HUGE CUBIC ZIRCONIA SALE!!!

CUBIC ZIRCONIA 

30% OFF

GET THEM WHILE YOU CAN!

WE ARE DISCONTINUING THEM AND WE WILL NOT BE RESTOCKING THEM.

What is a Cubic Zirconia? Many think "simulated diamond" when they think Cubic Zirconia (CZ). CZ's are used as simulated gemstones - and if you Google you'll get a variety of opinions as to how closely they mimic diamonds, largely based on just exactly what the site is trying to sell you - CZ's or diamonds. We think that these are lovely in their own right, much the same way the glass beads are. 
 

CZ is harder than glass, (at about 8.5 on the Mohs scale - nowhere near diamond, but much harder than most natural gems) and we tried the scratch test, and yes, they do scratch glass but are not scratched by it. It is dense - specific gravity between 5.6 - 6.0; refractive index is high at 2.15 - 2.18 (B-G interval) and its luster is subadamantine (Really! I have very little idea what that means - just nod and make knowedgeable noises). It's dispersion is very high at 0.058 - 0.066, exceeding that of diamond (0.044). 

(It's sparklier than diamonds). 

Cubic Zirconia has no cleavage and exhibits a conchoidal fracture (if it chips, you will see semicircular arcs - think of a big chip out of the bottom of one of those old thick-bottomed Coke bottles). It is considered brittle. (Don't smack it on things.)

Under shortwave UV cubic zirconia typically luminesces a yellow, greenish yellow or "beige." Under longwave UV the effect is greatly diminished, with sometimes a whitish glow being seen.

Naturally occurring CZ's are not commercially significant, and are manufactured in a laboratory as a gemstone. Really, really technical information is available here. (If the above wasn't technical enough for ya!) 

For CZ beads, click HERE

For double drilled CZ's, click HERE

 

For CZ Pendants and drops, click HERE

 

For other drilled CZ's, click HERE

Gemstone tests

As I mentioned in a previous post new gemstones arrived at BeadFx. When I add a new material that I am unsure of I will test fire it out of clay to make sure it can withstand the time and temperature I intend to fire it at.

I took six of the new gemstones and tested them at 1650F for 2 hours to see if they would withstand to maximum temperature I would fire my silver metal clay creations. Here are the results, the stones on the LEFT are the test stones that have been fired :

Garnet Cz (no obvious colour change)

Lab created black saphire (no obvious colour change)

Aqua Cz (Oh oh, BIG CHANGE -FAILED all my tests)

Lab created Blue Spinels (no obvious colour change)

Lab created Ruby (no obvious colour change)

Lavender Cz (no obvious colour change)


It looks like all but the AQUA cz's survived. I retested the aqua cz's at 1200F for 30 minutes (the minimum I would fire at) and they failed yet again, they turned a lighter yellow brown. I torch fired one for two minutes and yet again I got a shade of brown. Disappointing as this stone would look awesome embedded into silver, of course you could set it in a fine silver setting after firing. I will test them in carbon in the next few weeks.


Lastly, I had mentioned my tests with a piece of Labradorite at 1650F here is a picture of what happened:

Remember, if your fire gemstones in metal clay DO NOT quench them, allow them to cool naturally or you may cause thermal shock and the stone may fracture.