Blog — education & resources

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...

Birthstone month: SeptemberFamily: CorundumColor: Sapphires are typically associated with the color blue, but actually come in almost every colorMoh's Hardness: 9 Sapphires come in red (also known as ruby!), pink, purple, yellow, green, and orange, but the color most often associated with sapphire is blue. A deep, saturated blue is the most coveted shade, though there are desirable variations such as the paler Montana sapphire. The world's most famous sapphire was worn by Princess Diana as an engagement ring. Hers was an oval sapphire, set with numerous delicate prongs and surrounded by a cluster halo of diamonds. Prince William proposed...

What's a halo? Most people think of a crown surrounding the head of a saint, prophet or angel. In the jewelry world, a halo refers to a circle of diamonds surrounding the center stone of a ring. Sometimes, a halo will be made from colored gemstones, or small metal designs like in this custom engagement ring, which has a beaded halo: You can have more than one halo in the same ring. This round brilliant diamond is surrounded by a cushion-shaped double halo. Setting styles can vary in halo rings. This halo ring has a half bezel setting for the...