The Diamond Necklace

As dignified as the name sounds, this necklace is an ornament which can be passed down through many generations as a family legacy. Hand-crafted as per your preference, this remarkable diamond necklace design stars brilliant cut diamonds in a contemporary indo-western pattern. Modern and elegant in every way, this unique composition gives the illusion of a series of intricate leaf-design motifs, making this necklace legendary enough to mark a statement on its own. Pair this masterpiece with our art deco diamond studs to add more sparkle to your evening.

View Our Necklace Collection: Necklace | Pearl Necklace | Ruby Necklace | Diamond Necklace

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The royal ruby is a magnificent pink to blood-red colored gemstone composed of the mineral corundum (aluminum oxide). The red color is caused mainly by the presence of chromium. Ruby gets its name from ruber, which is Latin for red. Rubies have a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Among the natural gems only moissanite and diamond are harder. All natural rubies have imperfections in them, including color impurities and inclusions of rutile needles known as silk. Gemologists use these needle inclusions found in natural rubies to distinguish them from synthetics, simulants, or substitutes. Some rubies show a three-point or six-point star. These rubies are cut into cabochons to display the effect. Furthermore, rubies can show color changes (though this occurs very rarely) as well as chatoyancy or the cat’s eye effect.

The color of a Ruby is the most important feature of the gemstone. Rubies are available in a range of red hues from purplish and bluish red to orange-red. The brightest and most valuable color of Ruby is often that of the Burmese Ruby – a rich, passionate, hot, full red color with a slight blue hue. This color is often referred to as “pigeon blood” red, a Ruby color only associated with the Mogok Valley mines in Myanmar. The color Pigeon Blood Ruby red is not the color of a pigeon’s blood but rather the color of a white pigeon’s eye.
Clarity follows color in the grading of a ruby. Like diamonds, a clear stone will command a premium, but a ruby without any needle-like rutile inclusions may indicate that the stone has been treated. Most, if not all, rubies at the lower end of the market are treated with heat to improve color, remove purple tinge and blue patches. Lead glass filling, where fractures inside the ruby are filled with lead glass (or a similar material), dramatically improving the transparency of the stone, has also gained popularity in recent years.

The Mogok Valley in Upper Myanmar (Burma) was, for centuries, the world’s main source for rubies. The region has produced some of the finest rubies ever mined, but in recent years Mong Hsu has been producing Rubies and has become the world’s main ruby mining area. The most recently found ruby deposit in Myanmar is in Namya (Namyazeik) located in the northern state of Kachin. Rubies have historically been mined in Thailand, the Pailin and Samlout District of Cambodia, Burma, India, Afghanistan, Australia, Namibia, Colombia, Japan, Scotland, Brazil and in Pakistan. In Sri Lanka, lighter shades of rubies (often “pink sapphires”) are more commonly found. After the Second World War ruby deposits were found in Tanzania, Madagascar, Vietnam, Nepal, Tajikistan, and Pakistan. A few rubies have been found in the U.S. states of Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wyoming.

 Ruby Studded 18K Gold Jhumki

The moon and the emotional sign of Cancer rule those born in July. They are strongly affected by the Moon’s fluctuations and family always plays an important role in their lives. They are the caretakers of the Zodiac and are distinctively gifted with real estate and food. Lunar children have a solid sense of organization and are perfectionists. With Ruby as their birthstones, these emotional, yet exceptionally gifted individuals can soar heights hitherto thought unreachable.

Ruby is an earth stone, a perfect complement to the vagaries of the waxing and the waning moon that controls those born in July. It energizes and activates the mental and emotional body, enhances self-confidence and passion for life. It is a protective heart stone that eliminates feelings of hopelessness and defeat. Ruby provides the wearer with the energies of optimism and determination. It is a stone for courage, helping ease anxiety as it brings adventure and opportunities into life.

In Western lore, Royals such as Queen Elizabeth of England and Queen Mary of Scots wore rubies as a tool for protection. It was believed that rubies would darken (dim) if they were in danger. During Elizabeth’s claim to the throne and reign over England she had many assassination threats from groups; Queen Elizabeth’s own cousin Mary wanted her dead. This is a primary reason rubies are found on the crowns of Royals. Ancient warriors wore rubies to make them invincible in battle. Rubies were the most desired gems of European royalty and the upper classes, medieval Europeans wore rubies to obtain good protection, wealth, wisdom, and success.

In the occidental world, Ruby, or Manik, represents the Sun, again a counter for the moon. Apart from being the most significant luminary of the celestial world, the Sun represents the father or the king and signifies authority. The Ruby symbolizes love, passion, courage, and emotion. It is said to give name, fame, virtue, vigor, warmth and commanding power to its user. It also enhances the status of a person. It also helps to cure peptic ulcer, fever, rheumatism, and gout.

Find your fire and soul at Gehna, with our exquisite Ruby jewelry, with and without other precious stones. Wear a Ruby set in prongs or a bezel close to your heart in a customized pendant, or as a ring on your ring finger to harness the stability of the Earth and the power of the Sun. Astrological impetus apart, on its own, the Ruby is quiet irresistible. So maybe we can interest you anyway in ruby jhumkis, necklaces, bangles, or anything else your heart may fancy. After all, the ruby does represent your heart…

If you enjoyed this article, you may also be interested in reading about The Pearl and Moonstone!

View our Ruby Jewellery Collection: Ruby Bracelet | Ruby Jewellery |Ruby Nosepin | Ruby Earrings| Ruby Necklace

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What counsel has the hooded moon
Put in thy heart, my shyly sweet,
Of Love in ancient plenilune,
Glory and stars beneath his feet
A sage that is but kith and kin
With the comedian Capuchin?

Believe me rather that am wise
In disregard of the divine,
A glory kindles in those eyes
Trembles to starlight. Mine, O Mine!
No more be tears in moon or mist
For thee, sweet sentimentalist.

-James Joyce

Pearl

Those born in June are sociable, humourous, and talkative. Born under the zodiac Gemini, June borns often exhibit childlike traits and are cheerful, restless, and full of life. They are very intelligent and are extremely inquisitive in nature. And just as a child is both soothed and intrigued by the silvery hues of the moon, the moon like pearl and moonstone are the birthstones of these candid, trusting individuals.

Pearl Necklace with Emerald Bead

According to South Asian mythology, pearls were dewdrops from heaven that fell into the sea, caught by shellfish under the first rays of the rising sun, during a period of full moon. A tale of childlike innocence, wonder, and magic for the childlike June born!

Unlike most gemstones of mineral origin that are found within the Earth, pearls have an organic origin. Pearls are made mostly of aragonite, a relatively soft carbonate mineral (CaCO3) that also makes up the shells of mollusks. They are created inside the shells of certain species of oysters and clams when an irritant such as a very small fragment of rock, a sand grain, or a parasite enters the mollusk’s shell. It irritates the oyster or clam, much like a dust particle would irritate our eyes, and the mollusk responds by coating the foreign material with layer upon layer of shell material. Pearls formed on the inside of the shell are usually irregular in shape and have little commercial value. However, those formed within the tissue of the mollusk are either spherical or pear-shaped, and are in high demand for jewellery. Many pearls today are cultured in oyster farms that sustain a thriving pearl industry.

Pearls possess a uniquely delicate translucence and luster that place them among the most highly valued of gemstones. The colour of the pearl depends on the species of mollusk that produced it, and its environment. White is perhaps the best-known and most common colour. However, pearls also come in delicate shades of black, cream, gray, blue, yellow, lavender, green, and mauve. Black pearls can be found in the Gulf of Mexico and waters off some islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Persian Gulf and Sri Lanka are well-known for exquisite cream-coloured pearls called Orientals. The journey a pearl goes through to create a piece of jewellery is a miraculous event. Gemstones must be cut and polished to bring out their beauty, but pearls need no such treatment to reveal their loveliness.

Elegant Black Pearl String Necklace

925 Sterling Silver Jhumka Earrings

Pearls were used in medicine as early as 2000 BC in China, where they were believed to represent wealth, power, and longevity. In Europe, pearls were used in medicine till as recently as the 17th century. Arabs and Persians believed it was a cure for various kinds of diseases, including insanity. Even to this day, lowest-grade pearls are ground for use as medicine in Asia. In India, warriors encrusted their swords with pearls to symbolize the tears and sorrow that a sword brings. According to Vedic Astrology, Moon reflects the human mind and has a profound impact on our thinking. Pearls maintain the stability of the mind and improve confidence.

Moonstone

June’s second birthstone is the moonstone. This gemstone belongs to the family of minerals called feldspars, an important group of silicate minerals commonly formed in rocks. Feldspar occurs in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Feldspars of gem quality are aluminosilicates (minerals containing aluminum, silicon and oxygen), that are mixed with sodium and potassium. The best moonstones are from Sri Lanka. They are also found in the Alps, Madagascar, Myanmar (Burma), and India.

Moonstones are believed to be named for the bluish white spots within them, that when held up to light project a silvery play of colour much like moonlight. When the stone is moved back and forth, the brilliant silvery rays appear to move about, like moonbeams playing over water.

The ancient Romans believed that the moonstone changed in appearance with the phases of the moon, a belief that persisted until the sixteenth century. They also believed that the image of Diana, Goddess of the moon, was enclosed within the stone. Moonstones were believed to have the power to bring victory, health, and wisdom to those who wore it.

In India, the moonstone is considered a sacred stone and is often displayed on a yellow cloth – yellow being considered a sacred colour. The stone is believed to bring good fortune, aided by a spirit that lives within the stone. Moonstone helps to soothe and balance emotions. It assists in achieving a balance between heart and mind effectively.

In the Eastern cultures, Moonstone was also the gemstone of LOVE. They believed that wearing or carrying a moonstone would bring new love. Moonstone fosters happiness, gracefulness, good fortune, hope, spiritual insight, easy childbirth, safe travel on water, new beginnings, abundance, and ancient wisdom.

Moonstone & Blue Sapphire 18K Stud Earrings

If you are a June born and would like to own a piece of the moon in exquisite jewellery, visit us at Gehna and talk to our design team on the fascinating ways you can wear pearls and moonstones. Customize your own unique masterpiece by highlighting the subtle luster of these gemstones with the occasional sparkle of the extremely well paired diamonds. And if you are not one born under the dreamy sheen of the moon, maybe we have tempted you enough to own some moonbeam anyway?

If you enjoyed reading our article on pearls, you might also be interested to have a look at our ‘Evergreen Emeralds’ article.

View our Pearl Jewellery Collection: Pearl Jewellery | Pearl Earrings | Pearl Jhumki | Pearl Pendants | Pearl Hook Earrings

The post The Gem Gossip- Pearl and Moonstone! appeared first on Gehna Blog.

Diamond Peacock 18K Gold Stud

Professional Handcrafted Jewelry – The process

Customization is what such jewelry like this is all about. After all, not everyone knows exactly what they’re looking for in a jewelry piece of this elevated beauty. Making handmade jewelry based on your personal preferences with of course the usual traditional touches going everywhere else, results in a piece that’s amazing indeed.

Personal attention is given to each piece. This means you and your specific customer details are taken into consideration on a deep level. You can distinctly feel the perfect balance and fluid drape of the necklace over the nape of your neck and shoulders. This is something Gehna is an expert at providing.

Your customized jewelry design journey involves a sit-down with a designer and a gemologist and figuring out what you want based on style, materials, budget, and so on. The designer then gives you an estimate of the overall piece. Once you’ve put down an advance of about 50% of this estimate, the overall piece and work begins in earnest.

The kind of labor involved is a simple staff of skilled artisans who bring their talents to bear on the project at hand. They work as a team to make these marvels. You might have heard of ‘labor love’, meaning the amount of concern, passion and work the artisans put into their creations. Not only do they take pride in what they do, their attention to detail imparts a human touch, which is something you won’t find going into machine made jewelry. It is quite outstanding to see the jewel shown to you in the ‘ghaat’ stage (this is without the gemstones added).

Gehna Workshop (1)

The artisans use draw plates to pull out gold wires or gold sheets, as the piece calls for, and form the required thickness during this time. They make good use of fine tools to cut and saw these metal sheets into the desired shape. This is the flexibility you are looking for and it’s possible in professional handcrafted jewelry.

Once the metal sheets are given form, the gold elements are next on the table. Placing them on wax, the artisans get to work shaping and designing. They also solder any metal involved to best effect.

After you’ve approved the ‘ghaat’ look of your jewelry piece and checked for size and fit, it’s back to the workshop where it’s inserted in a lac/wax setting and the gemstones are taken out for setting. Ultrasound is used to clean the dirt and other fine debris from the end product and that’s it.

As simple as it may sound, it’s actually quite tricky and requires immense amounts of hard work to produce a handcrafted piece of jewelry based on custom design.

Gehna Workshop (2)

Handcrafted Jewellery vs Machine Made Jewellery

Machine made or ‘cast’ jewelry is very high end and as such makes it possible to remove air bubbles (porosity), enhance color and use alloys to reduce melting point and so on. Certainly there is a differences between handcrafted and machine made jewelry.

As hinted in the earlier section, personal attention is something that can’t be gotten through machine made jewelry. You can’t really expect the exact customized design in machine made pieces, because cast jewelry requires the use of specific molds and particular machine settings. These don’t really permit freedom with creating designer patterns and shapes. To put it simply, machine made jewellery cannot be customised to the same perfection professional handcrafted jewelry can.

Diamond Stud Earrings

Another reason why handcrafted jewelry is more flexible is that it gets you to be part of the process. You can’t really go into the manufacturing plant itself to see how machine made jewelry is coming about.This brings us to the next question…

Handcrafted Jewellery – The preferred option

Aside from the immense popularity it’s enjoying, handcrafted jewelry allows you the chance to play with your imagination, choose varied designs and do so in a short period of time. You are involved in the process and the value you pay for these pieces is justified.

Handcrafted jewelry making is much more environment friendly. It doesn’t rely on unnecessary fuel and such like in the creation stage and makes it easier to recycle scraps and work with all the material available on the table instead of throwing a bunch into a machine and letting it take care of the rest.

At Gehna, for instance, you’ll find each jewelry piece they work with is one of a kind. Unlike general jewellery stores where multiple pieces of the same design are available, Gehna does not replicate any of its designs. You can therefore expect that singular unique touch with professional handcrafted jewelry. Yours will be the only piece of that design in the whole world.

Filigree 18K Gold Jhumki

Yes, handmade jewelry often takes a long time from phase one of the creation process to the finish line. Once you see the end result, though, you’ll agree the wait was well worth it. You certainly understand that there are immense amounts of effort and sheer craftsmanship and quality going into your one of a kind jewelry piece. Compared to this fact, the waiting period becomes quite brief.

By buying professional handmade jewellery, you support the valuable craft and tradition behind this artform that often traces its roots back centuries. The present-day process of handcrafted jewelry helps preserve these traditions and the cultures they come from.

Whatever the reason you choose handcrafted jewelry, it’s fast becoming the next big trend in the world of beauty and fashion; your investment will be worth it.The true value of handcrafted jewelry rests in the simple beauty and ultimate perfection that goes behind its design.

View Our Jewellery Collection: Stacking Rings | Necklaces | Jhumki | Pendants | Nosepins | Earrings

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Moghul Inspired Emerald Jhumki

If you’ve found yourself lost for words when it came to describing styles in fashion, specifically in jewellery, here’s where you could get acquainted with style terminology and what they really mean…All it takes is a few key observations!

‘Classic’…

Would transcend generations
Does not have distinct motifs
Highlights the material, not the subject/motif

‘Period’…

Is from a certain period in the art history, viz, Nouveau, Edwardian, Victorian, Byzantine, Baroque, and Rococo.
Have distinct elements with reference to materials used, gemstone setting styles, motifs and treatments for each period.

‘Contemporary’…

Reflects new interpretations of old ideas
Is off-beat
Breaks conventional norms

‘Artistic’…

That glorifies freedom of expression
May not necessarily incorporate precious materials
Is not replicated very easily

‘Mongrel’…

That does not have an distinctive identity / design philosophy

Now, the fun part is where we actually do a bit of this and a bit of that, and come up with styles that are fresh and suit your personality, since nobody wants what has already been done. So, we could have a contemporary-classic, or a period-inspired contemporary piece of work!

At Gehna we love creating new designs with gold, silver, diamond, ruby, emerald etc that suit your taste & style. So hope you enjoyed this tidbit of information

Happy styling!!!

View Our Jewellery Collection: Stacking Rings | Necklaces | Jhumki | Pendants | Nosepins | Earrings

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