charms impressed with portraits, vases with decorative detail and shaped handles for knives and forks.

Dating from the kingdoms of ancient Egypt agate gemstone was used as a decorative gemstone, while ancient Minoan culture and Byzantine cultures of the Mediterranean used agate in drinking vessels and decorative jewelry.

With the development of industrial gemstone production in Europe, agate was shaped by water and later steam driven sandstones in workshops that created ranges of colourful beads used in art and craft uses across the early world and today.

Much agate found today is dyed in colour, though dyed agate is not recognisable by eye typical natural colours are much softer in presentation across bands, with light transitions of a single colour range as opposed to contrasting stripes.

As our jewellery makes use of natural gemstones all of our agate is sourced from suppliers that do not dye agate.

YAN Fashion use of Agate

Used extensively in YAN fashion jewelry, agate pendants and beads are chosen for their natural beauty that stems from rich floral imagery and soft projection of colour and light.

Suited well to our designer’s love of art and flower, cherry blossom agate shows clear blooms of flowers captured in small landscape scenes that are unique to each and every piece.

Cherry blossom agate is often peach pink in colour and matches well to both light white moonstone and quartz crystal designs that project purity, and our wood bead series of necklaces and bracelets that with accompanying floral silver brocades complement the floral nature of this type of agate very well.

Many of our bracelet designs are supported by agate beads which as complement to larger pendants help to blend agate together combinations of gemstone colours.

Of slightly different character is our new design range of litchy jelly agate necklaces that feature a translucent form of agate with pure elegant presentation and simple transparent tone in novel styling, this necklace can be seen here.

Classic agate types are seen in our ocean concept collection where a pendant necklace’s bands of subtle colouring are an element in the peaceful feeling of this series.

Agate’s of other types include scenic agate, natural landscapes are as if painted in the traditional fashion, casting visages of leaves and natural forms against white canvas.

Our designer’s studios efforts to bring out the natural beauty of gemstones in concert with each other to achieve a clearly evident design has made full use of agate with it’s floral character and natural beauty.

Our ranges of agate necklaces and bracelets can be seen in our store here, many of our designs feature agate beads and pendants with individual products detailing further details and interesting reads.

YAN fashion design shows that uncoloured agate are is just as rich and lively in colour as any gemstone, and our new designs that blend gemstones beautifully together to form new modern inspired styles are a continuation of the world’s love of this precious stone.

Turkish stone as named from the trade routes that first bought this precious gemstone to Europe, turquoise is renowned for it’s dazzling and beautiful Persian sky blue as well as ocean blue green colours patterned with delicate veins of spider-web matrix.

Traditionally found in the north eastern mines of of the greater Khorasan in what is now Iran, Turquoise is one of the oldest known gemstones as found in precious burial offerings of ancient Egyptians dating from 3,000 BC.

Turquoise gemstone belongs to the “crypto crystalline” crystals, so named as they do not form readily distinguishable crystals, instead forming rock textures that are comprised of countless crystalline fragments massed together into a collected deposit.

Belonging to the phosphate minerals that also include apatite and lazulite, turquoise is naturally formed through the weathering action of acidic solutions upon pre-existing minerals.

Upon the surface of exposed rocks and in relatively shallow depths of faults and cavities, natural acid solutions dissolve existing rocks including copper, aluminium and phosphorous containing minerals, then with just the right conditions mineralise these dissolved elements to form a new mineral – turquoise.

As rain water and other sources of liquid percolate through the surface rock – and supplied with the right minerals, turquoise will gradually form.

Deposits of turquoise are subsequently found filling these rock intrudes in veins and nodules that accumulate over time into large deposits, in some cases turquoise will even replace the existing rock entirely.

Through this process of change the matrix of rock and minerals are not always uniformly converted into turquoise, with many unchanged minerals remaining, forming appearances that include the attractive and beautiful “spider web” tracery that turquoise is well known for.

Turquoise Gemstone Sources

Most of the world’s turquoise gemstone production is associated with dry arid climates with the oldest known mines being traced to the Sinai peninsula that supplied the first dynasties of Egypt with exquisite gemstone.

Turquoise mined from Iran has a famous blue colour known as “Persian Blue”, which displays as fantastic azure blue with little to no vestigial tracery of parent matrix.

In the United States the native American tribes place great importance upon turquoise, mining from natural sources in New Mexico that to this day still produce blue tablets of gemstone, with distinctive green yellow colour and recognisable natural mottling.

Presentation of Turquoise

Due to it’s makeup of minute crystal particles, turquoise is found in a range of densities and compositions that effect it’s value and use.

Though all turquoise gemstone has characteristic opaque opacity and colouring that ranges from azure blue to green and yellow tones, the finest turquoise shows a higher density of fine crystal particles making it more suitable for jewelry and gemstone use.

“Chalk” turquoise as often found in American sources though beautiful in azure colour is less dense in structure, rendering it more likely to absorb moisture and prone to damage with prolonged wear.

Less dense turquoise is often treated with resin to aid in polishing and durability, though care still has to be taken to avoid water and prolonged contact with liquids that are otherwise absorbed into the gemstone and will effect it’s colouring over time.

Turquoise Gemstone Culture

With beautiful sky blue colouring found in striking contrast to the pits and hollows in which it is found, turquoise has been considered as a sign of nobility and prestige for thousands of years.

Among the most famous uses of this blue gemstone is as inlaid upon the funeral mask of ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun, where it is inlaid into solid gold as part of a wide golden gemstone studded collar .

Turquoise was one of the earliest gemstones to be imitated by ancient Egyptian people who produced a ceramic material replicating some of the qualities of it.

Acquired from the straits of Sinai the Egyptian people fashioned turquoise into popular scarab figurines that represented rebirth and the afterlife, with precious metal set rings and large beaded necklace designs that are still fashionable today.

With the oldest of known gemstone mines being found in the Sinai peninsula turquoise has had a strong connection to Persian civilisations throughout time.

The rulers of Mesopotamia wore it to signify leadership and prestige and the oldest discovered gemstone beads date from this time of around 5,000 bc.

Later rules of Persia would use turquoise to inlay domes of buildings including holy shrines and places of governance, where it was engraved with Arabic inlaid with gold, this fashion would later be continued in the Taj Mahal in India where it is used set with other precious stones.

Turkish mounted soldiers wore annular pendants believing it would confer protection from the worst effects of falls from their steeds, other metaphysical writings include that the colour and quality of Turquoise is a reflection of it’s present owners health and that it is the birth stone for December.

South American civilisations including the Aztec peoples made fantastic ceremonial masks inlaid with turquoise set upon wood and bone foundations that bestowed the powers of gods to the wearers.

Contemporary North American people fashioned larger pendants from local sources and like their South American neighbours believed that turquoise would confer certain powers upon wearing and traded it widely across their ancient civilisations.

In Asia this gemstone has been found in fractured limestone deposits across the south of China, while Russian peoples inlaid weapons such as swords with hilts featuring turquoise gemstone.

Turquoise in the Market

The most sought after turquoise presents with a smooth silky azure blue colouring coupled with a harder density more suitable for repeat wear and has not undergone treatment.

The beautiful blue of turquoise has become synonymous with the gemstone such that the English meaning of the word “turquoise” is the same general meaning as “blue”.

Asides from “Persian Blue” varieties the majority of turquoise displays some vestiges of original matrix rock, a degree of delicate patterning is seen as beautiful in the eyes of artisans and native Americans whose local sources feature fantastic colour ranges set against “spider web” tracery of darker colour.

Fashion across Time

Historically turquoise jewelry has ranged from fairly large cabochon pendants worn as talismans meant to confer protection or spiritual benefit, to simple large beaded necklaces and bracelets.

America is one of the worlds largest producers of turquoise jewelry with large scale mines producing commercial grade gemstones that are exported around the world, as well as many smaller operations that include mines still worked by the original American peoples.

Modern production of turquoise jewelry, as it was in the past, is of great benefit to many communities in America with native American people producing jewellery shaped by traditions that are now thousands of years old.

Modern Navajo, Hopi and Zuni jewellery styles use the same natural sources that their ancestors have used but with the more recent introduction to silver smithing by the Spanish, now use elaborate silver settings and backings that further serve set off the colour of this beautiful blue gem.

YAN Turquoise Design

YAN jewelry styles capture natural projected from the natural colour gamut of turquoise, with a rich aqua heritage this gemstone is well matched to our range of ocean concept necklaces and bracelets.

As a traditional painter and talented artisan our designer uses the natural colour ranges of the darker matrix in turquoise to show real connection to the natural process behind this gemstones formation.

With blue and dark blue black colouring, the addition of green amazonite into the colour palette of some pieces further strengthens the natural colour tones of turquoise in selected bracelets and necklaces.

Showing off some of our designs of turquoise shows that the natural colours are a vibrant fit worthy for any brand of high class designer jewelry.

You can see more of our gemstone designs that include turquoise in this collection of beautiful necklaces and bracelets here, while our ocean concept of jewelry designs feature similar blue tone ranges of colours.

Turquoise is a beautiful gemstone of dreaming azure sky colour capturing the imaginations of people from distant past to here in the present.