  Click on the official logo to the Festival site. The Taos Lilac Festival is a community event held each year during the two weeks between Mother’s Day and Memorial Day to celebrate the arrival of blooming lilacs throughout the Taos area. This year the festival will be held virtually due to the pandemic. But not to worry, there will be plenty of enjoyment to be had with lilac themed window decorations and a walking tour map showing locations of lilacs. The maps can be obtained at local downtown businesses. At Touchstone Gallery our 'natural art experts' have had tons of fun decorating the gallery for the joyous event welcoming in Spring. They will be there to answer your questions and to introduce you to some of the most fascinating natural art ever created by "Mother Nature". We are fully stocked with many more new items including amethyst, the star of this year's event as we have many wonderful affordably priced amethyst in jewelry, geode hearts, cathedrals, amethyst portals, wings and an array of amazing crystals. We also have many new fossils, natural home décor items, and minerals. We invite you to stop by the gallery and to take a walk around the plaza to view the window displays all the while taking in the intoxicating perfume of lilacs. Yay, Spring!  ENTERMay's Birthstone: Emerald Emerald polished on metal stand 16# with stand Mineral measures 9 x 7 x 5” 11” tall on stand Do you have someone in mind who has a May birthday or a twentieth and thirty-fifth wedding anniversary? Why not present them with a lovely emerald specimen from Touchstone Gallery? Emerald is a type of beryl with Chromium, vanadium, and iron are the trace elements that cause emerald’s color. The presence or absence of each and their relative amounts determine the exact color of an emerald crystal.  Emeralds specimens offered byTouchstone Gallery Emerald Jewelry offered by Touchstone Gallery
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 Touchstone Gallery for the month of April is offering a fun to wear line of Herkimer Diamonds. Herkimer is not a diamond but gets the name from its locality in Herkimer County, NY. It is a quartz with 7.5 on the hardness scale. The really special thing about this stone is that it is double terminated, in the metaphysical world double terminated crystals with its pure, crystal light, clears the chakras, opening channels for spiritual energy to flow. The double terminated quartz also lends itself to making beautiful settings with a point at the bail end and the drop. Our customers really love the BoHo look of this line of jewelry with its casual style that can be dressed up or down.  Herkimer Diamond Earrings and Pendant shown on a lovely crystal necklace. Notice the double termination of the crystals.  Blue Topaz combination with Herkimer Diamond Earrings Shown on our Selenite Cleansing Plate. Care: Although as before mentioned Herkimer Diamonds are a durable stone, it is advised to take your jewelry off when doing things like gardening or other physical activities that might knock against the settings. A gentle cleaning with a soft brush and a mild soap or glass cleaner is all you need to keep your crystals sparkling and your chakras humming. OMM. Namaste! To find out more about Herkimer Diamonds we encourage you to speak with one of our natural art experts. We invite you to see this line of jewelry either for yourself or as a unique and affordable gift. Taos, Sedona, Santa Fe  Aquamarine necklace featuring freshwater pearls, blue topaz and rainbow moonstone. Aquamarine, even the name conjures up the mystery of the gemstone that ancient mariners believed would protect them at sea and bring calm waters. The beauty of this gemstone is the green-blue to blue variety of the mineral beryl, usually a clear gem with no inclusions. The crystal formation is hexagonal and can grow into large crystals big enough to cut into jewelry. Origins: Brazil: The most abundant source for Aquamarine is from Brazil, in the state of Minas-Gerais, where it is found in pegmatites. Siberia: First documented discovery in 1723 where abundant sources were mined. The most being in 1796. More than seventy kilograms of gem-quality aquamarine was mined that year. United States: Early in the 20th century Individuals could hike the mountains and find fragments on the ground without digging. Colorado had an abundant source of deposits at one time but with mining and tourism, not so much. California has some small veins that don't produce high yields and now have become tourist attractions where one can go and see old mine camps and play prospector for a day.
 Tri - row Aquamarine bracelet featuring various shaped cabochons. We invite you to visit one of our three locations to see our collections of aquamarine jewelry.
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Prasiolite and Green Amethyst |
Prasiolite is a yellow - green variety of quartz. It is a heat treated amethyst that turns from purple to green. It can be heated in a laboratory oven or it can also be found naturally in rock bearing amethyst next to younger lava flows. When quartz containing iron impurities is heated by lava and turns to purple. Then, at a later time that lava flow is covered by another younger lava flow that heats up the amethyst and turns it to natural prasiolite.
* "Green amethyst" is a misnomer (an incorrect name) that some people use for prasiolite. Amethyst, by definition, is a purple variety of quartz. That makes "green amethyst" an incorrect name, just as "yellow emerald" and "red emerald" are misnomers for "heliodor" and "red beryl," respectively.
Read more on * Geology.com
Care of prasiolite and amethyst: Prasiolite and amethyst should be stored in darkness and not exposed to strong sunlight or some types of artificial light over long periods of time, as it can fade. Which makes sense when you think of how it was created.
Amethyst Stalactite Slices when cut crosswise used to make a piece of jewelry. Pictured right: On a geode you may see a what we call a "rose". When we see this on a polished geode it is a an added bonus!
New Item: "Portals" Were these portals cut from once large stalactites? Or were they crosscuts from geodes? Imagine the size that they must have started out as? Touchstone offers these vertical presentations of large amethyst slices on stands. They make for very attractive décor items. Notice that the centers are hollow with wonderful toothy crystals forming around the void.
amethyst portals and an amethyst bowl
What makes visiting TSG special:
Every year it never ceases to amaze me, that upon a new shipment it's like Christmas, seeing all of the wonderful products as they are unpacked from large crates. Be it tiny geodes on stands, tea candle holders, amethyst slices on stands that spin, accent tables, bonsai trees, bookends - its endless. touchstone is always seeking out the most unusual and fascinating to be newly discovered by you, the customer. Not to mention jewelry too! I implore you to keep visiting one of our three galleries located in Sedona, Santa Fe and Taos to be continually amazed and to find your own "treasure".
Every year it never ceases to amaze me, that upon a new shipment it's like Christmas, seeing all of the wonderful products as they are unpacked from large crates. Be it tiny geodes on stands, tea candle holders, amethyst slices on stands that spin, accent tables, bonsai trees, bookends - its endless. touchstone is always seeking out the most unusual and fascinating to be newly discovered by you, the customer. Not to mention jewelry too! I implore you to keep visiting one of our three galleries located in Sedona, Santa Fe and Taos to be continually amazed and to find your own "treasure".
Although you may think of garnets as a red gemstone they also come in so many more colors depending on what elements influence it. Garnets are made of several closely related minerals and come in many variations. They are divided into two subgroups groups, those containing aluminum and those containing calcium.
 New Offering Raspberry Garnet Specimen |  Detail of Grossular Rspberry Garnet from Mexico |
Garnet Firefly Pendant shown with three stone garnet earrings. Background shows garnet in the matrix.
Garnet Names that you may see in our jewelry descriptions:
Spessartite garnet is an orange to red gemstone. This type of Garnet contains aluminum as the second element.
Hessonite (Grossular Group) Garnet Due to its orange-brown color, as well as its historic connection to the spice-producing country of Sri Lanka, this garnet is also known as “cinnamon stone.”
Tsavorite (Grossular Group) is an emerald green variety of garnet, discovered in Africa along the Kenya border in 1967 and then marketed by Tiffany and CO. in 1974. It is the most expensive form of garnet due to its rarity.
Uvarovite (Grossular Group) is a green garnet that usually occurs as crystals too small to cut. It is sometimes set as clusters in jewelry. It is a rich bright green color as seen in the pendant.
Perhaps surprise your January birthday loved one with a colorful garnet that is unexpected in green uvarovite?
Raspberry Garnet (Grossular Group) New for touchstone gallery.
How to tell garnet from ruby? Have you ever wondered how to tell the two red gemstones apart? Red garnets can have hints of orange or pink while rubies are vivid red with occasional purple or blue secondary hues. Hold a garnet in front of a light until you can spot its spectrum reflected in the stone. If you see two rainbows with no yellow or green bands, you're likely looking at a ruby. Rubies are more rare of the two gemstones due to the way they are formed without any influence of silica which is the most abundant mineral on earth.
Uravorite Garnet Necklace
 Rare Example of Tsavorite garnet in this pendant. Notice the tiny crystals that make up the gemstone. |  Multi faceted Garnet necklace/earrings fit for a Princess! |
Blue Topaz Bracelet in the natural gemstone pictured with a Blue Topaz Pendant with White Druzy
 Pear Shaped Blue Topaz Pendant with Faceted Blue Topaz Bracelet |  |  Blue Topaz with Blue Druzy Pendant |
The birthstone for December is blue topaz and turquoise. Below are a few examples to show how many choices you have when choosing December's birthstone, you can go sparkly or earth tones and rustic.
Topaz is a hard gemstone and lends itself to the many faceted shapes that it can be cut into and is also a very durable stone. It is very similar in appearance to quartz and can be difficult to tell them apart. Natural Topaz starts out as red but then is heated to become the various shades of blue colors like London Blue, Swiss Blue and Sky Blue.
Our turquoise jewelry is fashioned from stones sourced from various countries; Ethiopian, Mexican, Tibetan, and from the Sleeping Beauty mine, in Arizona.
The history of turquoise can be traced back to the Indigenous people of the Southwest who used it in jewelry making. It was found in copper mines as a by-product in Southern parts of New Mexico but was not as valued as it is today. It became popular after Tiffany marketed and trademarked the Tiffany Blue color and the now famous Tiffany Blue Box in the late 19th century. Most of the mines have long since closed and most turquoise is sourced from other countries, touchstone has a limited amount of turquoise sold in small specimens from the Tyrone Mine. We encourage you to visit our galleries to pick out a piece of this limited specimen.
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Copper and Turquoise Bracelet with Greened Amethyst
As we come into Fall we tend to go warmer with our color palette. This is why citrine is the color that we love in our gemstone jewelry at this time of year. This month Susan's pick of the month is this stunning Princess Style Necklace multi-stone that gracefully drapes to the neckline. Each gemstone is individually set in sterling silver to create movement.
Citrine is mined in small amounts but is usually a heated amethyst or smoky quartz. Its colors range from a warm whiskey to a butterscotch to almost a reddish hue to brown. Citrine is mined in Brazil almost exclusively. Pictured are but a few of our offerings at touchstone in a range of price points.
V-Neck Brilliant Citrine Gemstones in Multi Faceted Shapes.
Citrine faceted teardrop earrings
Double Row Citrine Bracelet in Multi Shape faceted gems
Sapphire is a precious gemstone that shares the same mineral properties as ruby. They are both a corundum, consisting of aluminum oxide (α-Al2O3) with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. However, Ruby, the mysterious gemstone that I wrote about in July's blog, does not have the influence of silica and so it is a highly prized red gemstone. Silica being the most abundant mineral on earth for some unknown reason did not come in contact with the other minerals casing the ruby to then become a sapphire.
Sapphires are typically blue, but can also be in fancy colors like purple, pink, yellow, orange and green. Some even have two colors and called "Parti" sapphires.
Susan's Pick of the Month is this stunning sapphire necklace in multi colors. This necklace is light and airy to wear in our transitional warm to cooler weather. Its like a party in a necklace with all of its fun colors. Watermelon "jelly bean" shaped tourmalines are the gemstones that play with light against the colorful sapphires.
Touchstone has sapphire jewelry in bracelets, rings and faceted beaded necklaces.
We invite you to visit us on the web by clicking on the picture or in one of our store locations:
Sedona, Taos and Santa Fe.
Sapphires are typically blue, but can also be in fancy colors like purple, pink, yellow, orange and green. Some even have two colors and called "Parti" sapphires.
Susan's Pick of the Month is this stunning sapphire necklace in multi colors. This necklace is light and airy to wear in our transitional warm to cooler weather. Its like a party in a necklace with all of its fun colors. Watermelon "jelly bean" shaped tourmalines are the gemstones that play with light against the colorful sapphires.
Touchstone has sapphire jewelry in bracelets, rings and faceted beaded necklaces.
We invite you to visit us on the web by clicking on the picture or in one of our store locations:
Sedona, Taos and Santa Fe.
Sapphire Multi Faceted Princess Style Necklace
Sapphire Multi color Bracelet
Sapphire Bracelet in Multi color faceted shapes along with Pink Sapphire Earrings in lovely faceted shapes.
touchstone
Learn more about minerals & fossils.
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