I had some time this week to play with another one of the items that my share partner, Carla sent me. The enameled pendant that she made was calling my name. I wanted to pick up the colors in the pendant with gemstones and knew that Carnelian would be a nice match to the red. The yellow had me stumped though. I didn't really have anything that coordinated well. There were some natural colored peridot sitting on my work space that caught my eye. Serendipity! The green had just enough yellow in it to play up the yellow but they were not too matchy, matchy. I oxidized some silver wire, chain and a clasp to go with the black metal...
The modern birthstone for August has always been the yellowish-green peridot....that is until now. The Jewelers of America established the modern birthstone list back in 1912 and has only added new gems to the list twice before. It was updated in 1952 to add alexandrite (June), citrine (November), tourmaline (October) and zircon (December) and again in 2002 when tanzanite was added as a birthstone for December. Due to popular demand, this month they are adding one more: Spinel, a glassy gem that comes in colors ranging from red, pink, purple, orange, grey, blue and black. A little about these two gems... PERIDOT: Small crystals of Peridot are formed in fiery lava ,deep within the mantle of the earth and are brought the the...
