Friday, June 28, 2013

Moonstones

Ah, beautiful moonstones. This is a post about moonstones. 
I was blown away by these stones when I saw this piece at the Met Museum (the white stones are moonstones). The jewelry designer is Rene Lules Lalique, a master at art nouveau. art nouveau jewelry often used this stone.



The stones had an otherworldly iridescent glow to them and i was blown away. He's known for using them and other not-so-precious stones:

Moonstone is actually a feldspar, one of the most common rocks (technical term, btw) on the planet. If you walk outside and dig around in the dirt, you'll probably find feldspar or a rock with feldspar in it (granite). It's the state gem for Florida. So, it isn't an expensive gem at all.

Lalique's moonstones are cabochon-cut, but here's an etsy seller (charlotteburkhart)
 who's done a rose cut on the stone. Her work is really amazing, especially the moonstone work:



other moonstone jewelry i'm linking from google, tumblr:

 





2 comments:

  1. I adore moonstones. And that's nο wonder. I am a Cancer and everything about Moon is a magic spell to me. I have seen no full-moon that I didn't want to capture with my camera. My most favorite piece of jewelry was a mooonstone pendant until today. You see, today I received that wonderful moonstone ring made by my friend Tiffany from Florida. And now I am the proud owner of the most beautiful and unique moonstone ring. As a child I was charmed by Lalique's jewelry. Not anymore. I have my own wonderful moonstone!

    ReplyDelete