Saturday, June 30, 2007

Ah, Ruby...



Ah, Ruby!

by Jill of JQJewelryDesigns.Etsy.com
Member of http://EEJA.org


The Queen of gems, deep red ruby is the rarest and most valuable gemstone. It's the second hardest natural mineral, next to diamond. Above all other gemstones, including Diamonds, Rubies are the most expensive per Carat - a 15.97 Carat faceted Mogok Ruby was sold at Sotheby's in New York for an amazing $3,630,000 in October 1988. This comes to $227,301 per Carat!

It is from the Latin "ruber" meaning red. Because of its beauty and rarity, the Greeks called it the mother of all gemstones. The Romans called it a flower among stones. Ruby varies in color from dark to purple red, and is the July birthstone. It's the anniversary gemstone for the 15th and 40th year of marriage and the Zodiac Birthstone for Capricorn.

The earliest record for the mining of Rubies goes back more than 2,500 years ago in Sri Lanka. Burma is the world's largest provider of high quality Rubies. Burmese Rubies from the Mogok Valley are considered the finest in the world. Thailand, with large deposits near the Cambodian border, was previously the world's largest provider of Rubies, but the mining has fallen off recently. Bright red stones are mined in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Vietnam. Brownish-red rubies are from Thailand. Darker stones are generally produced from the mines in Australia, India, Russia and USA (Georgia, North Carolina and Wyoming). African Rubies have heavy inclusions and India is famous for supplying Indian Star Rubies. Gems without inclusions are very rare. Most have inclusions which are not visible to the naked eye, and they don't reduce the value of the stone as long as there is brilliance.

This gem can be many shades of red including orangy-red, purplish red or brownish red. Once it becomes too pink it is really pink sapphire. Most Rubies are heat treated to permanently improve their color and appearance. It was one of the earliest gemstones to be synthesized in a laboratory. Manmade Ruby has been around for generations. It is often found in estate and antique jewelry from the very early 1900's through today.

Few other gems have as much myth, lore and romance surrounding them. Many people believe that mystical powers lie within a ruby. The ancient Burmese believed that the stone generates a mystical force when it was inserted beneath the skin. They believed that this force protected the wearer from accidents and attacks. These gems were believed to provide their owners the protection from misfortune and bad health. In the ancient world, many believed that Rubies contained prophetic powers, enabling the wearers to predict their future based on the color changes of their gemstones.

It is known as the stone of love and it was once believed that if worn in a ring on the left hand or in a brooch on the left side, it would give the magical ability to live in peace among enemies. This stone was once thought to ward off bad luck and sickness. Ruby is given as a symbol of success, devotion, integrity, health, and passion.

DID YOU KNOW?

The largest ruby is in the crown of Charles IV, of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia. This birth stone is 250 carats and Charles placed this crown on the skull of Saint Wemaslas, duke of Bohemia, in 1346.

The Carmen Lucia Ruby is the largest faceted ruby in the National Gem Collection and one of the finest Burmese rubies known to exist in the world. Christian Sampler, director of the National Museum of Natural History, says it's the most significant addition to the National Gem Collection since the Hope Diamond came to the museum in 1958. It is a spectacular 23.1 carat Burmese ruby ring, donated to the Smithsonian Institution by billionaire Peter Buck in memory of his wife Carmen Lucia.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

)))Meet FRED(((

IMPORTANT: If you ever rescue a bird, never try to give it water, you can easily get it into their lungs and drown them. Go to a pet store and buy food, follow the mixing instructions.
6/12/07 On the way home, I asked Jimi to swing into the liquor store for some water. Got out of the car and on the ground was a baby birdie, at first I thought it was on it's way "out" but then Jimi came along and the birdie started squakin. So, we took birdie down the street to the vet's office which turned us away and told us to go to the pet store. Birdie was sitting up with its mouth open for food. The pet store gave us baby birdie food, I mixed some up with the water I had using a key and the lid to the bottle and used the key to feed birdie. So, on our way home, birdie starts squakin again and I started squakin back... and he replied!! So, birdie and I talked about how he was coming to live with us and he said ok. In my studio now, I have the 3 kittens and 1 baby bird... oh, and the birdie is a pigeon which the pet store guy said "OH", as in good grief. Guess we didn't rescue a good enough bird. Anyway, he's as cute as can be. I can't believe he's alive after the fall he took... only time will tell now cause one thing is for sure; he's got a full belly.
At home, I have a lot of pet tanks from when I had lots of lizards. I put birdie in one of the tanks but he kept falling over. Well DUH, he needs a nest. A bowl and a towel worked and I can tell he is happy. I read that they strengthen their legs by bracing themselves against the nest walls.



I was going to name him “Bungie” but then my friend Jane came up with F.R.E.D.

Fernando
Rodriguez
Eduardo
Domingez

6/13 I noticed a lump on Fred's neck, it goes down after he rests for a while and then when he chirps it puffs back up. I thought it was an infection at first, don't know what it is now.

6/14 Ok, the sack fills up with food! Weird. This is fun, I'm his mommy. Fred does the cutest things, before each bite of food, he chirps! Then once he starts chewing, he stomps his feet!!

6/23 Fred flew around my room



6/24 Fred gave me ringworm - to rid yourself of ringworm, use anti-fungal cream (athletes foot cream).

6/28 Fred grew up so very fast, amazing that in 4 days he had all his feathers out. He's beautiful… a small bird, maybe a finch. Teaching Fred to eat worms and seeds was interesting. Took him 2 days of staring at the seed branch to figure it out. It also took two days to get him to eat worms on his own.

Well, one day I had only about 5 little worms and there was no more baby bird food for him, Jimi would bring some home after work. What a noisy day I had… Fred squaked in protest. I went to the kitchen and we had some honey wheat berry bread so I tried that. Well, Fred didn't like it and he spit it out! I looked for oatmeal but we didn't have any, then I saw corn flakes. Fred spit them out. I had fish food so I tried that. Fred spit it out. I took the corn flakes and soaked them in water, made a mush like his bird food. He spit most of it out. The UPS man showed up with the package of gourmet almonds I ordered and as I was enjoying them it dawned on me to try giving Fred some almonds. So, I chewed up a bunch and I spit them out!! Sure enough, Fred loved it. Finally, Jimi came home with worms and seeds.

I've been opening the lid to the enclosure that Fred is in. What a smart bird. He jumps up to the stick I put in there and then hops out onto the lid. Then he will jump back down to the stick and into his house. He does this all day. He's flown around a few times but it looks like something is wrong with one of his wings. Most likely from when he fell as a baby. He has a hard time flying up. If he doesn't improve, we may just have to keep him. I'm not one that likes to keep wild animals locked up, I rescue and release but in this case, I may not have a choice. Our other option is to bring Fred to my Father's house and let him live in the front yard. My Dad doesn't have any cats and Jimi works there so would be able to feed Fred as needed. We thought we could make him a bird-house.

I had a lot of fun with Fred yesterday. I was taking photo's of my jewelry and put Fred in the photo with me. He sat on my hand, nice and still. What a bird!!



Ahna

ArtCreated.com

Founder - EJA

Monday, June 25, 2007

Winners of the EJA Summer Solstice Giveaway

We have our 3 winners in the EJA Summer Solstice Jewelry Giveaway!! These girls are going to be stylin with all the jewelry we sent them.

Jill from Ohio
Alissa from PA
Lesha from Indiana

Congrats girls!!

Didn’t get a chance to enter? Well, you’re in luck. EJA is having another drawing on the Autumn Solstice!! All you need to do is visit: http://EEJA.org and sign up for our mailing list.