jewelry

Energy Flow

written by Jocelyn

The stone in this pendant is a great visual to exemplify energy flowing. It is a slice of an amethyst stalactite that reveals individual crystals projecting outward from a striated core of layers upon layers of deposition. Each drop of mineral-rich water that falls from the top of a cave deposits a thin layer of calcite that over time forms the visible layers within the stalactite. Different colors mean different mineral composition of the water droplets at that time. You can see the crystalline structure covered up by each subsequent layer. I have left an opening in the back of the pendant to allow light to pass through.

August 9, 2016

featured pendants stones

Smoky quartz with Amazonite

written by Jocelyn

I regularly attend the gem and mineral shows in the greater Denver area. Recently, I came across a booth with a familiar face, Joe Dorris from Pinnacle 5 Minerals based in Manitou Springs, CO. I recognized Joe from the popular television series “Propectors” that airs on The Weather Channel.

One of the Dorris families’ most famous mineral finds is Smoky Quartz with Amazonite from their mining claim in Florissant, CO. Several episodes of “Prospectors” showcased the huge pocket of crystals they uncovered, and the painstaking process of piecing the collection together, creating a breathtaking museum quality specimen. Of course, I purchased several of these crystals, like the one pictured above, and made them into pendants.

June 16, 2016

earrings featured stones

Geodes

written by Jocelyn

Geodes, spherical formations that look like ordinary rocks on the outside, but when sliced open they reveal another world within. Hollow orbs, interior walls lined with crystals projecting toward the center. They exist in all sizes, shapes and colors. Tiny ones found in Tabasco Mexico make great earrings.

brown geode earrings The walls of these crystal pockets are sometimes banded, revealing differences in the chemical composition of groundwater that leaked into the cavities of bedrock over time as the geodes formed. You never know what you will find until you cut it open.

Otherworldly? Maybe not. But when you wear these sliced geodes, one in each ear, the many faceted crystals catch the sunlight and sparkle and glitter like so many stars in the night sky. You might just find your energy aligning more with star energy, and astral travel may become more accessible to you.

June 6, 2016

featured pendants stones

Australian Opal

written by Jocelyn

I love Australian opal!

Magical and mysterious, opal glows as if there is a light source within. This display of color and fire can be explained scientifically as a uniform stacking and sizing of tiny silica spheres that act as a diffraction grating which can divide light into spectral colors. But the magic remains.

I particularly love this specimen because it reveals the intricate veining of the ironstone matrix in which the opal formed. The thin dark brown lines weave through the swirling light and color almost like a net, trying to provide structure to the mystery, connecting the physical to the spiritual.

Opal has been revered since antiquity and therefore sustains a complex folklore. It has been used to invoke visions, to help one feel the creativity that is within the self, and to awaken ones psychic powers. Opal also teaches us to fully feel and express our emotions.

April 25, 2016

Three sterling silver pendants made my jocelyn hunter. The first is Arizona petrified wood, the middle is opalized wood from Australia, and the right is petrified sequoia wood from California.

pendants stones

A Tale of Three Fossil Woods

written by Jocelyn

Fossils are preserved remnants of the past. The focal stones in these pendants are all pieces of ancient trees that have been transformed to stone, or petrified. Sometimes the cellular anatomy of the organic material is preserved long enough during the petrification process so that the growth rings of the tree remain distinguishable. Other times the organic material deteriorates more quickly resulting in blurred lines.

The specific minerals present in the environment during this process also determine the final appearance. On the left is Arizona petrified wood with its distinctive coloration of purples, reds, yellows, and black. The middle is opalized wood from Australia. I particularly love the painterly scene created in this specimen with brown veining through green, blue, and pink opal fire. The right is petrified sequoia wood from California.

Metaphysically, fossilized wood is a stone of transformation, helping with grounding, connecting with past-life information, releasing old programming, and being receptive to new ways of being.

April 21, 2016

bracelets stones

Colorado Turquoise

written by Jocelyn

Turquoise is one of my all-time favorite stones. When I found out that Colorado has its own turquoise, I was over the moon!

one page

I met Clint Cross at the Denver Gem and Mineral Show in the Fall of 2013. Clint is the mine manager at Colorado’s oldest, continuously operated, family-owned turquoise mine in the United States, the Florence Mine in Cripple Creek, CO. The material coming out of this mine is called Burtis Blue turquoise, after Wallace Burtis, the mine owner. I had seen Cripple Creek turquoise before, from the Bad Boys of Cripple Creek, but their turquoise was just not that attractive. Burtis Blue, however, is stunning!

The November 2014 issue of Rock & Gem magazine describes it as unusually hard, making it superb gemstone quality. It cuts easily, takes a beautiful polish, and is found naturally in a variety of colors, from sky blue, to robin’s egg blue, to shades of green. It also occasionally has tiny bits of calaverite (a gold-telluride mineral) and quartz crystals embedded within the turquoise pores. I love that it is indigenous to the Colorado Rocky Mountains and that I can purchase it directly from the miner!

April 4, 2016

a silver rainbow bracelet by jocelyn hunter jewelry that represents the chakras and lgbt+ community. The stones are garnet, gaspeite, amethyst, carnelian, citrine, turquoise, and lapis lazuli.

bracelets stones

Stones, Rainbows, and Chakras

written by Jocelyn

Through the years I have made several rainbow gemstone bracelets similar to the one above. At first they were intended as a wearable symbol of inclusiveness, the rainbow being a common signifier of the LBGTQ community. As I researched the mystical meanings of the stones, however, I became aware that my bracelets were a representation of the chakra system.

The chakra system is a way of mapping the architecture of the human soul. Chakras, or energy centers, are aligned in an ascending column from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Each of the seven stones in my bracelets signifies an energy center in the subtle body – red (garnet) correlates with the chakra at the base of the spine, green (gaspeite) denotes the heart center, and purple (amethyst) represents our spiritual connection to the All. Each of the other colored stones –orange (carnelian), yellow (citrine), light blue (turquoise), and dark blue (lapis lazuli) – relate to a specific chakra, each energetically connected to the next.

The function of the chakras is to spin and draw in energy to keep the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health of the body in balance. From embracing diversity to enriching personal health and vitality, rainbow gemstone bracelets are a meaningful addition to anyone’s jewelry collection.

March 24, 2016

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