Owl Queen – 31 January 2013

The Great Horned Owl, magnificent to behold, fearsome to its prey, embodies both the majesty and menace of nature. The heavily built, barrel-shaped species boasts penetrating eyes with vivid yellow irises, and tufts of feathers on its head that look like horns, or...

Enlightenment – 27 December 2012

When Cynthia Renee saw an antique Japanese candle lamp on a journey of relaxation and contemplation at the Golden Door Spa in southern California, she knew she had found an image around which to design a jewel. The peace-filled imagery of candlelight spoke to the...

Calligraphy of the Heart

Cynthia Renee has visited Spain many times over the years to stay with her brother, who maintains a home in the ancient country. From her first visit, her designer’s heart was captivated by the Moorish design motifs she saw in the great medieval cities. Art and...

Rara Avis

In the 1500s in Tudor London, a Latin expression — rara avis — became popular. Literally meaning “rare bird” — the expression was gleaned from a phrase by the Roman poet Juvenal, “rara avis in terries nigroque simillima cygno”, or “a rare bird in the...

Mosaic Magic

Mosaic is the art of creating images and patterns using tesserae, small pieces of glass, stone or other colorful materials. An ancient decorative skill, mosaics have been assembled since the second half of the third millennium BC, in Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome and...

Malaia Allure

When a strange, orangy-pinkish-reddish garnet was discovered in the mid-1960s, in the Umba Valley of Tanzania, locals and experienced gemologists didn’t know what to make of it.  The odd stone was often tossed in with parcels  of sought-after rhodolite garnets,...

Blackberry Winter – 1 Nov 2012

“Blackberry winter” – a farmer’s expression familiar to country folk – evokes a day in late spring when one wakes up to a cold snap. Though the chill seems to threaten the season’s delicate fruit blossoms and tender seedlings, they...

Continuity out of Chaos?

Proud of his bounty, a gem collector came to me with a wonderful assortment of rare Demantoid garnets he had been gathering. Demantoid garnets, primarily mined in Russia and Namibia, behave in light similarly to diamonds and appear fiery. They are rare, beautiful and...

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