Blue Sandstone from Lola Rose.

[helena]

Can somebody put me right? I was shocked to hear Nikki from Lola Rose say that Blue Sandstone was NOT a natural gem stone and is in fact man made and that they inject it to give it this sparkly effect.
Not once, EVER did she admit this and always said that it was natural gemstone. I was always a little puzzled how a 'natural' gem could make this sparkle but seeing quartz built into brick walls [whilst away in sunny Spain] I remarked to my family that yes, it does glitter like my sandstone I buy from Lola Rose. How gullible must I be!
I wonder if this just slipped out because Julia started going on about it looking like a mediterranean starry night blah blah blah....and there's me thinking it was real and not a piece of plastic and chemically treated at that!
[Do I feel a Trade description case coming on,] oh I just can't be bothered and fed up with the lies and stupid 'masked' information you get from this bl***y channel but I shall never the less carry on like we all do....

 

[overtherainbow]

i watched that and was suprised too as thaught it was a natural gemstone!

 

[clevercat]

There is a gold/orangey stone called goldstone that is very sparkly and that is manmade. I always wondered whether blue sandstone was enhanced but never thought it was not a naturally occurring stone. Makes sense though when you think about it. I love the look of blue sandstone but I should like to know what it is before buying any now.

 

[Nicky-j]

I tried to edit this post, but was too late, so here is a new one! I have been busy googling. I have read all sorts of things about blue sandstone, bluestone, and its sister stone gold sandstone/goldstone. It seems that there is a good deal of confusion about this gemstone. I have read that it is a genuine natural gemstone, that it is a treated gemstone, that it is ground up and reconstituted gemstones and that it is made of glass! A combination of the latter two seems to be the most likely since its manufacture is said to go back several centuries. According to this account a special high-quality glass is combined with tiny pieces of minerals which, when the gold/blue stone is cooled appear as the pretty inclusions we see as sparkle. The 'stone' can be faceted, carved and used pretty much as a natural gemstone would be.
I have seen bluestone for sale in some very reputable gemstone shops and so would be very interested to see what anyone else has read, or indeed knows, about it!
That being said, entirely natural or not, it has the appearance of natural and is very pretty, so as someone who happily wears Diamonique alongside real diamonds, I am not about to toss away my lovely pendant. Would be nice to know,though!

 

[merlin]

I know someone who dabbles in making her own jewellery and has always said that goldstone is manmade. 'Blue sandstone' is a blue version of goldstone.

Wikipedia:
Goldstone is a type of glittering glass made in the presence of a reducing flame. The finished product can take a smooth polish and be carved into beads, figurines, or other artifacts suitable for semiprecious stone, and in fact goldstone is often mistaken or misrepresented as a natural material.

The most common form of goldstone appears to be reddish-brown, due to the presence of tiny crystals of metallic copper. When the reduced goldstone melt cools, the copper remains in atomic isolation and precipitates into small crystalline clusters which reflect light through the surrounding transparent or translucent glass, rendering the final product effectively opaque. (Under normal oxidative conditions, copper ions meld into the silica to produce transparent bluish-green glass.) Some goldstone variants have an intensely-colored glass matrix—- usually blue or violet, more rarely green—- and a more silvery appearance to the suspended crystals, whose color may be partially masked by the glass, or which may be based on different metals (perhaps cobalt, manganese, or chromium).

However I do believe it is referred to as a 'gemstone', so I think it depends on how specific you want to get!

 

[OscarFelixJake]

As far as I know, it's man-made in China, but it is so beautiful, who cares.
Jade is coloured, diamonds are heat treated, agate is dyed, topaz and garnet are heat treated to get the different colours.
Here is a link to a page which exlains a bit about gemstone treatments http://www.gemsociety.org/info/igem7.htm

Blue Goldstone is a man-made stone and is made by adding Copper Salts to glass in a furnace. The heat "smelts" the Copper Salts back to Copper which then crystallize in the glass. A blue vegetable dye is added to give the blue colour. The Copper platelets formed this way are suspended in the glass and give it its characteristic glitter ! Goldstone is thought to have originated in Italy, and is still made there today by members of a single monastic community. Legend has it, that it was for a long time a very closely guarded secret how they made it, and even now the manufacture of the material remains the primary source of income for that monastery, even though Goldstone is also commercially made elsewhere these days. Other stories relate how Goldstone is thought to have been discovered by alchemists whilst on their lifelong quest to transmute base metals into gold.

Physical
Blue Goldstone helps to reduces stomach tension.

Mental/Emotional
A gently uplifting stone.

 

[SuziQ]

Even diamonds look nothing until they are cut and faceted,so it doesn't both me if it is not entirely natural. However I do agree with you that they should be far more transparent and honest about these things! It is a very pretty stone.

 

[donna255]

I have a large Blue Sandstone tumble, it weights a tonne by the way. And I just bought becaue I loved the effect. I have read it is a form of glass as well, sort of by product.

 

[loujareth]

I've got some of this 'gem' jewellery and it reminds me of the night sky. I was aware of it being manmade but I think as it's made of natural products, this gives it a different stance on manmade.

 

[Irishbliss]

Yes it is man-made and Nicki has mentioned this many times over the years....she may not say it with every item but it has been said.

Many of her range is dyed...all the bright colours but that is how those beautiful colours are achieved.

 

[Nicky-j]

Even diamonds look nothing until they are cut and faceted,so it doesn't both me if it is not entirely natural. However I do agree with you that they should be far more transparent and honest about these things! It is a very pretty stone.

Exactly, there can barely be a gemstone out there that is entirely natural in that sense.