|  | | | Sticks and Stones TN | | | Maintained by: | | Minerals, jewelry, beads, gemstones,other lapidary items. Specimens from around the world. Jewelry hand-crafted of genuine gems, gold and silver. We seek and make the best and most unusual to offer at fair prices. If you don't see what you want, email us - if we have it, we can put up a new listing! | |
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IMPORTANT NOTICE!
Greetings, friends: Sticks and Stones will be closed until Monday, November 30th. You may continue to browse and place orders as usual, but please be aware that your shipment will be somewhat delayed. We will attempt to check email several times during this period, and will respond to any questions as soon as possible. We will resume our regular shipping schedule on Tuesday, December 1st. Thanks so much for your patronage!
Best wishes, Pat | |
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Our Jewelry and Gemstones
Our Jewelry
Most of our jewelry is designed and made by Pat. Also, we sometimes offer items acquired from another artisan or jeweler. We have a number of one-of-a-kind pieces, and most of the rest are limited production. We don't make a large quantity of any item--we don't have a factory, just a studio! The stones and beads used in our jewelry are genuine, created by Mother Nature! Read more about our stones below.
Our primary metals for jewelry are 14 karat yellow and white gold (14KY, 14KW) and sterling silver (SS). We also use some imported mountings and beads (e.g. Bali), which may have a metal composition different from US standards for 14K gold and sterling (14/24 or 58.3% gold and 92.5% silver, respectively). Some items contain components made of 14K gold filled (GF) or vermeil (VM - 14K to 22K gold over sterling silver). These often provide extra durability for a piece, are more economical, and many beautiful accent pieces designed and handmade by metal artisans simply aren't available in 14K. All of our metals are considered by the trade to be 'lifetime' metals; we don't use 'base' metals (which have a base of brass and a rather thin overlay of gold or silver) in our fine jewelry. The item description for each piece of jewelry will identify all metals used in construction.
Some of our necklaces and bracelets are constructed to allow the user to adjust the length by 1 to 3 inches. Others sometimes can be altered, depending on the style and construction. For this, there will be an additional charge only for added components. We can let you know the cost before making the change. Please note that we do not size rings. You get a much better fit if the person doing the sizing has direct access to your finger; just one-quarter of a size can make quite a difference in wearing comfort.
We don't claim that jewelry is an investment, although fine jewelry usually does increase in value over time, sometimes substantially. However, 'investments' are acquired in order to realize a future profit, and most of us have no intention of parting with our jewelry! But have you considered the fact that 'fine jewelry' is a collectible? Why buy 'costume jewelry' when you can own the real thing at similar or even lower prices?
With careful selection and comparison shopping, you can acquire an impressive collection of valuable and unique pieces, destined to become treasured family heirlooms! Consider the styles that you like, and stones that you would like to own. Then let us work with you in developing your jewelry collection to suit your taste and budget, as well as providing information about the care of each piece. Treat your good jewelry well and it will last forever.
Our Gemstones
We cut gemstones, and also purchase stones from other cutters. Most of our larger stones have been cut by master faceters, many of whom are frequent winners of cutting awards. We prefer the stuff that comes out of the ground! Almost all of our faceted stones, cabochons, carvings and beads are made from the real thing...rocks and crystals (minerals) that have been created by mother nature. If we do use a laboratory created stone, such as 'Russian Alexandrite' or 'Chatham Emerald', that is clearly stated in the item description.
Stone treatments have become common these days. Often the treatment is applied to the rough material before the stone is cut. Usually, stones and cutting rough have been through several hands before reaching ours, so often we have no way to know for sure what has been done to a stone along the way. If we know the specifics of the treatment, that information will be included in the description. If we happen to have a stone that we are certain has not been treated in any way, we'll be sure to emphasize that as well!
Descriptions of gemstones can be confusing. The terms 'real' or 'genuine' used to mean 'produced by nature', and almost anything else was glass. But humans have learned to grow many minerals in a laboratory, and some lab-created stones are identical in chemical composition to nature's own, so technically they can be described as 'genuine'. Currently 'natural' usually means 'not subject to any treatment' rather than 'produced by nature.'
There are some well-defined standards for grading and describing diamonds. Although gem and jewelry organizations have been working on similar standards for colored stones, describing them still involves subjective judgement. We will use the following terminology in our descriptions of our gemstones:
- Origin
- Genuine: made by nature, not by humans
- Lab-created: made in a factory
- Synthetic: lab-created, chemically identical to the genuine mineral
- Simulant: lab-created to look like the genuine mineral
- Altered: made in a factory, but using genuine materials (eg., shell pearls are beads that resemble pearls, made from genuine shells)
- Appearance
- Natural: not treated in any manner
- Enhanced: treated to improve appearance or durability
- Clarity
- Loop Clean: no inclusions visible at 10x magnification
- Eye Clean: no inclusions visible to the naked eye
- Slightly, Moderately, Very Included: judgements about the degree and density of inclusions within the stone
- Transparent: can see through the stone
- Transluscent: can see into the stone, but not through it
- Opaque: cannot see into the stone
- Size
- Weight: reported in carats (a carat is one-fifth of a gram
- Dimensions: reported in millimeters (mm)
- Estimated Weight: when we acquire jewelry from others, we will estimate the stone weights based on type and dimensions
Often someone will comment on an inclusion in a stone, referring to it as a 'flaw'. An inclusion in a stone is like a dandelion in a vegetable garden...if it's growing where you don't want it, it's a weed. Yes, stones (minerals) actually 'grow', but very slowly. Sometimes a mineral grows within another mineral. On the human scale of time, this doesn't seem possible, but at the slow pace of geology over eons, nature does some remarkable things.
To some of us, inclusions are not 'flaws' but are delightful suprises to discover! If organized in particular ways, they cause the phenomenon known as asterism, creating stars or cat's eyes. Most people are familiar with star sapphires and cat's eye chrysoberyl. Rutilated quartz also is the result of inclusions, the mineral rutile occuring within the mineral quartz.
Less common inclusions are highly prized and can be very valuable. Two of our favorite faceted gemstones are a rutilated heliodore (the yellow/gold variety of beryl, which is the mineral family of the more familiar aquamarine and emerald) and a clear quartz which contains a tiny pyrite crystal. In our mineral collection, we have a 'tourmalinated' aquamarine and a large clear quartz crystal that contains a small double-terminated quartz crystal--quartz in quartz! Although fairly rare, it's possible to find two or three stage inclusions: inclusions within inclusions, and within the inclusions of inclusions! In summary, we appreciate these novelties of nature. They contribute to the uniqueness of the specimen, and often are the prize of a collection!
We hope that this brief discussion assists you in understanding our item descriptions and making appropriate selections.
Please be sure to contact us if you want additional information or have questions. Meanwhile, enjoy browsing!
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