Synchrotrons, Ancient Egypt and a turquoise sort of day

The birds are singing, the sun is shining and I am looking out my window at the first bright blue sky in weeks here on the Bellarine Peninsula (Victoria, Australia) where I live. I think I can feel a walk on the beach (just a few minutes away) beaconing. It all feels very cheering after weeks of much needed rain, grey skies and cold winds. It could be called a ‘turquoise’ day. Apparently, as a gemstone turquoise makes the wearer feel happy and cheerful. Some say this is because it’s tones are produced through the combination of the light bright blue of sunny skies and the beautiful greens of the sea. Mind you ironically, turquoise should be protected from strong sunlight as it’s colour can fade in it. It is also a gemstone that promotes finiancial well-being. According to gemstone,org the ancient Persian scholar Al-Qazwini wrote: 'The hand that wears a turquoise and seals with it will never see poverty.' Maybe that is why some women in Ancient Egypt used to bake their own in the local bread oven! To explain:

Not content with managing the household it appears women in Ancient Egypt were also keeping the budget in the black with some home-based manufacturing. That is the conclusion an Australian team has drawn by using synchrotrons to analyse the synthetic turquoise that was popular during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten around 1300BC.

Amongst my gemstone stash are some lovely pieces of turquoise that I haven’t looked at in ages – so after this blog post I am off to choose one to use in my beading later today. I have been working hard on creating beaded beads for the last few weeks and feel an itch to do some beading with cabachons. I think that Mother Nature is calling me to honor the day by beading with turquoise today and I don’t feel quite up to baking any!

I hope you have a turquoise sort of day.

Sources

• Cooper, Dan: Synchrotron probes Egyptian beads, May 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/05/18/2902688.htm
• http://www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/english/turquoise.html