All That Glitters is Not Gold: the Gemstone and Metal Blog Hop

The lovely Lisa Lodge, of A Grateful Artist, has created a fun blog hop with plenty of eye candy.  This one's theme is Gemstones and Metal.  Lisa sent me a bag of gemstones and metal for my creations.  The gemstones were yellow turquoise; the metal was brass.  (The brass, alas, gave me hives, so I'm working in sterling silver here.)

Yellow turquoise, it seems to me, is an oxymoron.  Turquoise is a lovely glowing radiant color.

It is not yellow-y greenish gray.

And while there is such a thing as turquoise with a yellow cast, as in the bottom row on this bracelet...

...these stones are not turquoise.

According to Beadaholique, "The trade name "yellow turquoise" describes this stone that is a... mixture of serpentine, jasper and quartz. It often is found in the same mines as traditional blue/green turquoise, hence the name. From China. 

I also checked in with Szarka Carter, of Magpie Gemstones, who suggested said stones are jasper.  And there's nothing wrong with jasper.  It's a good honest stone, with some lovely healing properties.  Some of my favorite charms are made of jasper, in one form or another.

https://www.etsy.com/search?q=cornerstoregoddess%20jasper

In Vogue Jewelry did a spirited rant on the topic of yellow turquoise. Check it out.

Yellow Turquoise is yet another stone by a false name, like "evening emerald" (peridot), "Indian jade" (jasper), or "Canadian lapis" (sodalite).

Some noted sellers do not even admit to it being anything but, well, yellow turquoise.  In fact, ArtBeads says "Yellow turquoise, or Chinese turquoise as it is sometimes called, is sweeping the beading world! Its popularity is beginning to rival the more traditional blue turquoise."

Um, no.

Besides, yellow turquoise makes as much sense as green ruby or black garnet or orange sapphire.

Oxymorons.

It bothers me that sellers would sell this to innocent trusting jewelry artists as a form of turquoise.  At least with pyrite, we call it fool's gold... the stuff that fooled the miners long ago.  In tribute to them, I put some "yellow turquoise" together with pyrite.  This is a Charm of Deception.

To quote Gilbert & Sullivan:

Buttercup

Things are seldom what they seem,

Skim milk masquerades as cream;

Highlows pass as patent leathers;

Jackdaws strut in peacock's feathers.

Captain. (puzzled)

Very true,

So they do.

Buttercup.

Black sheep dwell in every fold;

All that glitters is not gold;

Storks turn out to be but logs;

Bulls are but inflated frogs.

Using my "yellow turquoise," I created the charms above ans the necklace below.  

I call the collection Oxymoron Jewelery.

Any questions??

To see what the other jewelry artists created with their gemstones and metal,
follow the yellow turquoise road.  ;-)

http://gratefulartist.blogspot.com/

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Marybeth Rich, A Few Words from within the Pines

Karen Grosset Grange, Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Katrina Taylor, I Wanna Go Out

Ann Schroeder, Bead Love

Kathleen Breeding, 99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Terri Wlaschin, Dances in Fog

Margaret Pelech, Big Margaret

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Heather Richter, Desert Jewelry Designs

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha's Ramblings

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware (May be delayed a few days)

Eleanor Burian Moore, The Charmed Life

Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design

Robin Reed, Artistry HCBD

Laurie Vyselaar, Lefthand Jewelry

Cassi Renee Paslick, Beads: Rolling Downhill

Crystal Thain, Here Bead Dragons

Alicia Marinache, All the Pretty Things (May be delayed a few days)

Becky Pancake, Becky Pancake Bead Designs

Judy Campbell, Macmillanmarie Jewellery Design

Nan Smith, Handmade Jewelry Nanmade

Marde Lowe, FanciMarDesigns

Linda Anderson, From the Bead Board

Leithleach Alainn Seodra, Alainn Jewelry

Lisa E. Prewitt Knappenberger, LiRaysa Designs

Paige Maxim, Paige Maxim Designs

Gold in Them Thar Hills

The year was 1949. Settlers streamed across the nation in search of gold, after the discovery at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848. Over the next few years, over 200,000 arrived in California. Some struck it rich. Others did not, and struggled to survive.

Many were fooled by Pyrite, or Fool's Gold, with its brassy gold glitter.



Miners with get-rich-quick schemes soon and sadly learned that Fool's Gold was worthless. What they did not realize was that Pyrite is normally found around deposits of Copper and Gold. Had they dug deeper, they may have found what they were seeking.

This bracelet is the cemetery left behind, after 49ers moved on and others settled in.



It has nine brass tombstones surrounded by tombstones of Pyrite. There are pyrite nuggets as well, to tempt and to remind.



They are set off with hematite, vintage Czech glass seed beads, and fire polish crystals. And every Cornerstoregoddess bracelet comes with a bead to protect the wearer from the evil eye.





This is my answer to the second EHAG (Eclectic Halloween Artists’ Group) tombstone challenge this month. I’ve always been fascinated by the cemeteries in ghost towns, and, being a rock freak, the ores that drew the settlers there.

Other EHAG-ers created some intriguing tombstone art. Here’s a peek at some of the other offerings.

This one is from Joyce Stahl, who made a tombstone quilt.




This needle punch tombstone is from Sherry Kristoff, of Sherry’s Heart.




Searching EHAG on both ebay and etsy will bring a diverse and creative assortment of hand-crafted Halloween-themed art. Take a look the next time you're feeling ghoulish!