KerStitch Designs

Semi-precious Stone Glossary

An explanation of semi-precious stones and terms commonly used in jewellery products by KerStitch Designs

KerStitch Designs uses a wide variety of semi-precious stones. Most stones are purchased in bead strands of individually hand-cut shapes. Strands can have a wide variety of colour variations and size or thickness of the stones. This makes our jewellery and beaded accessories truly one-of-a-kind!

Kerrie takes great pains to buy natural stones when possible and to pick closely matching pairs of stones for items like earrings. Because of the high variability in semi-precious stones, no quarantee can be made of the availablility of matching products in the future, either in colour or size and shape. If you would like jewellery sets of earrings, bracelets, and/or necklaces, it is best to order them at the same time.

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Notations/Abbreviations

For semi-precious stones, the following notations are used when the information is provide by the place of purchase:

• (N) - Natural: The stone is not known to be modified
• (H) - Heated: The stone has been heated, to enhance colour or clarity.
• (D) - Dyed: The stone has been dyed to enhance the existing colour or create a man-made colour.
• (C) - Coated: The stone has been coated to enhance colour or texture.
• (S) - Stabilized: The stone has been injected with a colourless material that stabilizes the stone.

The grade of stone is usually an [A], [B], [C] or [D], with [A] being the high quality.

KerStitch Designs does its best to accurately represent the quality of stones used, however, in some cases the origin or treatments are not known.

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Semi-precious Stones and Shells

Amethyst

A violet type of quartz. It can range from a very pale to a rich, dark purple, depending on the quality. It is the birthstone for February.

Aventurine, Red

Medium to dark, orangey-red beads with mica inclusions that create a glistening effect.

Calcite

Delicate, creamy yellow shades, sometimes with cream areas or bands.

Fluorite, Rainbow

Also known as Fluorspar. A mineral ranging from clear to frosted mixed with patterns of purple, and less commonly, blue-green or aqua.

Howlite, White

Creamy white with fine gray veining. It can be dyed to imiate other minerals such as turquoise. Other trade names include, White Turquoise, White Buffalo Turquoise and White Buffalo Stone.

Jasper, Lemon

A light, yellow-green jasper.

Jasper, Picture

Jasper with brown, tan and cream colouration, often in banding patterns.

Jasper, Red

A brick red jasper.

Lapis Lazuli

A deep to denim blue stone, sometimes with a touch of purple, and flecks of iron pyrite and calcite, giving it some gold or coppery sparkle.

Mother-of-Pearl

The iridescent, hard internal layer of the sea mollusk shell. This is the mollusk that also produces pearls. It is most often bleached for an elegant and feminine soft white, but is also available in its natural, creamy champagne colour or dyed in ranges from pastel to vivid colours.

Moukaite (Mookaite)

Sometimes also called Moukaite Jasper. It has a wide range of colours from brick red, to golden yellow to more muted grays and creams.

New Jade

See "Serpentine"

Obsidian, Mahogany

A volcanic black glass streaked with a dark reddish-brown.

Olive Jade

See "Serpentine"

Serpentine

An avocado to olive green or yellow-green stone. It may be relatively uniform in colour, or have banding or speckles of darker colours. The uniform stones are often sold under the trade names of New Jade or Olive Jade.

Sodalite

Denim blue colours, from dark violet-navy to light denim with white streaks of calcite.

Tigereye

Contrasting golden and brown to black bands with change when when seen from different angles. (a strong chatoyant effect)

Quartz, Rose

A delicate pink quartz. Degree of pink and clarity vary a lot with the stone quality. KerStitch Designs tries to purchase the natural stone, but this is often available as dyed, or unlabelled.