Dry Gulch Weekly Pick ~ Amazonite Stones

Welcome to the Dry Gulch Weekly Pick!  Each week, the gals at Dry Gulch Beads & Jewelry feature a bead or component or color of the week, and this time we're showcasing the very beautiful stone Amazonite.  We'd love to see what YOU have created with Amazonite, let us know in the comments!

Amazonite is a gorgeous and classic stone that has been used in jewelry since ancient times.  A form of feldspar (a common mineral within the Earth's crust), Amazonite is a brilliant blue-green opaque stone that is also relatively soft, which makes it perfect for beadwork and carvings.  In the country of Jordan, archeologists discovered over 2,000 pieces of Amazonite jewelry dating from ancient times!


The word Amazonite is actually relatively knew, a mineralogist in the 1840s renamed the stone from its original title Microline.  It is believed he derived the name from the beautiful colors of the Amazon River and jungles in South America, however, there are no known mines of the stone in the Amazon.  Today, Amazonite is mostly found in Russia, Myanmar, India, Brazil and the USA.

    

There are several varieties of Amazonite, including Russian Amazonite which features a deeper green color with zebra-like white striping, and Flower Amazonite, which features earthy colors like black, rust and cream mixed with the blue-green colors.  Flower Amazonite is a variety of Amazonite mixed with minerals like black Tourmaline, white Albite, metallic Pyrite (rarely!) and other minerals.  It is technically considered a lower grade of traditional Amazonite, but the range of earthy colors paired with the lovely sky blues really make this variety a true show-stopper.  Other trade names for this stone are Rainbow Amazonite, Black Cloudy Amazonite and Black Gold Amazonite; it is usually mined in Africa.

    

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