September’s Birthstone: Sapphire

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September’s Birthstone – Sapphire

The sapphire is the birthstone for the month of September. The name sapphire is derived from the Latin word ‘saphirus’ and the Greek word ‘sapheiros,’ both meaning blue. It is believed to have a special power to protect those born in this month. The sapphire is popularly worn as a birthstone in a pendant, earrings or a right-hand ring.

Sapphires come from the mineral corundum, which is a crystallized form of aluminium oxide which forms in crystalline rocks. It’s this mix of minerals that work together over thousands of years to create beautiful and rare gemstones like the sapphire. Corundum is an extremely hard and durable substance just about as hard as a diamond. It also doesn’t scratch easily. They score a 9 out of 10 on the Mohs’ scale of mineral hardness, second only to diamonds.

Besides blue sapphire and ruby, the corundum family also includes “fancy sapphires.” They come in green, yellow, orange, pink and purple. Sapphires can even be gray, black, or brown.

The gem is second in popularity and value only to the diamond. Because of its value, it is often set in real Gold. The value of a sapphire has a lot to do with its color, with deep, vivid royal blue sapphires being the most valuable.

Known as the wisdom stone, each colour of Sapphire brings its own particular wisdom.  It releases mental tension, depression, unwanted thoughts and spiritual confusion.  Sapphire restores balance within the body, aligning the physical, mental and spiritual, bringing serenity and peace of mind.  It stimulates concentration, brings lightness, and joy.  It is known as a stone of prosperity, attracting gifts and fulfilling dreams and desires.

Sapphire is associated with royalty and is often paired with diamond within an engagement ring as it is a stone of commitment and fidelity. Traditionally, sapphire is given as a gift for the 5th or 45th anniversary.

Here are our Sapphire picks this September:

The Design Process

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Our design process begins as an idea and is brought to life by hand though a number of intricate processes.   We use the ancient technique of Lost Wax Casting.

First we create our original design or model by hand in silver or through carving a wax model.  Many of our latest designs are done on CAD and printed using 3D technology.  A rubber or latex mold is then made of the original model. For every piece in our collection wax is then injected into the mold and then removed.  The wax replica is assembled into a little tree ready for casting. This is then delicately invested in a flask of silica. Very hot silver in liquid form is poured into the tree and fills all the branches as it melts the wax away. What is left is raw silver casting which looks like the original model but needs extensive cleaning and polishing by hand to create a beautiful shiny finish. 

We then delicately add stones or beadwork as well as Gold and Rose Gold plate the jewellery to create our many unique designs.

June Birthstone: Pearl

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Our featured birthstone for the month of June is Pearl. June also has two other birthstones – Moonstone and Alexandrite.

The Pearl is a precious and classic birthstone, which originates from oceans, lakes and rivers around the world. Pearls are very special and they have been wildly popular in jewellery for centuries because of their natural, timeless beauty.

Pearls are unique among gemstones because they don’t originate from within the Earth but from the sea. They require no special cutting or polishing to maximise their lustrous beauty, which has been treasured since ancient times and ensures that Pearl jewellery, is always in style.

Pearls are organic gems that can be found inside the tissue of living saltwater or freshwater molluscs.

Pearls have long been associated with purity, humility and innocence. These gems suggest chastity, modesty, and stable marriages and relationships. They have been symbols of purity for centuries.

Therefore, Pearls were traditionally given as a wedding gift. It has also been said that Pearls bestow long life and prosperity and are worn to calm a restless mind and to control anger.

Below are some of our Pearl favourites, which make ideal birthday gifts for your loved ones in June, or sentimental wedding gifts. They are available on-line and in store:

Seed Pearl Choker

5 Pearl Hanging Necklace

Clam Shell with Pearl Necklace

Spirit Stone Necklace – Pearl

Charlotte Bracelet – Seed Pearl

Pearl Hoop Earrings

Raindrop and Pearl Earrings

The Key to a Lockdown Mother’s Day

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Mother’s Day is an annual reminder to cherish the relationship you have with your Mom. Given this year’s unusual circumstances many of us are celebrating this at home, and away from the woman we love most dearly. The sentiment behind this special day is more meaningful than ever before.

If you’re still looking for that Mother’s Day gift, look no further – we’ve put together some ideas of Spirit Jewellery to help point you in the right direction to spoiling your Mom…

A great option is a Gift Card with your personal message – this is emailed directly to Mom allowing her to redeem the amount within the online shop, and choose that special something for herself at her leisure.

Gift Card

Our Dot Rings and Mini Gemstone Rings have been designed to be worn together as stacking rings. Our Dot Rings can later be engraved, so you can personalise this gift to your Mom with your initial or something to remind her of you. Although we don’t do this in-house, there are many engraving companies that can do this for you at an affordable cost.

Dot ring

Our dainty Mini Gemstone rings are available in the 12 birthstones – Garnet, Amethyst, Aquamarine, White Sapphire, Emerald, Moonstone, Ruby, Peridot, Blue Sapphire, Opal, Citrine, and Blue Topaz. These make thoughtful and sentimental gifts, using the birthstones of her children. Stack with an engraved Dot ring…

Mini Gemstone ring

Our Gemstone Disc and Nugget necklaces, in both sterling silver and gold plated sterling silver, are also available in the 12 birthstones.You can gift your Mother’s own birthstone, or layer the necklaces with one for each of her children…

We wish Moms, Mums, and Mamas the world over a very blessed Mother’s Day X

The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on small businesses

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The Corona Virus has had a devastating effect on small businesses around the globe. Due to the nationwide lockdown, we are forced to close. Without daily retail revenue, we face a crippling financial blow. The survival of a small business like us requires the support of a nation. We need your patronage now more than ever.

Here are some ways to support our small businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic:

  • Shop online – by making online purchases during this time, it adds to our cash flow. We may not be able to ship your order immediately, but it will be attended to as soon as lockdown ends and courier services resume.
  • If someone you know is celebrating their birthday during the lockdown period, a gift voucher is a great gift idea. We have recently made Gift Card products available in our online store. When purchased, they are sent to the recipient for them to use right away or at a later stage.

Gift Card

  • If you are financially unable to support a local business during this time you can help by following them on social media and leaving positive reviews online.

We support the South African Government’s decision to go into lockdown and are hopeful that, with the support of our loyal customers, our small business will survive these turbulent times.

Sentimental Pieces.

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When you become a parent, you’ll find that there are so many memories and special dates and details you long to hold onto. Imagine being able to look down at your hands and have the memories of your kids come rushing back through your mind and heart.

Perhaps you have a partner or friend that you want to keep close to you. Or the memories of somebody special you’ve lost.

Our Dot Ring and Mini Gemstone Rings give you the opportunity to do exactly that. We have designed our Dot Rings with the ability to be engraved. Although we don’t do this in-house, there are uncountable engraving companies that do this at such an affordable cost. This will enable you to add initials of your loved ones.


Our delicate Mini Gemstone Rings are available in Moonstone, Opal, Aquamarine,
Amethyst, Blue Topaz, Citrine, Garnet, White Sapphire, Blue Sapphire, Emerald and Peridot – (Please refer to our website to see size availability of various stones). This will allow for you to select the birthstone of your loved one. And you can choose to stack the above Dot Rings in amongst them.

We are also so excited about our new Gemstone Nugget Necklace, which is available in Gold & Silver. Either wear your own birthstone around your neck, or again, layer the necklaces, and have one for each of your children.

 

We are all about holding onto sentimental moments. Remembering those that we love, and keeping them close to us at all times.

Shop these products on-line now!

 

 

The Launch of The Bod Service Leaf Necklace – Q&A with Candibod.

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JUST LAUNCHED!

Help honour the world around us and leave a lasting legacy of making the world a better place…

Spirit Jewellery is proud to collaborate with Candice Bodington and her “Bod Service” – a non-profit organisation that aims to provide services and opportunities for anyone and everyone. For every necklace sold we will be donating 10% to GREENPOP, to help plant trees around our beautiful nation.

These beautiful Bod Leaf necklaces are available in sterling silver and gold plated, and are available to shop on-line and in store. 

We chat to Candice to find out what inspired her, and to help you get to know her a little better:

  1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and about your various platforms.My name is Candice Bodington. I am a qualified graphic designer, personal trainer and nutritional advisor in Cape Town. The various platforms I have are my Instagram, my blog, my YouTube channel which are all under ‘Candibod‘ which is around health, fitness and wellness. I then decided to create a Podcast where I speak about more alternative ways of healing and connecting with women entrepreneurs around the globe allowing them a space to spread their message. And then I decided to create Bod.Service which is an NGO here in Cape Town that brings the connection between a person who has influence and a service to the community who could potentially use and benefit from that service and the influential person spreads the word of that community on that platform.
  2. What inspired you to create Bod.service?Being someone who creates content online, I saw the impact that an influential person had on a campaign or a product or building up a brand. And I thought, how amazing would it be if we took that same concept, and that same process, but used the person instead of using a product – use their service to give back to the community.
  3. There are so many wonderful causes to support, how did you learn about Greenpop, and what helped you make that decision that THEY were the ones you wanted to support?With Bod.Service, we have an ‘eco’, ‘pet’ and a ‘people’ portfolio. Each portfolio is managed by another person. The person who helps me manage the ‘eco’ portfolio is  Mischke Bosse. Together, we chose them because we knew that people would appreciate their money going to a good place that has ethical processes. It was a no brainer.
  4. We’ve loved working with you in creating this beautiful Bod Leaf Necklace – what was your vision for this collaboration, and what do you hope is achieved from this?My vision was to create something that illustrates the beauty that is portrayed in a plant. And that somebody would love no matter what plant they love or not. And after that initial attraction to the pendent, my main vision is to sell as many as possible, so that I can plant as many trees as possible. And that is why I chose the Monster Leaf, because I felt there was more chance in people wanting to wear it, which would result in being able to invest in our planet.5. What is your future vision for Bod.service and how can the community get involved in supporting upcoming events and drives you put together?

    The future vision I have for Bod.service is doing what I am doing now, but at a bigger capacity. Taking people who have an influence, or who have a service and providing it to more schools, more plantations – continuing to spread awareness the best I can. And doing a little bit of good everyday. I don’t think that Bod.service needs to be this insane NGO that to the outside looks like it’s been scaled up at a fast pace. My main incentive will always be to just do one small act of kindness every day as a community to serve with what we have and to continue giving back. Even if it’s something as simple as smiling at somebody or helping somebody push their trolley when they’re struggling.

    If you’d like to keep up with any future events, services needed or drives to support – head over to Bod.service. 

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If you were born in June, you’re lucky enough to have three birth stones – Moonstone, Pearl and Alexandrite. June is one of only three months that have three birth stones, and this gives you a beautiful variety to choose from.

Because, at Spirit Jewellery, we have pieces with Moonstone and Pearl, we’re going to focus on these two beautiful stones this month. If you are after the Alexandrite, we do have our Spirit Birth Stone Necklace that features it.  Want to know what makes them so special, and which pieces of jewellery we can suggest for you if you’re on the hunt for something with your birth stone? Then keep reading…

Pearl:

This beautiful and enchanting birthstone originates from oceans, lakes and rivers around the world. Something that makes it so special is that it is a timeless wardrobe staple and is loved by women of all ages.

It was believed by ancients from the Middle East that pearls were teardrops fallen from heaven. Most of you should know by now that pearls are organic gems that can be found inside the tissue of a living saltwater or freshwater mollusk.

Pearls have long been associated with purity, humility and innocence. Many say that the June birthstone meaning is “sweet simplicity”. Therefore, pearls were traditionally given as a wedding gift. It has also been said that pearls bestow long life and prosperity.

As jewelers, we appreciate the fact that pearls are available in all shapes and sizes, as this allows us to create many variations of jewellery with the stone. Below is one of our favourites which are available on-line and in store:

Pearl Choker:

Our Pearl Choker, pictured above, is available in Gold plated, rose gold plated and sterling silver and is complete with 5 genuine pearls on necklace chain. We just love how sophisticated this piece is and it truly is versatile as women of all ages can wear it. It can also be dressed up or down and just works every single time.

 

Moonstone:

This dreamy stone has so many surprising benefits. Because the Moonstone has become highly fashionable, many of you will know what it looks like, but we bet that you didn’t know these few things about the birth stone?

Just like the moon, being considered as one of the most soothing influences in our modern life, the Moonstone is seen this way too. The stone is often traded between couples and is a balancing stone that has a relaxing effect on most people. It also instills peacefulness in those who wear it. The stone brings about feelings of power and stability, which is something that so many of us crave today.
This stone is considered a feminine stone, and it often has a positive impact on hormone balances. They say that it can help with physical conditions such as psoriasis and hair loss, but also with fluctuating emotions and confusions. Who knew that a stone could also be known to help ease pain during menstruation and childbirth?

We love that it targets femininity, promoting and nurturing intuition and gentleness in people, as well as compassion. Moonstone is also said to be a wonderful fertility aid – affecting the reproductive cycle, easing menstrual tension. Known for its links to the pineal gland, it can balance hormonal systems as well.

Have insomnia? Well, they say that Moonstone works wonders for people who suffer with insomnia. As peacefulness and relaxation thrive, the brain can fall asleep faster each night.

As you can well see, this beautiful stone has more to it than its beauty. But we wanted to share one of our favourite and well loved pieces with you,  which is also available on-line:

Solitaire Ring, Twisted (Claw Set) – Moonstone (Round)

This sterling silver ring just radiates pure beauty. It is simple yet so effective and that’s exactly what is so well loved about it. It can be worn on a daily basis, and is a classic. It is timeless and can be passed down over the years.

This solitaire stone ring is only available in Sterling Silver, but we just love how effective it is exactly the way it is.

If you had something else in mind, feel free to pop us an email with any queries and we can see if we can assist you.

May Birthstone: Emerald

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If you are born in May, you have an incredibly beautiful birthstone which has long symbolized love and rebirth. The stone, Emerald, is green in colour. Another interesting fact about this stone is, as the gem of Venus, it was also considered to aid in fertility.

To dig a little bit deeper in history – Cleopatra, Egypt’s tempestuous female monarch was as famous for wearing Emeralds in her time as Liz Taylor is for wearing diamonds in our time. Ancient Egyptian mummies were often buried with an Emerald carved with the symbol of verdure – flourishing greenness – on their necks to symbolize eternal youth.

To determine the value of the Emerald, the deeper and more vivid the colour of green, the more valuable the stone. The most valuable and beautiful Emeralds exhibit an intense bluish hue in addition to their basic bold green colour. Emeralds, among the rarest of gems, are almost always found with birthmarks, known as inclusions. Some inclusions are expected and do not detract from the value of the stone as much as with other gemstones.

Although we don’t have a large variety of jewellery that features Emerald, due to it being a very expensive stone and usually being set in real gold – you will be able to find a few special items in store – long chains with multiple stones, some stud earrings as well as a few rings. So pop in store to see if there’s something that you fall in love with.

A Few Of Our Favourite Pieces For March.

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Each month we like to give a few pieces of our jewellery a special place in the spotlight. Because we hand make and design each piece that we sell at Spirit Jewellery, unless you come in store to browse what we have, it’s almost impossible to show you everything! We believe in creating jewellery for every type of woman, and in saying that, that every woman, no matter her age and style can wear the same piece of jewellery in a different way. Jewellery has different meanings to every wearer – for some it may be the memory of when it was gifted to them, by a lover or good friend, or perhaps a family member. It may have been handed down to them or bought for a special occasion.

Our jewellery has been created for these moments – for each woman who wears it to feel beautiful and to smile each time it gets looked at because of the beautiful memories that flood your heart each time it gets worn.

This month we wanted to share the following pieces with you:

– Our beautiful Cresent Moon pendant and bracelet have quickly become a favourite. Although the bracelet is not on-line yet, you’re welcome to send us an email to order or to visit us in store to view it and to purchase it. These are available in sterling silver, or gold plated.

– We just adore our thread chain hoop earrings because they are so interesting and unique. We loved designing these earrings, and hope that whoever wears them will feel as beautiful as we designed them to make you feel. Available in sterling silver, rose gold plated, or gold plated.

Do you have any Spirit pieces that you have fallen in love with? Pop us a DM on our Instagram and we can feature them in the next few months!