Pearls Before Swine » ring

Golden ring with Rutilated Rock Crystal

Els Van Schoor — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 18:45:20 +0000

It’s very dangerous to take your wife to the precious stone wholesaler’s. I think, this must have been the conclusion my husband made when he left this store whith me, smiling because of our rock crystal catch, by his side. I joined him because of pure curiosity and started browsing the hundreds of translucent rectangular little boxes padded with white little matrasses in which all these gems and precious stones rested. To me, it had the atmosphere of a magical nursery. Long story short: I went crazy. The craze was completely on, when I discovered this rock crystal stone with inclusions of Rutile. The resemblance with blonde cut-off hair inside the transpant stone simply drove me out of my mind.

Rutile is the most common form of titanium dioxide and well known for its habit of forming needle-like inclusions within other minerals, especially Quartz, in the form of long and slender yellow straw-like crystals. These inclusions can range from scattered needles to dense parallel fibers within a host mineral. A well-known form of Rutile is in the form of dense golden-yellow needles of Quartz included within transparent, colorless Quartz. This interesting combination is known as Rutilated Quartz, and is used both as a collectors mineral and gemstone. The name Rutile is derived from the Latin “Rutilus”, in reference to a common color habit of this mineral.

Pieter designed a graphic golden ring to make this stone radiate. Subtle, though, because of its size, quite a statement.

Golden Nails

Els Van Schoor — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 17:36:36 +0000

Done by Gabriella Cambula at Nail Couture 43. I was looking for a match with my new golden ring with lapis lazuli stone. The ring is made and given to me by my husband, Pieter Nulens, for our 4th wedding anniversary and our being together for 7 years. Lapis is a deep blue semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. This oval cut stone is mottled with brassy pyrite, which gives the impression of a subtle golden glitter veil. It was this golden glitter that inspired me to ask for a yellow golden ring to sustain it. Hence the golden nails. The shape of the nails is specified as “squoval”, its an horrible term, but inescapably correct.

Picture by Cristina de la Madera.

Bouquet ring

Els Van Schoor — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 15:34:53 +0000

I got this ring, made by my husband Pieter Nulens, from my mum and dad for my 30th birthday. For me, this was a very special occasion, a milestone in my life. It seemed at that point like everything fell into place. I got married the year before, our daughter Lili was born a month before, and there I was, thirty and being settled and all. I suddenly felt like a lady, the missus, with a giant ring around my finger.

This is a 18K palladium white golden ring, with tourmaline, sapphires and brown diamonds. On the underside, there are 4 hearts forming the structure in whitch the gems are placed.