iolitewitchcraft:

Diamonds Aren’t Rare

• actually true, they aren’t
• BUT
• gem-quality diamonds are rare. There are three main factors that contribute to rarity
• SIZE – big diamonds are way more rare than little tiny ones
• COLOR – colorless diamonds are more rare than brown diamonds, and fancy-colored diamonds are more rare than colorless diamonds
• CLARITY – diamonds that aren’t full of crap are more rare than diamonds with lots of crap
• I could go on for a long time about this so send me an ask if you want a full post

Fake Citrine/Burnt Amethyst

• no
• yellow/orange quartz = citrine, whether it’s natural or treated
• it isn’t fake
• citrine is often heated amethyst whether it comes from nature or a lab anyway
• there are some citrines that were never amethyst, but many were

Copal Is Fake Amber

• copal is young amber
• amber is OLD, guys
• 1,000,000+ years old
• they will both float in saturated saltwater.
• amber is more resistant to chemicals because it’s gone through polymerization over time
• don’t drop your amber/copal in solvents because chances are it’s copal

Don’t Clean Crystals With Soap

• soap is good
• most common crystals can be cleaned with soap
• use gentle soap though, none of that orange gritty stuff that everyone’s dad had at one point
• rinse off the soap when you’re done
• check if your crystal is water soluble before cleaning though
• and be careful with unusual and delicate specimens

Heating And Irradiation Are Bad

• heating and irradiation enhance the color of your crystals
• almost every sapphire and ruby in the lower to mid-range market has been heated
• most other stones too
• it doesn’t hurt the stone. I promise
• it just makes them prettier
• the earth does it to her crystals too

Treated Stones Are Fake

• nope
• treated stones are usually still whatever they were before they were treated
• unless it’s a variety call based on color or something but y’know
• heated topaz = topaz
• aura quartzes are extra pretty because of their treatment
• it’s cool if you don’t want to use treated stones but many people like them
• treated stones are beautiful and not fake
• but make sure the treatment is DISCLOSED unless it’s routine (and therefore assumed)

Blood Diamonds

• it was a problem
• but not anymore!!!!
• there’s a fun international thing called the Kimberley Process (2003)
• diamonds can’t be exported from their origin country without a clear paper trail back to the mine
• diamonds are probably the most ethical gemstone purchase you can make today actually
• there’s no equivalent process for colored stones
• blood emeralds, anyone??

Garnet Is Corundum

• Corundum has THREE MAIN VARIETIES
• just THREE
• ruby (red), padparadscha (orange-pink), and sapphire (every other color)
• these have subvarieties (star ruby, yellow sapphire, etc etc etc)
• emerald and garnet are not corundum
• (garnet is a mineral group!!!! it’s not even a species, much less a variety)
• not everything is corundum

I’ll add on to this in the future! Let me know if you have questions, I’m happy to expand on anything in this post or any other crystal info that you aren’t sure about 🙂