A (growing) GLOSSARY OF GEMSTONES

When is a gemstone not really a stone?

When it’s prehistoric petrified wood, of course!

One of the more unusual gem materials I have come across, Peanut Wood was formed in a most unusual way.

 

But what is Peanut Wood?

Once upon a time (during the Cretaceous period - 145 to 66 million years ago) majestic Conifer trees covered the land we now know as Western Australia. When these mighty trees fell, rivers rushed the driftwood logs along to the shallow salty sea that covered much of what is now the Australian continent. In this salty sea lived certain species of clam that just loved the taste of wood. 

Some of these wood-eating clams, called Teredo, still exist today. Known as “shipworms” they have been scourge of sailors across human seafaring history. 

But let us go back 100 million years again…The little clam larvae were drawn to these pieces of Conifer driftwood, and when they landed on them they dug in. They used their razor-sharp shells to shave off little crumbs of the wood, which they ate, and ate, and ate. They bored holes all through the wood - approximately the size & shape of a peanut. 

Waterlogged, these holey logs fell to the seabed. Just above swarmed teeny, tiny radiolarian - plankton, bedecked in silica-rich shells. When they had had their day the plankton shells sank, slowly building a thick white sediment on the seabed, and filling any nooks & crevices that lay there. Over time this Siliceous Radiolarian ooze found its way in to all the little peanut-sized holes in the fallen driftwood, gradually hardening and also secreting silica in to the remaining wooded areas, forming a wonderful fossilised material with wild patterns in creamy whites & blackened browns. 

Because of the haphazard clustering and layering of these creamy white peanut markings, each Peanut Wood ‘gemstone” is totally unique. 

So far I’ve only really fallen for one special piece of Peanut Wood, but expect to see more as I keep on hunting.

The beautiful Marquise shape and striking lightening-like pattern of this cabochon, in high contrast almost-white & almost-black, really spoke to me.

The one of a kind Bamboo Hammock Pendant I made it into, in Sterling Silver, is now available.

"The stone of unconditional love"

Rose Quartz, with its delicate pink hues, is well known and well loved for opening the heart chakra, promoting compassion, healing & harmony with its soothing ways.

Prized since ancient times as a token of beauty & affection by the likes of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks & Romans, it is entrenched in mythology, with associations to Aphrodite, and Cupid, who is said to have bestowed the precious pink stone upon the earth to inspire love, passion & romance.

 

 

My absolute favourite type of Rose Quartz is this beautiful and rare Black Dot variety, known as Tourmalated Rose quartz, Speckled Rose Quartz or even Jaguar Quartz.

The black speckles are natural inclusions of Tourmaline or Manganese within the Rose Quartz matrix, and make each piece of stone totally unique. These dark inclusions are also thought to bring a grounding and protective energy to balance and compliment that of the Rose Quartz.

Some also contain orangey red flashes of iron, and are even more unusual. And yes, if you were wondering, it is the iron content that colours Carnelian, which is a type of Chalcedony, which is a type of quartz, kind of…