What's your favorite stone? I have a few, a hot one for me right now is fire agate. If I had to guess what most people like I would guess diamonds. Do you think I'm right? The stones in this picture are not diamonds. They're Cubic Zirconia or CZ's. CZ's are probably the top replacement stone for a diamond look without the diamond price. Right now I'm picking through them to see what would be the best fit for some beautiful earrings a client is having me make.  What is your favorite stone? ...

Today at the gem show, we saw stones of all shapes and sizes (one as tall as me!) from every corner of the world. It was more than a little overwhelming. I was able to get some tools for the studio and everyone ended up buying some stones. It was definitely a fun time and we didn't even see a tenth of the show!...

This is a picture of a cabochon star sapphire. Although a lot of people associate sapphire with the color blue, sapphire comes in all colors of the rainbow except for red. My roommate recently got engaged and her fiancé gave her a yellow sapphire wedding ring. A little different than your average run of the mill engagement ring but very beautiful and classy. Just like her!  When I was learning about gemology, I was suprised to find out that ruby has the same chemical makeup as sapphire. The only thing that distinguishes a ruby from a sapphire is its color. If a sapphire is red, it is a ruby. Ruby and sapphire come from the mineral family corundum and have a mohs hardness of nine. This is only one less than the hardness of diamonds. So, the only stone other than a sapphire that could make a scratch on a sapphire is a diamond. Also, sapphires are very durable. Maybe that's why they are often used as watch faces. ...

Fire agate. My favorite gemstone. Not sure if it has anything to do with my penchant for all things brown. But this stone is absolutely beautiful. Don't let my mention of the color brown fool you. There is much more to fire agate than brown, which is more of a backdrop to the other beautiful colors which give it its "fire". In many ways, fire agate is like opal. Do you ever notice how when moving a piece of opal, flashes of red or green usually come up? This is similar to fire agate. Usually, when cut right, the fire will appear as bubbles coming up to the surface in green, yellows, reds, and more rarely purples and blues. It is most commonly found in Mexico, California and the great state of Arizona....