Where do your stones come from?

The vast majority of my stones come from Canada, the USA and India. India has been supplying the world with beautiful gems for a millennia. Some are from China, as can be easily seen by the carved Chinese Jade; these have been envied by the world since Marco Polo.

When you say sterling silver or 925, is that real silver?

YES. Sterling and 0.925 weight of silver are synonymous. If it is silver plated, it is stated as such. If neither is stated, it is an alloy (mixture of metals).

Where do you get your Swarovski? Is it real?

In short: Europe and YES. I would not indicate such if it wasn't. I do use murano and other glass forms including Czech crystal... but all are described as what they are.

What is hydro quartz? Is that fake? Is it glass?

Hydrothermal or Hydro gems are real stones, that have been grown, picked for colour and clarity, cut, drilled and polished like any other gemstones. The only difference is that instead of being formed in the earth's crust by extreme heat and pressure, they were formed in a lab with extreme heat and pressure. Does it change the fact that it is amethyst or quartz? No.
The biggest win with hydro, is that you can get them at a fraction of the cost it would take to get similarly clear, cut, earth borne stones from a jewelry store. And, there isn't a lot of mining and ecological destruction or human exploitation in the process.
These are not to be confused with smelted quartz, the description of which can be found below.

What is smelted quartz?

Smelted quartz is essentially a glass made of quartz bits that have been melted down and used to create a new piece. This is not to be confused with hydrothermal gems, which are described above.

Anything here that is smelted quartz is clearly indicated and priced accordingly.

Do you do custom orders?

At this time, unfortunately no.

Is your shipping free?

Shipping costs money, there is no doubt about that.  Since I am only a one woman show, I cannot afford to offer free shipping.  However, my shipping prices are fair, current and automatically calculated by Canada Post.