Birthstones are always a popular theme for beaded creations. Did you know, you can create a whole line of jewelry using not only the “official” stones but appropriately-colored alternatives?
One creative approach that keeps the quality level high is to use Swarovski crystal beads. Since these are available in so many great colors, you have some gorgeous options for each month.
An array of suggested birthstone equivalents is laid out in our
Swarovski Birthstone Chart page.
Or follow your own inspiration and browse through all of the colors available: the
crystal bicone beads section
of our online store is a good place to do this.
Another way to go is to look into traditional birthstone lists, like the ones in Bruce Knuth’s neat book
“Jeweler’s Resource”. This can be your starting point for finding some great equivalent stones.
For example January’s traditional stone,
garnet,
also comes in a green variety, and one stone often
considered as ”
green hair garnet”
is green tourmalated quartz.
You can find these
“green garnet” beads in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Voila, there’s a great birthstone equivalent!
Jasper is also sometimes considered to be
January’s gemstone, and there are countless varieties to choose from, including fancy jasper,
leopardskin jasper,
and
poppy jasper.
And that’s not even getting into February’s stone! (Amethyst.) What ideas do you have for birthstone equivalents in the jewelry you make?
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