Last week I was invited to a gemology evening with Astley Clarke. I arrived straight from work at the showroom and joined the other bloggers amongst the plush armchairs and glossy glass cabinets.
We were treated very kindly with flowing Moet and colourful sushi platters, but the best thing about the evening was that we were taught about gem stones by the experts. Gemologist Amanda Good talked us though a variety of stones, some well known (sapphire, ruby, amythest) and some less well known (tourmaline, spinel and citrine) as we viewed the beautiful jewellery up close.
It was amazing to learn that most stones come in many different colours (pink sapphire anyone?) and my favourite discovery of the evening was acrostic jewellery. Originating in Victorian times, these pieces conceal hidden messages, for example THIS Astley Clarke ring is set with Diamond, Amethyst, Rhodolite, Labradorite, Iolite, Nephrite and Garnet which spells out 'darling'- such a lovely idea that I will remember about should I ever get married!
All in all it was a charming intimate evening which was not only great fun, but taught me a lot. Usually a battered silver locket strung around my neck is as fancy as it gets, but I am now lusting after chunky faceted rings set with twinkling diamonds. Hearing about how the gems are mined, cut and designed in to rings/bracelets really gave the pieces a history, and I would love to start my own fine jewellery collection very soon!
Thanks to all the ladies involved for a fantastic evening! It was also great to meet fellow bloggers Natasha, Kerry, Jenny and Rebecca to name a few!
Check out all the gems at the Astley Clarke Website
PS. Sorry for lack of recent posts, our Virgin Media has been down for the past 2 weeks!
0 comments:
Post a Comment