LAZURITE - Varieties, Trade Names & Misnomers !

After posting a picture of some new material that was recently acquired, several e-mails were received with information that one of the stones had been misidentified. Misidentification is a very easy thing to do, but one must also remember that the same exact stone may be called one thing in one place and a totally different name someplace else, with all names being correct. Thus we have what are called Varieties, Trade Names and Misnomers.

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The stone in the picture was identified as Afgan Lazurite Quartz. Now the mineralogy world says this about Lazurite. 'Lazurite is a popular but generally expensive mineral. Well-formed, deep blue crystals are rare and valuable. It is found combined with other minerals, most commonly combined into a rock called Lapis Lazuli, as shown in the second picture. Lapis Lazuli or Lapis for short is mostly made up of Lazurite, but commonly contains Pyrite. Lazurite can also contain Calcite and is sometimes mixed with various colors of Quartz.'

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The name means "blue rock" and it is always a brilliant blue with violet or greenish tints. The rich blue color is due to the sulfur that is inherent in the structure of Lazurite. Small crystals of Pyrite are always present in Lapis and their brassy yellow color is both attractive and diagnostic in distinguishing lapis from its also blue cousin - Sodalite, which lacks Pyrite. The Calcite produces white streaks in the Lapis, thus forming a multi-colored stone many times also containing pieces of various colored Quartz, as seen in the first picture. This particular pendant could be call Quartz, Calcite or Lazurite, maybe even Granite or Marble, because all are present. But since the Lazurite is the rarest of the minerals present, it is being referred to as a Lazurite Pendant. Since it happens to be known where it also came from, the name Afgan is added to its identification.

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Just for comparison purposes, the small carved cross is Sodalite. To really keep one on their toes when looking for or shopping for specific stones, here is a partial listing of the names that Lazurite goes by ---- Lapis Lazuli, Afgan Lapis, Chilean Lapis, California Lazuli, Lasurite, Persian Lapis, Russian Lapis, Sapphiros of Phiny, Siberian Lazuli, Ultramarine Pigment, Canadian Lapis, German Lapis, Hackmanite, Sodalite, Ditroite. Many of these 'variety' names are based on the amount of Lazurite and other minerals also present in the specimen.

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No matter what the name, fantastic and unique pieces of jewelry can be made out of this material, and look great in combination with other gemstones.

Afgan Lazurite Quartz Pendant with Jade and Copper

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Show and Craft Fair Set-up !

There has always been a delima as to how one sets up a sales display for Craft Fairs, Bazaars and Shows. I am sure there is no right or wrong way, but over the years we have come to find certain ways seem to be preferred by customers. This may be a regional thing also. What works in Texas may not in Oregon or New York, but may in Georgia.
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When we first started out other vendors seemed to use the "L" or "U" shape, where the customers came directly into the sales area. So we started out with a "U" shape at the first show (pic #1), which wasn't too bad in a 12x10 space, but it made for very close quarters when using a 10x10 tent outside (pic #2 & 3). Outside events generally mean vendors use tents in a 10x10 or 10x20 ft vendor space. However, we have found inside spaces can be 10x10, 12x10, 15x10 and in some case 10x8 ft in size.
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.Using the larger 12x10 or 15x10 ft spaces inside, we tried several different varients on this theme for a while (pic #4, 5 & 6), but being so close to and almost in the face of someone looking at the items, seemed to be a bit awkard and intimidating to the customer.

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A Visit to the Tuscon Gem Show was an eye opener. Although those with very large booths had the come-in and look around set-up, the majority of the smaller booths (pic #7 & #8)seemed to be set up where the customer stayed to the outside and the vendor inside the tables. These pictures of two of the major shows at Tucson show this concept.

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Now after several years of trial and error, we have decided that usually the best presentation is where the items being sold are placed on a table towards the customers, and we stay behind the table to discuss their options and purchases with them (pic #9 & #10). We then leave a walkway, where once they are pretty sure what they want, we can go outside the tables to help them try items on and hold a mirror for them.

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Placing display tables along the outside even works well when using the 10x10 ft tent (pic #11).

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However the ideal situation ocurrs when one is lucky enough to be able to obtain a corner location (Pic #12 & #13), even if it has a pole as seen in the last picture.

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As can also be noticed in the later photos, backdrops and draps, if not against a wall, also greatly enhance the displays so customers are not looking through your displays into those behind or beside you.

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Just remember each time you setup, be prepared for a whole new experience and things happen that have never happened before.

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Ignorance Factor and London Blue Topaz

Different shades of blue topaz.

Chart courtesy of Helmut Zimmerman/BCS Group.

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A year ago, when the NRC decided to enforce its long-ignored health and safety regulations for irradiated London Blue Topaz, most retailers stopped selling this very popular gem until licensed testing facilities could be opened. Now six facilities are open—and no one seems to be using them. Why?

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Blue topaz comes in basically three shades: Sky Blue, Swiss Blue and London or Denim Blue. There are some who also recognize a fourth blue called Super Sky Blue. All come from radiating the natural Clear or White Topaz. And then for those that have the available cash, there is a very rare natural Blue Topaz, which is very rarely seen. Forgetting the natural Blue Topaz, the lighter shades of blue have the lowest levels of radiation, while the London Blue takes at least 18 months for the radiation to drop to the safety standard set by the Nuclear Regulatory Committee (NRC). However, with time, even London Blue Topaz is quite safe. Nevertheless, an informal survey of several southern California jewelry chains and jewelry departments in major stores and visits to jewelry stores in Texas showed that while all the stores carried some Sky and Swiss Blue Topaz jewelry, only a couple carried any of the dark London Blue Topaz.. When asked about it, of the clerks who know about teh irradiation to color, most of the sales clerks would comment “You used to see that dark blue stuff all the time. Now no one has it.”

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Clearly the decision to cease stocking London Blue Topaz came from outside the stores visited. If fact, the majority of salespeople had no idea what type of treatment had been used on the Topaz stones to make them blue, many thought all Blue Topaz was natural. What’s more, most were oblivious to the NRC regulations. Of the few salespeople who were aware of the NRC regulations, all but one erroneously believed the regulations stemmed from widespread problems with “dangerous levels of radiation.”

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Given such confusion and ignorance about Blue Topaz among jewelry store staffers, it’s easy to see why people cite so many different reasons for the drop-off in sales of this lovely gem. Sadly, the decline didn’t have to happen if people in the jewelry industry would become familiar with processes and treatments associated with gemstones. Maybe the moral here is an old one: The jewelry industry has nothing to fear but fear itself.

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In the mean time fear could spread. After all, Blue Topaz is not the only gemstone to be regularly irradiated. Yellow Beryl, Smoky Quartz, Pink Tourmaline, some colored Diamonds and others are also enhanced in this manner. If disclosure of this basic truth becomes as hard to swallow with other gems, London Blue Topaz could just be the first of many gem casualties in a market that lives in needless, somewhat hypocritical fear of the facts about the products it sells. So in the end, if you like Blue, the Blue Topaz gemstones are still a great favorite and wearing them hasn't shown to be of any problem. For those dealers who know and explain the facts to their customers about Blue Topaz, the problems have not kept anyone from purchasing them.

Information from various medical authorities indicate that even with a necklace containing as many London Blue Topaz as shown, the wearer would have to wear it 24 hours a day for many many years and they still would not receive as much radiation as one can obtain on a beach in the full sun.

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Partial reprint of articles in Colored Stone Magazine, AGTA and ISG news releases.

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A Favorite ! ' TURQUOISE '

Turquoise is a very interesting stone because of its many types and colors. It is easy to work with, but has its limitations because it is not considered a hard stone.

There are four types of turquoise you will see in todays jewelry market, not incuding colored howlite and African turquoise jasper. A final determination has not yet been made on the quality of turquoise coming from China, but some of it is very beautiful.

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Natural - This comes directly from the mine. It is cut shaped and polished and set into jewelry. It has no man made treatment or additives other than a polishing compound that adds to its luster. Most stones in this state are very close to gem quality.

Stabilized – This is a natural turquoise usually in nugget form, but does not hold a luster. It is submerged into a stabilizing compound and dried, cut and prepared for jewelry. The turquoise has not been altered. The pores of the stone have been filled with a clear resin that makes the stone usable. This process allows for diversity of shapes and possibilities in jewelry making. Color Stabilized stones ARE altered and the color has been added by this process. This is not necessarily bad, but it has less value than a piece that is naturally colored.

Treated - This form of color enhancement has been used for thousands of years. It is done as discussed earlier by submerging into animal fat or vegetable oil and later air dried. This will not last very long.

Fake and Synthetic – Ceramics, bone, celluloid and plastic are used to imitate turquoise. Synthetic turquoise has a very natural matrix that is produced by placing stones in the synthetic “batter” .

A very common turquoise simulant is howlite. When dyed blue, with its marking, howlite is a dead ringer for some varities of turquoise.

Turquoise consists of the chemical elements copper, aluminum, phosphorus, hydrogen and oxygen in the form of water. Most turquoise is found in ‘alteration zones’ where the native original rocks have been altered thru the intrusion of other rocks from some volcanic or other thermal influence. The color of turquoise can vary from deep blue to deep green with every variation in between. Generally the more copper in the molecule, the bluer the turquoise. Iron in the stone makes it greener. More moisture will also cause turquoise to turn greener in color. Recently a variety of yellow turquoise has been coming out of China. There is now also a turquoise jasper from Africa that is flooding the market. The cream of all turquoise is still the "Sleeping Beauty" sky blue turquoise from Arizona.

Ivoryite and Magnasite, sometimes referred to as "white buffalo turquoise" is also found in the US Southwest.

All of the above shown jewelry sets have been designed and constructed by Gayle.

Marketing Hand-Made Gemstone Jewelry

If one were to ask what are the most important points that determine whether a customer buys a piece of handmade jewelry, most people would answer "what it looks like and the price." If a good well made piece of handmade jewelry is presented at a competitive price, you should make the sale.

Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case. There is another important feature to the eventual sale of your handmade jewelry. Can you guess what may be this missing element that will eventually make the sale. Think a bit, and then it will come to you - what is the story behind your handmade jewelry.

If each piece of your handmade jewelry does not have a story to go with it, you are missing out on sales. Why is this? People buy on the basis of emotion and on how a particular piece of jewelry makes them feel at that particular moment in time. They do not buy the jewelry based on features, what it is made of, how it is designed or on the basis of price.

A handmade piece of jewelry can in a few words tell the prospective customer something emotionally stirring or thought provoking about the jewelry piece they are looking at. Watch closely as a customer comes forward and picks up one of the necklaces from your display that is made of some unique gemstone probably never heard of before. As the customer inspects the necklace, casually approach and deliver your handmade jewelry story which might go like this: "This necklace is designed with unique gemstones that were mined in Brazil. I came across these stones called "xxxxx" during a visit to a gem and mineral show, and they just jumped out at me to put them into a special piece of jewelry. I just knew that they would make an exquisite necklace. So I combined these unique gemstones with other stones, crystals and a copper chain and claspe. If you notice no two stones are exactly the same which makes the finished necklace truly one-of-a-kind. The necklace feels really good when you put it around your neck. Would you like to try it on?"

Of course you want to be sincere. Never make up a story about your jewelry. Customers can detect a fraud a mile away. What have you accomplished by telling your handmade jewelry story? You have helped the customer establish an emotional connection to the necklace. When the customer sees the price tag on it, she immediately understands why it is priced that way.

If you don't have a specific special story about the pice of jewelry, you can also talk about:

1. The materials your jewelry is made of. If your jewelry is designed using gemstones, each stone has a history and mysterious properties. This is great information to relay to your customer.

2. The history behind your jewelry design. Is this piece based on a design that you saw someplace, is it inspired by vintage jewelry designs, or is it solely a piece from your imagination?

3. Your inspiration for the design. Describe how you got your idea by looking at the main stones, combining them with other stones or materials, and the end result was this stunning piece of jewelry.

No matter what though, keep your jewelry story short and meaningful to the customer. You don't want to bore the person with lots of lingo and technical language. You're trying to appeal to emotions which means using simple, easy to understand connective language. Once you have connected with the customers emotional side, the sale should be in the bag as long as you have not priced yourself out of the customers safe zone.

How Jewelry Is Photographed Makes A Decided Difference.

When setting up the original Jewelry by CnC Web-site, many other jewelry web-sites were looked at, especially the presentations that each were making of the various jewelry pieces presented for sale. It rapidly became very confusing, so the idea of taking a special photographic class on "Photographing Jewelry" seemed the right thing to do. A a quick sign-up with a local photographer presenting a class was done. Many thanks go to Barbara McNeely of bwh Web Designs for putting up with a photo novice and providing the skills needed to do good jewelry photography. But being taught these skills, a good jewelry photographer it does not make. Practice, practice and more practice becomes the name of the game. Reading books and journals, looking up specifics, finding good internet sites explaining special procedures, joining forums and groups dedicated to jewelry photography, rapidly becomes a necessity. Trying new ideas and suggestions, accepting critism and practice, practice and more practice, finally results in something to be proud of -- a picture that shows off what has been made. Initially it was thought that the picture shown to the right above was ideal. It shows the complete jewelry set, but it lacks the attention step and definite quality that is needed.

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The next step is to try and put some interest into the photograph. Various methods can be used to accomplish this. Placing the jewelry on a bust, partial head, figure or other humanistic figures look nice, but they don't possess that stunning interest that is wanted. Using colored, pattern or other types of backdrops look better than plain white, black or whatever the color or pattern may be, but still lack pizzaz. Once you get past all of these options, then a real serious dilema pops up. What kind of camera ? Of course with today's technology, a Digital Camera is definitely the answer. It would be way too costly and time consuming to take the many various pictures of the same item over and over if you had to develope the film and then print the pictures. So Digital Cameras, the computer and picture processing programs are a necessity. I am not going to go into what kind or brand of Digital Camera, what kind of computer or which photo processing program to use. There are as many different answers to those three problems as there are jewelry makers and photographers on the internet. I will leave that discussion to more knowledgeable persons.

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So, back to what to put in the jewelry picture. This is totally up to the imagination of the person making the jewelry or taking the photographs. An example of such is shown at the start of this posting and a second idea is in the above left picture. With the help of our daughter-in-law, who also designs and makes jewelry as Timeless Designs, and has a much better Digital Camera, a photo set-up system, and a good eye for backgroud items to go with the jewelry, you will be seeing much more interesting views of our jewelry on the Jewelry by CnC web-site, as she has the time to take the pictures and we can get them uploaded. So please bear with us, as I was informed today, she has some 500 photographs for us to go through and select the views we actually want to post.

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The same necklace and earring set is shown in each photograph above. It is made of Baltic Cognac Amber, Ivory Freshwater Pearls and Silver Links.

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Plume Agate Pendant Necklace Set

One of the newest pieces to be finished by Gayle is a necklace containing a Plume Agate Pendant.

This unusual pendant hangs from a unique necklace made from a combination of Freshwater Ivory Coin Pearls, White and Topaz Swirl Glass Round Beads, Swarovski Light Smoky Topaz Bicone Crystals, Swarovski Light Colo Bicone Crystals all combined with Silver Fittings.

A set of matching earrings completes this piece.

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