Rebecca Zemans Jewelry Blog — semi precious stones

Citrine is the birthstone for the month of November.  The name derives from the Latin citrina meaning "yellow" and is also the origin of the word "citron".  The stone can range in color from a pale yellow to brown.  A member of the Quartz family, citrine is closely related to amethyst, sometimes the two are even found together in the same crystal, called ametrine. Citrine, as well as other stones within the Quartz family, has a 7 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness.  Citrine jewelry can be brittle for everyday wear, however these stones bring beautiful color and are safe...

Special occasions call for personalized design.  Jewelry is often a gift given to commemorate significant times in our lives - engagements, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, push presents, and other milestones.     Without needing to go fully bespoke in design, the Family Jewelry Collection is a selection of our most popular jewelry designs showcasing birthstones.  Featuring elegant pendants and modern stacking rings, this collection has something to represent all the meaningful people of your life. All of these designs are able to be tailored to the amount and variety of stones to suit you needs, and forged in the recycled metal of your choice.  Click here...

Welcome to October, it's really feeling like autumn now!  Opal is the October birthstone and it is wonderful how birthstone jewelry can connect families through the generations.  We were lucky enough to work with a customer recently on a very special heirloom redesign.  Using a vintage opal cocktail ring gifted from her grandmother, our customer wanted to create a delicate necklace for her mother utilizing her baby daughter's birthstone.  Rebecca removed one of the opals from the original ring and reset the stone in a bezel setting on a recycled gold-filled chain, creating a delicate and asymmetrical necklace inspired by...

Today is the first day of Autumn and even though we'll miss the sunny fun of summertime, we are looking forward to the striking palette that is bestowed upon us in the coming months.  Over the years we've worked with couples who have used colored stones in their engagement rings, embracing this colorful time all year long!  Inspired by these couples, we've created this roundup of some of our favorite alternative engagement rings! Colored gemstones are selected for their birthstone attributes, their historic and cultural meanings and their unique beauty.  Any stone can be set in an engagement ring, or...

We have been doing a lot of custom wedding bands and engagement rings lately, so we decided to do a little blog post about the different stone settings we use for those of you who are interested in a custom design that includes stones. In the end, which setting you choose to use in your design mostly depends on which one you like the most. However, there are advantages and disadvantages to each setting, that should also be taken into account.   Flush setting A flush setting is when we cut a hole into the band, just big enough to...