it's April

Man it is sneaking up on me.

Hey Kids, did you know Aprils birthstone was diamond!?? Of course you did!
Did you know that an alternate birthstone was sapphire? Some of you may not have.

Here is where it gets tricky so keep your hands and feet in the car and the lap bar firmly in place cuz we are going for a ride.....

Diamond and sapphire are a bit pricey for me to work with, and typically faceted/cut to be put in a setting. I am not at that stage yet. I am sure I could wrap them in a creative artsy way, just getting a hold of them is a challenge in itself so we will leave them alone for awhile.


But.......


Did you know that iolite was also called the water sapphire? Did ya? I ADORE iolite - ADORE! It is a beautiful little stone and readily available in many grades. Its color varies slightly but more than not it is a beautiful dark purple/blue. *sigh* Do ya see where I am going here - we are going around our elbow to get to our ankle on this ride to take you from sapphire to iolite. I warned ya to hang on.

It has also been called "Vikings' Compass", because it was used to find the direction of the sun on cloudy days. The stone was cut thin, like a pane of glass and held to the sky. "Light scattered by air molecules is polarized, and the direction of the polarization is at right angles to a line to the sun, even when the sun's disk itself is obscured by dense fog or lies just below the horizon." (From Wiki)

Do ya think, that maybe because I am an adventurous soul, and have a tendancy to wander and explore and have been nicknamed -DOM (Daughter of Magellan -who I know is not a viking, but was still a savvy sailor) by my husband and have a compass tattoo so I always know where I am going, that I would be so drawn to this stone?

Mebbe so. All I know is there is something about iolite that makes me squeal deep in my heart, and instead of a diamond in my wedding band, guess what...yes - I have an iolite.

Nice segway here .......

So in light of that, here are a couple of things I have done with iolite.



Faceted roundells with bali sterling celtic beads



I wear these all the time. I love these little guys. I have a strand of these faceted drops and have been very stingy with them. I think i will keep them all for me :)




Fun quick wrap on a roundel for a small pendant. I wear this one alot too.


Thanks for playin!!!