What is Jade? Jade is a translucent stone which is usually a rich green colour, but can also come in other colours such as white and...

Amethyst is one of the most beautful semi-precious gemstones and has been popular throughout history. Here you will find lots of...

What is Chalcedony? Chalcedony is a large family of silica based gemstones which include such stones as agate and Jasper. In this post, I...

Ethics and the Gemstone Trade. Semi-precious gemstones have always been highly prized and sought after. In recent decades, though, the...

THE MOHS SCALE When choosing what gemstones to buy, it is sometimes good to know how hard and durable they are; one way we can do this is...

WHAT ARE BIRTHSTONES? Traditionally, there have always been specific stones associated with each month of the year; however, some of...

Beautiful blues – Four blue gemstones Blue is quite a rare colour in nature, but luckily we have plenty of choice when it comes to...

Unlike green gemstones, red gemstones are not as easy to find and a true red is difficult to identify unless you want to spend a small...

If you like green gemstones, then you are spoilt for choice and I use green stones a lot in my jewellery making. Below are six green...

Goldstone is a lovely gemstone, right? Rich and luxurious, and with all those lovely sparkly bits. You will often see Goldstone listed...

Keeping silver clean All silver will tarnish due to its copper content. Very pure silver will tarnish much more slowly, but will still...

About twenty years ago, I found myself living in Stourbridge in the West Midlands. I wasn't in a good place and was looking for a new...

Pearls make wonderful jewellery and have fascinated us for centuries. Below is a list of interesting information about these wonderful...

Amber is a fascinating and popular gem, but whilst being a gem, it is anything but a gemstone. Here, you will find a list of some...

When the long, hot months of Summer begin to fade away our thoughts begin to turn towards Autumn. My favourite season when we reap the...

After the long coldness of winter and the rebirth of nature in spring, our thought turn to the long, and hopefully warm weeks of summer....

Summer and Autumn are now passed and the fruits of harvest gathered in and it is time to get ready for the short dark days and biting...

Spring is here after the cold and dark of winter! This winter has been an especially hard one with many of us stuck in lockdown and...