25 October 2010
And so I launched my ANIMA | MUNDI collection with the long Waverider necklace last week, without really having time to blog about the first piece here.
Amazonite is really one of my favourite stones to use. It's a variety of microcline (or potassium aluminium silicate for you nerds like me), a feldspar mineral that may come in white, yellow, pink, grey, green, blue-green or colourless. I find it weird that it's named after the Amazon River although it hasn't even been found there; most significant deposits are in India, Canada, USA, Brazil, Russia, Madagascar, Tanzania and Namibia.
As beads for jewellery and accessories, I've seen amazonite in various shades of aqua, green and even yellow and pink, some with white to brown or black inclusions, with the more saturated colours being more desirable I guess. But really, when you say amazonite, the opaque, aqua colour, perhaps with wispy paler inclusions, is the type that most readily comes to mind... like this giant specimen below:
As you can see, it's got a more muted and subtle hue than turquoise, and in my humble opinion, goes just fine with about any type of metal. However, amazonite is not a very hard mineral (rates 6 on Mohs scale), so care should be taken when wearing it. Best to be used in earrings or necklaces where there's minimal contact with anything else.
In the Waverider necklace, a 48x48x7mm flat heart briolette of amazonite has been paired with gunmetal-toned oxidised sterling silver. I particularly love how the inclusions resemble frothy waves in a churning sea, pounding towards the shore (of some fantasy tropical beach, where else). It's a bold-sized piece, paired with suitably larger-link sterling silver chain - so if you have it on and fail to elicit even a single comment, I will give you a refund! No, I'm just kidding, but I might just smack everyone you meet that day and then buy you a drink :P
Now for some hokey metaphysical info you might be interested in (or not). Amazonite:
- is known as the stone of self-expression
- acts as a filter against geopathic stress
- has soothing and calming properties
- is most protective against microwaves and other electromagnetic pollution
Betcha never knew!
Amazonite is really one of my favourite stones to use. It's a variety of microcline (or potassium aluminium silicate for you nerds like me), a feldspar mineral that may come in white, yellow, pink, grey, green, blue-green or colourless. I find it weird that it's named after the Amazon River although it hasn't even been found there; most significant deposits are in India, Canada, USA, Brazil, Russia, Madagascar, Tanzania and Namibia.
As beads for jewellery and accessories, I've seen amazonite in various shades of aqua, green and even yellow and pink, some with white to brown or black inclusions, with the more saturated colours being more desirable I guess. But really, when you say amazonite, the opaque, aqua colour, perhaps with wispy paler inclusions, is the type that most readily comes to mind... like this giant specimen below:
As you can see, it's got a more muted and subtle hue than turquoise, and in my humble opinion, goes just fine with about any type of metal. However, amazonite is not a very hard mineral (rates 6 on Mohs scale), so care should be taken when wearing it. Best to be used in earrings or necklaces where there's minimal contact with anything else.
In the Waverider necklace, a 48x48x7mm flat heart briolette of amazonite has been paired with gunmetal-toned oxidised sterling silver. I particularly love how the inclusions resemble frothy waves in a churning sea, pounding towards the shore (of some fantasy tropical beach, where else). It's a bold-sized piece, paired with suitably larger-link sterling silver chain - so if you have it on and fail to elicit even a single comment, I will give you a refund! No, I'm just kidding, but I might just smack everyone you meet that day and then buy you a drink :P
Now for some hokey metaphysical info you might be interested in (or not). Amazonite:
- is known as the stone of self-expression
- acts as a filter against geopathic stress
- has soothing and calming properties
- is most protective against microwaves and other electromagnetic pollution
Betcha never knew!