I fell in love with these lozenge-like flat Lapis Lazuli cabochons and bought a few to try out last year. It seems interesting to set them as I usually would with my round Moonstone cabochons into ball-like pendants for one of them and the other in its "logical" extended cylindrical self.
Lapis Lazuli is a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense colour for many ancient cultures. I'd remembered being told at design school that it was not available in Europe until the end of the Middle Ages, where it was ground into powder and made into Ultramarine – the finest and most expensive of all blue pigments for paints! It was used by some of the most important artists of the Renaissance & Baroque often reserved for colouring in the clothing of the central figures of their paintings, especially the Virgin Mary. Let's keep an eye out next time we see her!
Pyrite (metallic yellow) is a mineral often found sprinkled throughout the blue (sodalite). Thus creating a Nuit étoilée / Starry Night indeed.
Here are the 2 necklaces I've made.
