Alycia Wicker

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Top 9 Gemstone Inspired Paint Colors

Alycia Wicker

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Gemstones come in every color of the rainbow. I think it's even more interesting how crystals get their colors, so let's dig into it. 

The color of a crystal is the way the gemstone absorbs light.  How much light a crystal absorbs depends on the elements within the gemstone.

Light is a vibration and we can only see so much of that wavelength. If a gemstone absorbs all the light, it will appear black and if the light passes through it, it will appear colorless. So if a crystal absorbs every wavelength except for purple then purple will be the color that we see. If the crystal absorbs all the colors except for red and blue, you'll see purple.

Also, the crystals that include a combination of minerals and metals will change their color. For instance, Turquoise gets its teal blue color from copper. Iron shows up as red, green and yellow.

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To get nerdier, you'd also need to study the composition, structure and how it's formed to find out everything that goes into creating these gems. But you'll find there's one element that shows up a lot in this palette.

  • Rose Quartz: The color is from the inclusion of titanium, iron or manganese.

  • Tangerine Quartz: The color turns from clear quartz to orange because of the iron.

  • Citrine: Iron gives citrine its yellow color.

  • Amethyst: Iron, also gives the purple color. Did you know though that you can heat an Amethyst and the iron in it will then turn it yellow? That's why some people try to sell you citrine that is actually heat-treated Amethyst.

  • Lapis Lazuli: This is a mixture of three minerals: lazurite (deep blue), calcite (white) and pyrite (gold). Lazurite contains sulfur and the pyrite contains iron.

  • Red Jasper: Once again, our friend iron shows up.

  • Black Tourmaline: Iron... it's a busy element, huh?

  • Garnet: The deep color in garnet comes from the inclusion of iron.

  • Jade: Iron and magnesium. If there is more iron, the jade will be darker.

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gemstone inspired paint colors

Here's something I want to leave you with. Crystals all have some meaning or use that they are there to facilitate. We know the same thing to be true with the paint colors we select for the home. Coincidence? I think not.