Page 46 - Bobbye and Tonilee Social Media Issue

Variet y is the Spice of Life

By sherry Coleman
Women have enjoyed the art of adornment for centuries. look like they’ve already been cut. If the geode had heated up
Beautiful gems and jewelry tell us about the people of the several hundred degrees more the forming mineral would have
time. What does jewelry in today’s time tell us? Diversity become citrine.
reigns in the art of jewelry as it does with people. We have
metals ranging from the standard gold, silver and platinum to Taking care of your precious heirlooms involves common
the ‘’newbies’’, titanium, tungsten and steel just to name a few. sense. Soft gems such as opals, pearls or turquoise need to
The gem family is even more diverse not only in what nature be segregated from other jewelry so as not to get scratched.
produces but also the wide array of synthetic or lab grown They also need to be protected from everyday creams,
gems. Did you know that manufacturing synthetic gems dates perfumes and hairspray we may use. These substances can
back to the very early 1900’s? Many ask, “Isn’t a lab grown penetrate the porous stone and cause permanent damage.
gem a synthetic?” No. I use the analogy of a test tube baby. One has to use care when cleaning jewelry. I remember when
The test tube baby is chemically identical to any baby naturally I was a kid my Mom boiling some water on the stove adding
conceived. Same with lab grown gems – they are chemically ammonia and a splash of dish detergent and throwing her dia-
identical to nature’s creation but grow contained in a laboratory mond engagement ring into the brew! Fortunately her jewelry
environment. didn’t sustain any damage, but a little too long of a soak or
too much ammonia, and she could have tarnished the gold. I
know one
lady who
soaked
her pearl
ring in
vinegar
overnight
to clean
it and
wondered
why her
46 pearl
dissolved!
Another
old wives
tale to
avoid is
using
tooth-
paste to
polish
gold be-
cause the
abrasives
dull the
gold.
I’ve also
had peo-
ple ask
why their
clean
jewelry,
Did you know that garnet’s come in all colors except blue? gold in particular, is turning their skin black. This is usually a
Did you know that the mineral, corundum encompasses both reaction to the body’s chemistry. Eating an overly acidic diet
rubies and sapphires? Did you know that orange or, padpara- or taking particular types of medication can cause this effect.
cha sapphire, is the rarest? Did you know the beryl family has Of course, having your jewelry professionally cleaned helps
emeralds and aquamarines? Quartz also comes in practically too. Unfortunately the vast majority of ultrasonic jewelry clean-
every color. Often times when seen in it’s natural state before ers don’t really have the true ultrasonic cleaning power of the
cutting, it’s hard to imagine that what’s inside a seemingly un- industrial variety. Going hand in hand with professional clean-
attractive geode could be so beautiful. Amethyst forms in air ing and rings is that the ring be properly sized. If a ring is too
pockets inside volcanic lava tubes and depending on how fast tight it can cause bacterial skin issues and even worse might
the mixture cools determines the size of the crystals. In this have to be cut off because it can’t clear the knuckle.
case the outer geode is craggy and green. Slice the geode Visit Sherry at PAR Jewelry for more information and to see
open and you see a marvelous array of purple crystals that their beautiful collection of custom jewelry.