Rebecca Zemans Jewelry Blog — Stone of the Month

The alternative birthstone for the month of November, and one of our favorites, is labradorite, also known as the colorful cousin of moonstone. With its beautiful play of color, specifically known as labradoresenece or schiller effect, this stone has mesmerized people many centuries before us. While Labradorite is an obvious stone to be used for jewelry, it has also been used in the production of glass, as a road building material and to increase the strength and durability of ceramics. Labradorite has a predominant blue shimmer, however it comes in color variations of gray-green, dark gray, black and grayish-white. The...

Wow! It's been a busy year becoming a new mom and keeping up with customers. I'm excited to pick up the blog where we left off...The alternative birthstone for the month of October is agate, a member of the quartz family. Agate is a variety of the chalcedony quartz, which forms in concentric layers in a wide variety of colors, textures and patterns. Because of that vast variety in colors and patterns, many agates have their own specific trade names such as carnelian or sardonyx, as with in our Large Suspended Lightyear Pendant. Agate forms by filling a cavity in...

The alternative birthstone for the month of September is the beautiful Lapis Lazuli, often referred to as the cousin of the turquoise. Because of its beautiful blue color it has often been ground to powder form and then used to create paint and make up. Lapis Lazuli has been used in jewelry for thousands of years and got its name from the Latin word "lapis" which means stone and the Arabian word "azul" which means blue. Lapis is composed mainly out of lazurite and several other minerals, making it a rock rather than a mineral. It measures a 5 -...

One of the birthstones for the month of August is jade, a stone often known for its intense green color. Jade has been known for more than 7000 years, and while one might assume it has mainly been used in ornaments, it started out as a very practical stone used for tools because of its extreme toughness. Jade consists of two separate minerals known as jadeite and nephrite. Jadeite is very tough and resistant because of its tight growth of tiny interlocking grains. Nephrite, a variety of the mineral actinolite, is even tougher, due to its composition of fibrous crystals...

Often known for it's red-brown color, the alternative birthstone of July is the beautiful carnelian. Carnelian is a zodiac birthstone for the signs of Leo and Virgo and has been said to promote inner vitality and joy. The carnelian is a commonly available microcrystalline quartz. It is considered a chalcedony, made up of silicon dioxide colored by different levels of iron impurities which makes them come in many warm colors ranging from a pale orange to a dark brown. Often, the stones have been heat treated to make their color more intense. This stone got its name from the Latin...