I cannot believe it is July already!
Which means it is time to have a look at July's birthstone, Ruby.
Ruby is a gemstone which is pink to dark red in colour. The name ruby comes from "ruber" the Latin word for red. It is a variety of the mineral corundum, its chemical formula is Al2O3:CR Aluminium oxide with chromium. It has a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, only moissanite and diamond are harder.
Rubies occur in metamorphised crystalline limestones and dolomites and other metamorphic rock types such as gneiss and schist along with igneous rocks such as granite and nepheline syenite. Historically rubies have been mined in many parts of Asia including, Myanmar, Thailand, Ceylon Cambodia, Japan and Nepal. They have also been mined in Australia, Brazil, Columbia ,Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Scotland.
In mainland Europe rubies are rare, only occurring in Macedonia, these rubies have a unique raspberry colour and a few rubies have been found in the USA states of North and South Carolina along with Montana and Wyoming.
Considered the King of gems the Ruby is thought by some to be a stone of divine creativity which can increase your vitality, boosting your energy levels and also promotes high self esteem and confidence, intuition and spiritual wisdom.
It is the symbol of passion, good fortune, pure love, loyalty, energy and success.
There is no denying rubies are stunning stones, and high quality stones are much sought after. the lower quality stones can also be appreciated and are often used for carving and making into beads. I have used a selection of small ruby beads in these unique wire crocheted earrings, the rubies surround a small glass pearl by Swarovski. they are the only ruby beads I have and so once the earrings sell I will not be able to make more.
