Blog — education & resources

Birthstone month: DecemberColor: Turquoise ranges from sea foam green to teal blueFamily: TurquoiseMoh's Hardness: 5-6Transparency: Semi-translucent to opaque There are a number of birthstones for December: tanzanite, topaz, and turquoise. Turquoise is a quintessential American gemstone that many people associate with sterling silver Native American jewelry, but it has a broad history that reaches well beyond North America. Some pieces of turquoise jewelry found in Egyptian tombs are among the oldest pieces of jewelry in the world, and the Chinese have been carving turquoise for over 3000 years. Turquoise is a slightly porous, semi-translucent to opaque gemstone that is most...

A miracle head, or illusion head, is a design specifically created to alter how a gemstone appears. A miracle head can be designed to make a stone look larger, or to make a stone look like a different shaped stone. Below is an example of a ring I designed where a round center diamond is set into a larger, cushion-shaped box. This alters how the stone appears to a casual observer.   Often, a miracle head will have a fluted or scalloped design that mimics the facets of the center store in order to create a more believable illusion. The...

Birthstone month: NovemberColor: Citrines range from pale honey yellow to deep brownish or reddish orangeFamily: QuartzMoh's Hardness: 7Transparency: Transparent to semi-transparent Citrine is from the quartz family, which includes other colorful stones such as agate, amethyst, chalcedony, jasper, rose quartz, smoky quartz, and tiger's eye. In fact, since natural citrine is rare, most citrines you see are actually heat-treated amethyst (GIA). Because amethyst and citrine are both from the quartz family, occasionally a bi-colored hybrid gemstone will occur, aptly named ametrine. Ametrine displays a transition in color from amethyst's purple to citrine's yellow. The citrine gemstone is transformed into a...

Birthstone month: OctoberColor: Opals come in a variety of colors, but are most often predominantly clear, white, blue, black, or orange (known as Mexican or fire opals)Family: OpalMoh's Hardness: 5.5-6Transparency: Translucent to opaque Opals are best known for the flashes of rainbow-colored light that dance across the surface of the stone. These flashes of light and color refract as a result of the grid-like formation of tiny silica spheres that make up this gemstone. The varying size of spheres changes how light is refracted back to your eye, and thus what color you see in the opal. Opals are typically...

I attended a lecture at the University of the Arts last night entitled "The Modern Marketer: a discussion on what it means to work in today's digital landscape." This event was a panel discussion led by Alisha Miranda, and featured Suzanne Cotter, Swabreen Bakr, and Ashley Bernard. They discussed SEO, building content calendars, researching trends, content pillars, decks, metrics, Google analytics certification, and so many other terms that I could barely take notes fast enough! My favorite part of the night was hearing specific details about each of these women's workdays, and how they've been able to learn, adjust and...