Welcome to this month's newsletter! I hope you enjoy it.

Barbara Kay Jewelry News

I had a wonderful time at both the Vancouver Art and Music Festival, and the Washougal Art and Music Festival. I met so many great people and really enjoyed talking about metalsmithing and my jewelry. Thank you to those who came to visit me! My next event will be when my studio is open for visitors during the Clark County Open Studios Tour on November 2 and 3. I'll have more information about that in the next couple of newsletters.

Now that my shows are finished for a while, I am working on a few things. One is updating my website, which will hopefully be ready to make public by next month.

I also have started a few new jewelry projects. My next group of pendants will be focused on animals and birds - some with stones, and some without. Here are my first two in progress. The duck pendant is still very much an evolving design; my ideas keep changing and it may be a while before it is finished. The deer pendant is pretty much set in terms of design, although I will probably add a few more leaves here and there. Hopefully I'll have them finished in time for the next newsletter!

Stone of the Month: Peridot

As you have probably noticed if you’ve followed my work for a while, I prefer working with semi-precious stones rather than faceted gemstones. The cost of some gemstones can be prohibitive and many are usually set in gold, which I also don’t work with in large quantities.

But beyond the cost, the main reason is that I love the patterns and multitude of colors available in semi-precious stones like agate and jasper.

However, there are a few faceted gemstones that do find their way into my jewelry. They sometimes complement a smooth cabochon, such as in this pendant which features a Graveyard Point Plume Agate topped by a Golden Citrine.

Sometimes they work well as a part of a scene. I thought a bright blue topaz would be perfect as a bubble next to this happy fish, for example.

And occasionally I will use a faceted gemstone as the one and only featured stone. One gemstone that I particularly like to use on its own, one that I feel is sometimes overlooked, is the Peridot.

Peridot is August’s birthstone, and it really is the perfect summer gemstone. It is usually a soft yellow- green that evokes a summer meadow; that green that comes after the bright apple-green of spring and before the golds of autumn. The color can vary slightly from more brown-green to bright green, although neither of these is common.

Peridot has been known for centuries. The ancient Egyptians called it the “gem of the sun.” Some believed it would ward off evil spirits, especially those horrors that come out in the night.

Early records show that Egyptians mined peridot on an island in the Red Sea called Topazios, now known as Zabargad. For many years it was one of many stones called topaz. At some point in the eighteenth century, the stone we now know as topaz was officially given that name, and this stone that came from Topazios was given the name peridot. The funny thing is that what we now know as topaz does not come from the island Topazios!

Peridot has often been confused with emerald. Cleopatra’s famous emerald collection may actually have been peridot, according to historians. People believed for centuries that the gems decorating the shrine of the Three Holy Kings in the Cologne Cathedral (Germany) were emeralds. They are actually peridot.

Peridot is a gem variety of the mineral olivine. Most peridot was formed deep under the earth’s surface, and was pushed up through volcanic activity. What is really interesting is that peridot has also been found in meteorites from outer space. The NASA space probe also collected peridot dust during a space dust mission in 2005.

The lovely yellow-green color comes from iron; ferrous iron creates the green, while ferric iron creates yellow. More ferric iron causes the gem to be more brownish; more ferrous iron creates a greener green. Best, of course, is a nice balance of the two.

Here on earth, peridot is predominately found in Zabargad (Egypt), Myanmar, Arizona and New Mexico (United States) and in Norway, with some being mined in other parts of the world including Antarctica. While chunks of peridot have been found in meteorites, you are unlikely to find those in your jewelry!

Although peridot is a fairly tough gemstone, it does have a susceptibility to fractures. I like setting them in a bezel or “tube” setting, which protects the stone more than a prong setting would. As a jeweler, I also have to be careful not to put too much stress on the stone as I am setting it; once set, it is well protected. Peridot should not be cleaned using an ultrasonic or steam system; if you take a piece of jewelry with peridot into a jeweler’s to be cleaned, it’s important that they not use this type of cleaner. The best way to clean is with mild detergent or soap, warm water and possibly a soft brush (like a tooth brush).

In honor of August, here are a few pieces of jewelry that feature peridot. The pendant is an older piece that features both a shimmery sunstone and peridot. Enjoy!

A Little Bit About Birthstones

Since my featured stone this month is a birthstone, I thought I'd add a little background on these commemorative gems, along with a birthstone chart. It may just come in handy next time someone you know has a birthday.

The idea of birthstones actually has a religious beginning. Flavius Josephus, a first century priest and historian, came upon the idea of connecting stones to months while studying the Book of Exodus in the Bible. Moses' brother, Aaron, had a breastplate that was decorated with 12 stones of different types and colors. It is believed that they represented the 12 tribes of Israel. This number also had significance in the number of Jesus' disciples, the number of months in the year and also number of zodiac signs. Josephus believed that the stones had miraculous healing and protective powers. He connected each one to a month of the year, and believed that their powers were particularly strong during "their month".

The original 12 stones on Aaron's breastplate were a bit different, depending on whether one looks at the Christian Bible or the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible uses these stones: carnelian, chrysolite (peridot), emerald, turquoise, sapphire, amethyst, jacinth or hyacinth (zircon), agate, quartz, beryl (aquamarine), lapis lazuli and jasper. And as you can see, some of these have not managed to stay on the birthstone list.

People began to wear jewelry with these stones as protection around the 8th or 9th centuries. Originally, the stone would be worn only during the month to which the stone was connected in order to give the wearer extra protection during that time. During this time, the stones were not viewed as "birth stones."

Some time during the 16th to 18th centuries, the idea of these stones being birth stones came about. People began wearing jewelry made with stones from their birth month, which of course we still do today.

Over time, the various birthstones have changed depending on accepted style and availability. In 1912, the National Association of Jewelers created a standardized list of birthstones, which is more or less the list we still use and which you can see here. Although the association based their list on stones that are more easily made into jewelry, I tend to feel that a jeweler's association likely chose more expensive stones than were used historically (note that diamonds were not on the original breast plate, but agate and jasper were). Alternates have been added for some months. In the 1950s there was a push to ensure that each month had a clear gemstone as an option; and later still a few others were added.

Do you like your birthstone? Would you rather have one of the historical stones for your month? You can always make it so for yourself!

I would love to hear from you. Let me know what you think, and what you’d like to see in future newsletters. Leave a comment or email me at barbara@barbarakayjewelry.com

See past issues here: Barbara Kay Newsletters​