Blue Spinel

Sometimes I try to find odd stones that are not used much. So I picked out the Blue Spinel.

Blue Spinel is a Magnesium Aluminum Oxide or Magnesium Aluminate, and is colored by iron and occasionally cobalt. And that's science for ya.

Onto the neato stuff:

Some Lore: 

It is not known for certain how the name Spinel originated. The most common suggestion is that it may have derived from the Latin word 'spina' meaning thorn, possibly referring to its fiery color or the sharp pointed crystals that are found within some Spinels. Spinels were often referred to as 'balas rubies' in ancient times. 

Spinels are associated with love and they help the wearer to put their ego aside and become devoted to another person. Spinel also encourages passion and is said to increase the duration of one's life.

Be weary of synthetic Blue Spinals that are appearing in the market today. They are usually extremely fluorescent in eye-popping tones. Another sure-fire way to spot a synthetic Blue Spinel is by closely examining the stone for curved growth lines or gas bubbles that would be present and would have occurred during the flame fusion synthetic process.

Some other things that are Blue:

The Tardis:

Moden sterling Silver Broken china Blue Bird Brooch. In other words someone took some broken china, took that piece and made it into a brooch.

A Blue Me :)

A little bit of Picasso

 A enamel piece I picked up to help keep me motivated. It did take me a minute to realize there are two people and being a Gemini I thought perfect. I does remind me of Picasso work.

A definite statement piece and even better I can wear practically any color top with this. 

Empire strikes back!

What your seeing here is the Coro Empire line. My mother sent these to me for Christmas as they were part of  my Grandmother collection. Only knowing they were Coro I started the great hunt of what it was and yes there has to be earrings and I wanted to know what they looked like. Here is the set I received.

And low and behold I found pay dirt (see the ad below ) The Empire necklace shown in the top row, right side of the ad below (from the November 29, 1954 issue of Life Magazine) cost $5, and the matching earrings were also $5, plus federal tax. I can tell you now my first thought was "ohhhh I wish I could time travel at those prices."

Then I found they made in it blue.

I have yet to wear it out but I did manage to put it on, and glamor it up a bit and take some photo's.

The one that did not get finished below as my app on my iPhone kept freezing as I was trying to color in the rhinestones, so I gave up on it and was able to complete the other one you see above.