JUNE: Pearl/Alexandrite

Believe it or not, June and it’s classic pearl birthstone, is one of the least liked birthstones! Most people don’t care for pearls and even if they do like pearls, they can be tricky to work with which is a bummer for people!

For the most part, pearls are glued into settings. With time, the glue compounds wear down which loosens the pearl from it’s settings. If you find the pearl, you can glue it back on but it’ll eventually happen again.

You can opt for claws or MAYBE a really, really thin bezel as an option.

I never recommend making everyday jewellery with pearls, especially rings! An alternative for something you can wear everyday is Alexandrite. Only issue with alexandrite is that it’s rare and very expensive. I recently purchased a few and they cost more than their mined diamond equivalent! And the more colour-change it has, the more valuable it is!

MAY: Emerald

Emeralds are green! The only variance is in the hue which is dependent on where in the world the emerald is from. It’s also common for emeralds to have inclusions. The cleaner the stone, the more expensive it will be!

I personally prefer to set emeralds in yellow gold. Not only does the yellow gold make emeralds look richer in colour, it’s a softer metal which makes the stone easier to set!

They are part of the beryl family along with aquamarines.

What shade of emerald do you like…light, medium, or dark?

APRIL: Diamond

Diamonds can come in ALL colours, but finding the colour you want in a mined, natural colour diamond might be nearly impossible or cost you an arm and a leg! Good news is that lab-made stones are getting nicer by the day and you can find more and more colours.

Diamonds that range from the white to black are easiest to find and readily available. And some of the colours they come in are just…WOW. No wonder diamonds are a person’s best friend!

When it comes to diamonds in jewellery: white diamonds look whiter when set in white gold but there is more contrast when set in yellow gold.

If you could pick any diamond colour, which would it be? And would you consider buying a lab-made diamond?

Photo from pinterest.

MARCH: Aquamarine

Aquamarine is a client favourite, whether it’s their birthstone or not. Although in the picture above you can see different shades of blue, the light blue is the most common to find in gem-cut stones. In cabochons, I have quite a few green-ish blue and medium-blue.

My favourite are green-ish blue gem-cut aquamarines! They are hard to find and whenever I spot one, I buy it! The irony is that they aren’t considered desirable because they aren’t the perfect shade of light blue!

I find that blue stones like aquamarine look great in both yellow and white gold.

Photo from pinterest.

JANUARY: Garnet

Poor garnet, no one seems to like it. That’s until I tell them garnet comes in several colours! And if I have to be honest, I was never a big fan of garnet either but now I love it! Even the red variety! I especially like it in yellow gold as it brings out the warmth of the stone. That being said, I’ve made a few red garnet rings in white gold lately and I’m really liking how clean and crisp they look!

The easiest for me to find are green (tsavorite), red, darkish pink (rhodolite). I also have a few peach (hessonite) and purple/green (colour-change) in my collection! I’ve seen a few light pink, yellow, and orange as well!

If garnet is your birthstone, what colour would you pick?

Photo from Pinterest.

What is the difference between a goldsmith and jeweller?

Technically, a goldsmith makes the jewellery and a jeweller sells it.

But, if the goldsmith is like myself (a one man show) then they are also a jeweller!

I often call myself a jeweller as it’s a more recognized term than goldsmith. When I say I’m a goldsmith, 50% of people ask me what that is. Yes, 50%. Today’s shopper is used to going to a store to buy jewellery from a display case where they are attended to buy a jeweller/customer service representative. Back in the day, you’d go to your local goldsmith. So the knowledge of the term and it’s use has shifted greatly over the years.

Before you found your way to me, my blog, and this article, did you know what a goldsmith was?