Hematite Question

[ClownFishFunk]

Hello everyone. Can anyone tell me about the stone hematite? My boyfriend really likes the look of the stone, and I was thinking about getting a hematite pendant for him, however I am unsure of whether it is a strong enough mineral to do this, and if it is practical/possible. How much would a nice stone cost? Also if you had any suggestions on how to make a pendant look ''manly,'' would be great. Thanks a lot for the help!

 

[winyan]

Hiya CFF...

Hematite is basically iron ore. If I were you, I'd go with a natural 'pebble' of the mineral, and have it capped w/silver, and get a silver chain or suede leather thong to hang it from.

It's very pretty, but it retains a natural 'cold' feeling to it.

win

 

[glitterata]

I love hematite. It's very manly! You used to see lots ofmen wearing rings with a hematite intaglio of a Roman warrior or something like that. Definitely strong enough for jewelry. However, it does scratch pretty easily.

 

[ClownFishFunk]

Hey, thanks for the quick replies. Just a few extra questions I just thought of...Do most jewelers have hematite at the store? Or would they have to order it? Also, is hematite the kind of stone that is easily carved into a shape? I have seen a lot of hematite carved into crosses, animals, etc. online. Is this something a jeweler can easily do? I was thinking of perhaps making a maltese cross with the hematite, b/c my bf is in the FD. Is this a feasible idea? Would I be able to engrave the back of it with a message? Thanks for all the help, any input is appreciated.

 

[winyan]

Hey CFF...

Try these links

Hematite Maltese Cross

pendant

Heck those were the only two I could find in a quick search...however, I'll look longer tomorrow evening.

win

 

[valeria101]

He he, this is a fun thing to have around.

Hematite... not gem material: basically taugher pieces of iron ore (iron oxide) polished and made into things. The black-ish crystals (when available, the usual material is amorphous) are too brittle for anything but collecting. People bother doing this with a rather cheap and not so hard material because it takes an incredible, trully mirror-like lustre. The finished stuff should look like a black mirror of sorts and the beads diplay "orient" like pearls. Did you ever touch a piece? It is really havy (so huge pieces become rather hard to wear) and gets very worm on you because of the high iron content. There is one problem: that pleasing polish wears away asap, so placing hematite in a mounting will mean polishing it every month! More practical choices are onix (the usual black thing) and black spinel (unles you want a huge piece).

Not sure if a jeweler would go through the pain to fashion a piece for you from scratch, but ready-made crosses are available (beads and findings stores is where hematite resides) and one can get further fashioned and mounted in a gold frame or such if this is what you want. Given that the material is not terribly enduring, I would sugest that you skip the mounting and pair up a hematite cross with a YG chain (the color combination IS terrific). Unpolished? it looks dark red (greta color that) but being brittle stains everything like mad with a very fine, stubborn red dust (it is a traditional pigment material, btw.).

 

[ClownFishFunk]

Hey everyone, sorry to respond so late, I just wanted to thank you for the help and replies. I decided to not go with the hematite idea, just thinking about a maltese cross pin made out of white gold or something of that nature. Unfortunately I won't be able to get it for valentine's day, I'll have to save it for a later date. I'll post pictures when it is all done. Again, thanks for the help.