Lapis lazuli, often just called lapis, has been the topic for our challenge before, but that's okay. We are not the only ones who love that dark blue after all.
Last time I mentioned how the Egyptians ground lapis to make cosmetics from it. There are old legends and fairy tales as well in which the stone is playing its part.
And of course we can't forget lapis in art, both the stone itself and the pigment called ultramarine that was made from it. Ultramarine which can still be bought today, but has lost its significance in art after synthetic pigments took over, was more precious than gold at times because of the time consuming process to make it. The powder from the ground stone is cleaned and then washed out in clear water until you finally get the pigment itself, a mere fraction of the original lapis.
Here's an interesting article that also shows examples of how ultramarine was used, in the Sistine Chapel for example.
Back to our Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge for this week, though - I hope you'll like today's selection. Not all of it is lapis, but the beautiful dark blue you will find in each piece.
1 and 5 MC Stoneworks
2 and 4 Jewelry Art by Dawn
3 and 7 Cat's Wire
6 and 8 The Crafty Chimp
9 and 10 RioRita
When I hear lapis lazuli which is often just called lapis (Latin for "stone"), the first thing I think of is Egypt. In ancient Egypt lapis was used to make cosmetics from it, among other things of course. I don't remember if I read that in the sticker book "Adventures of the World" (to be honest, I have no idea if that's really what it was called, but I only had about 4.5 hours of sleep and can't quite think right yet) that we got from the gas station when I was a child and which we sadly could never fill up with photos completely and which had those cool stories about The Silk Road and pharaohs and adventurers of all kind and ... I'm totally digressing here, aren't I?
Cosmetics. Egypt. Oh yes, lapis. Wherever I got it from, it shocked me a little back then how someone could grind up beautiful stones for makeup. I have never been a cosmetics expert, can you tell?
The members of the Jewelry Artisans Community, however, have used lapis in these jewelry designs for the last Oldies but Goodies Challenge.
Enjoy!
1 MC Stoneworks
2 Cat's Wire
3 2 Fab Fristers
4 Violetmoon's Corner
5 The Crafty Chimp
6 RioRita
