Gemstones

Garnet is well-known as a red gemstone, but it can have many colors of every hue, including fiery red, vibrant orange, and rare intense-green varieties.  Depending on the type, garnet ranges from Mohs hardness 6.5 to 7.5. Mohs hardness of 7 indicates a gem is hard enough for most fine handcrafted jewelry.

Amethyst is a variety of quartz. It is the gem type most commonly associated with purple colors. This purple color can be bluish or a reddish-purple called crimson, one of the most popular gemstones used in making jewelry.  Mohs hardness: 7 indicates a gem is hard enough for everyday designer jewelry.

Aquamarine belongs to the beryl family is blue to slightly greenish-blue hues of seawater. March birthstone, Aquamarine is also the jewel of the 19th wedding anniversary.  Mohs Hardness: 7.5 to 8.0 make this an excellent jewelry stone for all wearable art jewelry.

Diamonds are the most valuable of all precious stones. They are incredibly ancient, dating back over a billion years, formed deep within the earth. Additionally, diamonds mark the 60th and 75th wedding anniversaries.  Mohs Hardness: 10 The hardest known mineral makes it suitable for jewelry fine art.

Emeralds are green or bluish-green varieties of the mineral beryl, a mineral family that includes Aquamarine. A favorite gem in Art nouveau jewelry. Mohs hardness: 7.5–8, A harder gem perfectly suited for fine arts jewelry applications that see abrasions, such as bracelets and rings. 

Alexandrite is a scarce color-change variety of the mineral chrysoberyl. Originally discovered in Russia's Ural Mountains 100 years ago, it is now found in Sri Lanka, East Africa, and Brazil.  Mohs hardness: 8.5, Alexandrite a hard gem, makes it ideal for all jewelry as art applications, from necklace to rings that see a lot of wear and tear.  

Rubies are renowned for their deep red color and durability. Ruby is a variety of corundum and is classified as a precious stone.  Mohs hardness: 9; Ruby's hardness makes it ideal for all contemporary fine jewelry applications, especially for daily-wearing jewelry such as belt buckles, cufflinks, artistic necklaces, and rings.

Peridot minerals are often found as nodules in volcanic rock or crystals inside meteorites.  Mohs hardness 6.5 to 7.5. Mohs hardness of 7 indicates a gem is hard enough for most jewelry purposes. However, 6.5 is more sensitive to degradation in fine jewelry items such as handcrafted rings.

With its hardness, durability, and natural range of transparent colors, spinel is an excellent stone for jewelry.  Spinel is a hard gemstone, Mohs hardness of 7.5–8. It is suitable for handmade art jewelry prone to abrasions, such as belt buckles, cufflinks, bracelets, anklets, and rings.

Sapphires are precious gemstones. With a wide range of colors and hardness, sapphire is one of the most popular gemstones.  It has a Mohs hardness of 9, making it suitable for all jewelry by artists.

Tourmalines have the broadest color ranges of any gem variety. It comes in many colors, including the pink picture here. Mohs hardness: 7–7.5; a hardness indicating this gem is ideal for typical art jewelrer applications

Aside from its attractive color, citrine also shares durability with most other quartzes, making it a popular alternative to topaz and yellow sapphire. The finest citrine is a saturated yellow to orange.  Mohs hardness: 7, indicates the gemstone is hard enough to be used in most artistic fine jewelry.