The November Birthstone: Citrine

I'm very fond of citrine, the gemstone ranging from a pale yellow to a dark orange. First, I just love the colour yellow; second, citrine is an extremely versatile gemstone that looks great with many different colours. I wear it often with black because I like the contrast of the yellow against dark colours. I like a neutral colour that I call champagne or sand - it's a version of khaki almost, but with golden tones instead of brown - Anne Klein calls it safari. A paler citrine is gorgeous with it. In the summer, nothing looks fresher than citrine bracelets and necklaces paired with white linen or cotton.
Citrine is a variety of quartz with a moh's hardness of 7, a relatively durable stone although it can be scratched, and prolonged exposure to heat and sunlight will change its colour .
Citrine is believed to have many mystical qualities. It is known as the "money" stone or "merchant's" stone; some merchants will put a citrine in their cash registers to draw money to them. The ancients believed that putting a citrine on the forehead would increase psychic powers, and it supposedly will increase memory, aid in curing depression and diabetes, and foster creative expression, especially for writers.
The citrine's name comes from the French word for lemon, citron. The yellow colour is from the presence of iron. Ironically, if you own a citrine, you probably also own an amethyst! This is because the natural citrine is rather rare and most today are made by exposing an amethyst or smoky quartz to high heat to turn it into a citrine. You will be able to find the citrine bracelets on this page on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website at Citrine Bracelets.
Happy Birthday, November!

Summer Stones, Winter Jewels

When I mix gemstones for bracelets, I mix because of a paradigm that I've adhered to for quite a while. I see many gemstones in terms of season. That may sound stupid, but I simply can't help it, and if you look at many of the jewelry pieces that I design, you can see this particular mind-set of mine at work. First, let me say that I wear all gemstones at almost any time of the year - this is something that happens when I'm creating. And, let me add that the precious gemstones that I use: ruby, sapphire, and emerald seem to me to be seasonless - that is, they can be for the hottest day of summer or the coldest of winter, but with certain other coloured stones, I have a definite prejudice!
Above you see one example: a citrine bracelet with two strands of citrine and silver; now, that is definitely a summer bracelet as is the aquamarine bracelet that you see below:Of course, the link is easy, you think: sea and sun! But if you look at the rainbow moonstone bracelet below because of the white (beneath the blue flash) most people would think of summer. Not I! Rainbow moonstone is a winter stone; I have the same idea about labradorite jewelry. I attribute it to the blue flashes that they have that always remind me of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights and conjure up visions of snow, reindeer in Lapland, the icy lands of Norway and Finland.
Sunstone is one of those stones that reminds me of hot summers - and also, hot days of Autumn, before that first chill sets in. It truly is a warm stone. And as one might think, when I mix pastel colours largely for one of my unique bracelets, it usually turns out to be a summer bracelet.
So what season is the peacock blue apatite and sunstone bracelet? The addition of the dark peacock blue makes it seasonless, adding the cool tones of winter to that hot summer sun. I've also de-seasoned a bracelet with labradorite as well - adding some aquamarine for summer and balancing the two stones with amethyst (which I think of as Fall and Spring)and a couple of dichroic beads for extra sparkle. To make the top citrine bracelet Fall-worthy, I would probably add some ocean jasper to it.
I know that some designers prefer to consult a colour wheel, but we all design in our own way - and sometimes in a way that perhaps makes sense only to one person.


Above is a "seasonless" emerald bracelet.



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A Little Lapis

I've been working with lapis lazuli a bit this week, a stone I've always loved, especially if it has a sprinkling of pyrite that glitters and catches the light, and most of this does. I also like lapis because it has a connection to the ancient world; I cannot think of it without seeing in my mind the gold and lapis harp or the little goat-god, Tammuz, with his lapis beard. I like gemstones that give me this link to the ancient past, a romantic notion of mine and I'm sure, many others. Still working with the new Fall colours, I mixed the lapis with glittering sunstone and the loveliest borosilicate lampwork beads I could find. I decided to forget about lampwork beads for the bracelet below, and instead just mixed it with 14 karat gold fill ; it's a simple bracelet with presence. See it on our Lapis Jewelry page.

I also worked with citrine and created this citrine necklace (with matching earrings although you can't see all of them here; they have cabochon citrines in the earwires). I love these clear pale yellow faceted nuggets, and they look great with the Bali sterling silver.


Finally, an amazonite bracelet that I mixed with sterling silver and Pacific Opal Swarovski crystals. I love this combination, but it only works with good, deeply coloured amazonite.
I finally have some auctions listed on Ebay; I'm thinking of closing my store there. Meanwhile, the bids start lower than the usual prices for the jewelry. Do a search for Cluny Grey or look for my user id: chloemarie99.
Meanwhile, keep beading and keep enjoying summer!

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