[Fire Isle Jewelry] Unlocking The Fire Within (Hay'aan)

[Viskyia Crow]

Continued from here...

TS: 1st Brightening of Pontius, Winter Era XV
~ Midmorning ~

The apron fit well and protected the girls clothing from the wood as she was pointed to a doorway that lead from the actual jewelry gallery to the workroom. The massive forge was visible against the left wall, and workbenches and cupboards lined the remaining walls and center island. There was a heavy iron door to the right that lead to what she guessed was some sort of jewelry vault. Straight ahead was another doorway that lead from the back workroom to a vibrant green lawn that looked like it doubled for a paddock for a dappled white mare that grazed peacefully out back. A woodpile sat beside the back doorway and it was there that Furloin gestured the girl get started hauling in the wood.

Furloin took the cloak, hung it up neatly on a small coat rack behind the main jewelry counter, and smiled to himself. For all that Hay'aan was timid, she was a pretty little thing with a sharpness to her eyes. Bookworm. He dubbed her immediately, and kept an eye on her as she began hauling in wood. It wasn't really a task that needed to be done, but he didn't want to waste Viskyia's time by having a girl ask for work, then not be willing to get dirty. Besides, it was all well and good, the girl looked to be eager and willing to jump into what seemed very unrelated to jewelcrafting.

He outta show her how to lay the fire, he supposed. So after she had enough wood hauled in, the brownie wandered in and started picking up wood. He layered it in the main bank of the jewelry furnace in a zigzag pattern that overlayed each other. "Here, this is how you lay a good forge fire, and then bunch up some tinder under it, make sure the vent for the draft pipe is open, then light the tinder with flint and steel or a candle if you have one handy." Furloin pulled out flint and steel, struck up a good spark and lit the forge. "Now, just bellow it a bit... those are light bellows too you can easily use them... and just get air on it.. thats the quickest way to make it burn." He said, then got himself back busy in the showroom. "Just watch it a while, and when you're sure its caught on good, you can have a look around and maybe do some clean up if you'd like." He suggested, though from Hay'aan's first glance, there wasn't much that truly needed cleaning.

Hay'aan was left all alone for a while then, perhaps twenty minutes to a half candlemark before the shop bells twinkled lightly and a light footstep passed from the showroom to the workroom where they paused at the door. Viskyia studied the girl within, slightly surprised to see her there. The half-esh surveyed her workroom, citrine eyes roaming from Hay'aan to the forge then back again. "You lit the forge?" She asked curiously, though no more questions were forthcoming. The jeweler just simply stood there, hip cocked and leaned against the doorframe. The half-esh was probably younger than Hay'aan expected. She had long white hair and a pale complexion that looked too sensitive to be out in the full suns. She was wearing loose fitting clothing, heavy boots, and a down-stuffed vest. Her tee-shirt was sleeveless for all that it was predicted to snow that night, and she had a throwing dagger strapped to one fforearm. The half esh was beautiful, but in a raw challenging way, as if she rarely let her guard down.

Finally, she spoke softly. "I'm Viskyia. And you are?" The half-esh said, wondering suddenly where Furloin had gotten too. Her tone wasn't demanding, challenging, or angry. It was... calm, pleasant, even curious.

[Hay'aan Benedict]

Hauling the wood was something that she found almost therapeutic. She was used to working hard at home and so she found herself getting into the rhythmn of her task. There was something to be gained from every experience, so Hay'aan had been told and so she believed, and so she welcomed the chance to take time working physically while her mind worked in different ways.

When the brownie considered that she had carried in enough wood, a judgement for which Hay'aan was grateful, for she had no idea what was most appropriate herself, she watched how he laid the fire and nodded, doing her best to commit the technique to memory. She utilised the bellows, but was careful not to over-use them, instead allowing Nature to take its course and simply light the fire.

Assuming that this technique worked, Hay'aan looked around and smiled slightly. Tidying up seemed to be unlikely as the place was so clean and tidy anyhow. However, that notwithstanding, she considered that she had made some mess herself when she had carried the logs in and so her first responsibility was to tidy up that which she had created.

So, getting a broom she cleared away all the pieces of debris from the logs, ensuring that the woodpile was neat and accessible and that any mess from her carrying the wood in was taken care of.

So, when Viskyia came back, Hay'aan was just putting the broom back away from where she had found it. She glanced up when Viskya asked her question and nodded, her cheeks flushed slightly under her dark skin, but she maintained eye contact for a short while, at least.

"I am Hay'aan. I... I came here to ask for an apprenticeship. I... my... I want to be a jewelcrafter and I have signed up for basic jewelcrafting in the Institute. I... that is, I spoke with...Furloin and he said to set the forge and clean up, so..so I did."

That said, her position explained, she looked once more at Viskyia and then cast her eyes down once again in her usual expression of bookish shyness. She waited for Viskyia's answer, hands folded in front of her as she did so.

[Viskyia Crow]

Viskyia grinned slightly. "That sounds like Furloin... you ask for an apprenticeship and he puts you to immediate work no questions asked." She said, pushing off from the door frame and walking deeper into the workroom. She traversed past the workbenches, and circled around to the forge. Examining the fire, she smiled slightly. "Not only is it warmer in here, but you did an excellent job. Thank you, I can jump into my work immediately without waiting for the forge to heat." The half elf said appreciatively. Then she walked over to a door on the right side of the room, and unlocked it. She walked in and returned with a tray of uncut stones. She sat them down on the counter and beckoned Hay'aan over. The tray was lined with velvet but held what appeared to be all sorts of stones... emeralds, diamonds, rubies, even a hunk of jade. Viskyia smiled and nodded to it. "Tell me what you see here, Hay'aan? Don't be ashamed and don't tell me what you think I might want to hear. Just tell me what your heart says is laying in this tray. I don't care if you know what types the stones are or not. I want to know what you see when you look at them." It was a test of course... and one that Viskyia thought was very important. The half-esh wanted to know what Hay'aan thought and indeed what she felt when she stared at the raw uncut stones. Citrine eyes met the Air'riela blooded girl's gaze openly and curiously.... but most importantly non-judgmentally. Once Hay'aan gave her answer, Viskyia got down to business.

"Apprenticeships consist of a few things. First I can teach you basic Jewelcrafting and even some advanced techniques. I can offer you a place to stay at my manor, though you'd probably have to share a room since I have several house guests at the moment. And, in addition, if you'd like to take on the duties of an assistant while your apprenticing, then I'd be glad to pay you 80 crowns a cycle to start. This would consist of running errands, taking notes, attending meetings if I cannot make them, and doing a lot of busy work for me since I'm involved in building a new resort for Demios this winter. It's also going to involve keeping what you know to yourself, since some things as an assistant that you'll see will make no sense or seem.... rather.... off. But I can assure you its nothing illegal, just off the beaten track." Viskyia said candidly. It was better to be honest, and let the Hay'aan know up front. Of course, it would be hard to hide the fact she was a priestess of Kaimelea in training, and that she was organizing an underground reverie from an assistant. But such as it was.... Viskyia believed everything happens for a reason. There was time and a decided strong bunch of reasons to introduce Hay'aan gradually. That is, if she accepted the jeweler's offer, and Viskyia hoped she would. The truth was, the half-esh needed the help and was wholly willing to trade lessons for it.

[Hay'aan Benedict]

"I... the stones here seem" she looked at them, picking each one up and touching it gently "Well, honestly this seems like a lot of potential, but each one needs work.They need to be refined and honed. I like... I like this one the best" at this she picked up the emerald "It's unusual and the colour is vibrant... so it would stand out and look beautiful in the middle of a cluster of these.." she added, holding the diamonds.

She looked at Viskyia and then back at the stones "I... I like the idea of looking at them and thinking what they'd do best at being... it's like there's something hidden inside each one, and I just want to be able to bring it out into the open."

She looked at Viskyia, marvelling slightly at the half-elf's eyes as she answered. It seemed, to Hay'aan, to be a stumbling and clumsy answer, but it was how she felt.

When Viskyia continued to speak, however, Hay'aan paid close attention and nodded "Firstly, and most importantly, I can promise you that I know how to keep things between these four walls. I am happy with the arrangement you suggest. If you are happy to have my services as an assistant, I will give it my best and will work hard. THank you, I very much appreciate the chance to prove myself. As I said previously, I have signed up for basic jewel crafting, since you are willing to teach me, I will change that to something else. I wish to learn as much as I can. Is that acceptable? I will not allow it to interfere with my work here"

She looked at Viskyia and smiled at her "And somewhere to live would be very welcome. Thank you so much. I can not tell you how much I appreciate the chance. I will do my level best to not ever let you down" she said, earnestly and then looked around the room "Where would you like me to start?" she asked, amiably.

[Viskyia Crow]

Viskyia smiled, seeing the beauty of what Hay'aan was saying in the girls words. She too loved arranging stones, finding their correct places, bringing them to life, then gifting them to people who would wear them for the whole of their lives. But because she saw that same love, she was decidedly going to make sure the girl had a really good grasp of what working with gemstones was all about. "I love your attitude. I really do. So... I guess I should go over what we are going to learn here in the next cycle. If your going to apprentice with me, you really need to learn some basics that will help out my work considerably. Most basic apprentices learn appraisal, stone identification, gem maintenance, jewel finishing and beginning metal work... in this case we will just stick to soldering." Viskyia said, then grinned and gestured around. "Of course that involves a lot of working with the tools here, or your own if you have them. I'll help you find your way around a shop, and then as a little bonus I'll teach you a very basic cut... the princess cut for a very inexpensive stone. That should take us all of about a cycle, and then I can turn you loose to work on your own pieces. Along the way you can pick up making chains, and smelting your metals if you'd like. I'm big with doing everything for myself so as to not rely on the craftsmanship of others... what you decide to do will be up to you as you advance... but until then, we will do things my way until you get your feet. Any questions?" She said, smiling slightly.

"Now, most Jewelcrafters will teach you appraisal first, but I think thats rather tedius because how can you appraise something if you don't even know what it is. With time, you will recognize stones by sight... some are fairly easy... like emeralds. But rubies could be garnets of exquisite color, or sapphires could be the burnt gold of a topaz. Visual clues can just confuse jewelers, so I will teach you how to know what you have so you can appraise it appropriately." Viskyia said, then went on to hand Hay'aan a written out list. "Each of these procedures requires a tool or method. Lets go over them carefully, shall we?" The jeweler said, smiling slightly glad to have someone to share her craft with.

Gem Identification Checklist Actual Gem Type: Proposed Gem Type: Crystal Shape: Crystal System: Optical Properties: Color, Color Explanation Refractive Index: Birefraction Luster Interference Asterism Cut Hardness Weight Specific Gravity Cleavage/Fracture Notes:

"I always play this game with myself... what do I suspect it is? What does it turn out to be? If you are honest with yourself, its a joy to look back over your notes and see how much better you get at knowing the gemstones you work with." And with that, Viskyia handed Hay'aan a journal where she could start keeping her notes and thoughts. "Use this... it will come in handy in all sorts of things. Record your projects, your sketches, your struggles and victories. I have dozens of them now, and still keep them. They are the record of my life and my work, your's will be that for you too." Viskyia said, trying not to be melodramatic, but meaning every word of it.

Viskyia then opened the vault, took a gem tray, and walked into it. She returned with an assortment of ten gemstones on the tray, some raw, some cut, some unusually colored. Then she set a journal called "Crow's Identification Guide to Gemstones". It was a key chart, that once a gem's qualities had been determined the book could be used to identify exactly which gemstone it was.

But, she wasn't finished. More equipment came out. Viskyia retrieved a small oil lamp with a wire contraption on it that appeared to be for holding water in a bowl above it. Then the bowl to match appeared wrapped in a cloth and a jar of lamp oil tucked within it. She filled the lamp, set the bowl on top of it, and set a waterskin to one side. Then she took a small box of stones from the pack, and set them aside. A set of tiny scales followed. Then her jewelers lens came next, then a refractometer which was nothing but a tubular device set with a glass prism at the end. A vial of oil came out after that. And finally a set of gem tongs was laid beside the gem tray.

"Now, which gem do you want to start with? I'll run through one with you as an example, then watch you identify the rest." She said, letting Hay'aan pick something that struck her fancy off the tray. There was an assortment of colors and styles, so the girl could go any route she wanted for her first practice stone identification.

[Hay'aan Benedict]

"I have this kit.... my mother gave it to me" she said, producing a pouch which contained a sturdy and well made jewel crafting kit. She handed it to Viskyia with a small smile, hoping that this met with her approval. Viskyia then ran through what was going to happen for this training and Hay'aan nodded "I understand. No, no questions so far" she said, wide eyed and delighted.

She looked down at the list that Viskyia had given her and studied it carefully, frowning slightly and then looked up and nodded at her employer "That sounds great. Thank you.. and I'm sorry, I might keep saying that for the next cycle." she added smiling slightly and considered that the checklist itself would indeed be a way of measuring progress. She was just thinking that she must purchase a journal of some kind when Viskyia put just the thing that she was thinking of in her hand. She smiled again and nodded "I'll use it as well as I can, I promise" she said, earnestly

The array of tools and equipment did not surprise Hay'aan, for her mother had shared this craft. So she recognised many of the things that Viskyia had, although she had not used them herself. She looked down at the tray of gems and picked literally the first one that caught her eye. It was pale blue and medium size, and she pointed to it, not touching it and said "That one sparkles and catches my eye. I love the way it looks so delicate, such a pale colour like it's fading out of reality, almost.." she flushed slightly at the description, but then smiled at Viskyia. "So.. that one please?"

She grinned, a rush of excitement building in her. She could hardly believe that she was here, and honestly, it was amazing to her that she had gotten this far.

FYI!!the kit was part of my starting package and is worth 100gc!

[Viskyia Crow]

Viskyia leaned closer, grinned at the stone, and nodded. "Great choice. Those tools will do you well, they look like they are really good quality. We'll use several of them learning the basics, and I'll help you learn to take care of them as well. Jewelcrafting items are precision tools, expensive, and incredibly hard to replace... so you are lucky to have them." Viskyia said with a smile, then put the rest of the loose gemstones away.

"Now, write down what you think it is, leave the actual gemtype blank, and get out your hand lens. We'll look at crystal shape or form and system first. They go together because all gemstones have a design or way the gemstone was formed. The system determines the shape. The system is the way it grows. Sometimes its not possible to determine system because the stone is fragmented. But basically write down the shape, then we will look to see if it has a system. It is possible for a gemstone to not have a shape, such as the Tear of Ioannes, and those gems are called "Amorphus". Viskyia said, and went on to explain before she jumped too far ahead.

"Now, the shape, which is sometimes called 'habit' by rockhounds and jewelers..... You'd think we'd be talking how the gem is cut. But that is not the case. You can even see shapes in cut gemstones if you study the gems in the raw form. Now, you've picked the light blue.... lets see what it looks like raw." Viskyia stood up, walked to a cupboard, and picked out a grey stone that was very uninspiring. When she rested it beside Hay'aan, the girl could see that long spires of crystal could be seen in the large rock, ready to be cut out. They formed prisms of imperfect color. "This is a paperweight of mine.. a favorite. I have raw forms of all those stones you had a choice of so I could show you how you can study the shape of the raw verses the cut and see the difference. This shape is a prism, though its technical term is Pisolitic. Almost every gemstone we have is a prism, so its good you've chosen this to learn on. Here's a list of stones, their terms, and in the right upper cupboard is a box of raw stones that have inked numbers on them that go with the terms written on the actual specimens. In your spare time, go through them, learn them, and you'll never remotely be wrong looking at a cut stone verses a raw stone because you'll be looking at internal structure rather than a pretty princess cut, a marquis, or an oval." Viskyia said, handing her the sheet of prewritten types.

"Gemstones usually form distinct crystals. The shape of the crystals has been found to play an important role in the identification of stones. If you don't know the shape, you can't identify them properly. This is sometime called crystallography, and its important. Stones can normally be mentally divided in half, and sometimes in half again or again along invisible axes. You can tell when you have an actual axis because if you pretend this line is actually a silvered piece of glass... a mirror, held up to it, you get an exact reflection along that axis on the other half. So some gemstones can be divided by these mirrored axis' multiple times. How many axis' a stone has (these are easy to tell because I've already cut them), means its easier to identify them. Even in the raw, with a hand lens, you can see these shapes if you know what to look for... and you will learn this fair enough. I'll give you examples of each types to study, and you'll have it down by just a candlemark or two of going 'ah hah!'." Viskyia said, trying not to confuse or make something more complex than it really was. Gem identification was simple, but one had to know what one was doing to get it right.

"Here's the full list of systems.. This might seem complicated, but to identify a stone and later cut it, is somewhat difficult, and knowing these will make your jewelry work a great deal easier." Viskyia said, handing a sheet of parchment to Hay'aan.

Gemstone Systems

• ISOMETRIC, requires 4 three fold axis of rotation.
• TETRAGONAL, requires 1 four fold axis of rotation.
• HEXAGONAL, requires 1 six fold axis of rotation.
• TRIGONAL, requires 1 three fold axis of rotation.
• ORTHORHOMBIC, requires either 3 two fold axis of rotation or 1 two fold axis of rotation and two mirror planes.
• MONOCLINIC, requires either 1 two fold axis of rotation or 1 mirror plane.
• TRICLINIC, requires either a center or only translational symmetry.
• AMORPHOUS; no symmetry is present and it is therefore not a crystallographic system.

Viskyia paused for any questions, letting Hay'aan take notes, soak in the shapes, and just understand that it was a lot to learn. "Your light blue stone is an Isometric. Its a very basic very simple critter. Imagine your mirrored axis, study the stone in your hand lens, and you'll see what I'm talking about. This sounds complex because of all the terminology, but really it isn't." Viskyia said, leaning back. The woman had an ease here, talking about the stones around them, as if they were long time old friends, acquaintances, and as if she knew each one individually. For Viskyia, it was a type of subtle madness, a genius that drove her... Hay'aan would realize this was her life, her work, her passion.

"Now, Optical properties. What color is it? You'll need your burner, a brand from the furnace to light it, a bowl filled with water... and lets get that set up and the water steaming before we move on." Viskyia helped Hay'aan set up the burner, the bowl that fit over it filled with water. She took the stone on tongs and waved it by the fire (not close enough to get soot on it) and looked for changes, then once the water was steaming, she held it over the bowl to see if any color changes were evident. "Lots of stones have properties that change with the amount of moisture in the air, or heating or cooling. If we had ice would could test it on ice as well... but as is, this is a simple enough test to see that this stone holds its constant color and has no properties otherwise. Alexanderite for example changes color in moist air going from deep lavender to bright blueish green. Its Pleochroic- Gems that appear one color from one direction but that exhibit one or more different shades or colors when viewed from different directions." Viskyia remarked, knowing that only rarely would Hay'aan run across such abnormalities. "Most of the rest of them are just your average everyday colors, combination of colors, and banding. " Viskyia said, then leaned back.

"For some gemstones, color can be influenced by light and heat. It's critical. For many the color is considered "stable" like what this stone is exhibiting. This means that when exposed to light or normal heat, the color won't change at all. This can be rapid change or gradual. For other stones the color is considered "unstable". For example, all colors of sapphire are considered to be stable. In general, you can wear them in the heart of the Arakmat without wondering if they will fade in the Suns or extreme heat. Conversely topaz will fade rapidly when exposed to sunlight or magelight. Brown topaz for example is notorious for growing duller between where a miner removes it and where it is taken out the entrance of the mine. Thats why there's almost no brown topaz jewelry.. its considered unsavory and sapphire is used instead, which comes in all different colors, not just blue." Viskyia said, grinning as if this was a delight to know, though she wasn't certain Hay'aan would share her fascination or curiosity. "If you make jewelry out of unstable stones, always caution those you make it for to store it in a dark place, velvet bags for example, and wear it out only in the evenings." She said, chuckling slightly.

"Hue and Saturation are also important. Other jewelers might contact you wanting similar stones for a matched set... they will give you a hue.. say blue.. and a saturation index... how deep the blue is and ask if you've any stones that match. I'll teach you that at higher levels, but its important to note and if the need arises, you can go ahead and dig in and figure out what they might want on your own... one is almost clear, while ten is the deepest darkest saturation index you can find, almost black." She smiled, noting to show Hay'aan later some of her charts and example stones.

"Now, ready to move on?" She asked.


OOCI will colorize this later when my internet is not acting so poorly.

[Hay'aan Benedict]

She nodded at Viskyia's words on her tools, smiling "My mother used to tell me that a good toolkit is more important than a whole carriage load of talent. But that the best thing is to combine the two, if possible..." she smiled fondly as she thought of her mother and then turned her attention back to Viskyia and the gems in front of her. At Viskyia's bidding, she took the Gem identification checklist and wrote in there, in her small and neat handwriting. Once she had done that, she collected her hand lens and looked at Viskyia with interest.

She nodded enthusiastically at the thought of looking at crystal shape.. in fact, she'd have nodded enthusiastically if they'd just been sitting down and talking about crystals. She loved them, truly loved them and she wanted to soak up knowledge as much as she could. In her notebook she wrote, carefully, taking notes as Viskyia spoke to her. This she did in order to jog her memory later, so she wrote keywords down and left spaces for herself to write explanations. She nodded and paid careful attention to the stone that seemed rather uninspiring, but which had been the source of the beautiful blue stone.

She took the two pieces of parchment from Viskyia, the first one being about the Crystal Habits and the second one on the Systems. "So, it's the point in the middle... I think I see... yes." she said, looking at the second sheet carefully. The light blue stone, Viskyia said was an Isometric, and that meant that it has... and here she looked down once again at the piece of parchment.. four threefold axis of rotation. "So... since it's Isometric and it has four threefold axis of rotation... does that mean that it's essentially a sort of three dimensional square... a..." she searched for the name and nodded to herself when she continued "a.. cube..?" she asked, searching desperately back in her mind for books which contained informatrion on shapes and such things. She looked at Viskyia with a slight frown, considering carefully as she did so. It didn't matter to Hay'aan if she was right or wrong, but rather that she understood what she was doing. So she focused carefully on the discussion and the answer Viskyia gave her before she took the lens and focused on the pale blue stone. She looked at it, searching for the things that she expected to see about it's shape, and those that she didn't... she looked at it and drunk in the information, considering carefully what she was seeing.

Once she had examined it, she looked up at Viskyia and nodded, carefully "I think I see what I'm expecting to see... the axis would be.... " she placed a small tweezer on where she thought the axis that she was talking about would be and moved her head so that Viskyia could see it "That's the mirror, right there?" she asked, not entirely sure but hopeful that she was right. Either way, she looked again once Viskyia had looked, commiting to memory the correct answer, and then, as Visk started talking again she moved to follow her instructions and so Hay'aan set up her equipment where Viskyia bid her to do so.

As Viskyia spoke of the optical properties of gemstones, Hay'aan made notes, listening carefully and checking for spelling of words such as Pleochroic. She seemed to soak up the information and was, in truth, fascinated by the discussion on the different optic properties of gemstones. She frowned slightly at the discussion on those which faded and asked thoughtfully "So does that mean that those gems which are unstable, especially those like brown topaz which fade... are they more expensive then? Because you have to be really wealthy to afford such? Or are they cheaper because of the risk involved? Or does it depend on other factors?" she asked, looking eagerly at Viskyia and considering her question, and her mentors answers, most carefully.

She made notes in her notebook and nodded eagerly to Viskyia when she was asked if she was ready to go on. The young gypsy loved learning and adored nothing more than to soak up information. Add to that her desire to learn the jewelcraft and this was a wonderful brightening.

"I think so, yes.. I think I understand" she said,

Hay'aan's Notes: Gem Identification Checklist Actual Gem Type: Proposed Gem Type: Aquamarine Crystal Shape: Prism (technical term: Pisolitic) Crystal System: Isometric Optical Properties: Hue: Blue Saturation: 3(???) Color, Color Explanation Refractive Index: Birefraction Luster Interference Asterism Cut Hardness Weight Specific Gravity Cleavage/Fracture Notes: First gem identification. Gem Identification Checklist: Actual Gem Type: Proposed Gem Type: Crystal Shape: Crystal System: Optical Properties: Color, Color Explanation Refractive Index: Birefraction Luster Interference Asterism Cut Hardness Weight Specific Gravity Cleavage/Fracture Notes: My journal, given to me by Viskyia. In here I will record my journey through my mothers' craft and hopefully will consider my achievements and failures, pleasures and disappointments as I strive to become the best jewel crafter I can be. My first lesson today. Viskyia gave me a Gem Identification Checklist. I have copied it out on this page, I am sure that it will become invaluable to me as time goes on. She is so organised!! Notes: Crystal Shape OR Form and System: SYSTEM: the way the gem goes - determines the shape. Can't always determine it because of fragmentation of stone. Possible for crystals / gemstones to not have a shape ---- eg: Tears of Ioannes --- these are called AMORPHUS SHAPE: also called the "habit". Not necessarily the way the gem is cut, but the shape in its natural form. Sheet of Crystal Habits attached. Spend time going through this!!!! Check out the numbered gemstones and make sure that I am conversant with all. OPTICAL PROPERTIES: does it change colour with water? with heat? with ice? STABLE = no changes in those conditions. Alexandrite - changes colour in moist air - goes from deep lavender to blue-ish green. It's PLEOCHROIC - appears one colour from one direction and another from another. Sapphire - stable. Comes in all colours, not just blue Topaz - will fade when exposed to bright light or magelight. Almost no brown topaz jewelry - fades very quickly. HUE: Colour... so blue, for example. SATURATION: The depth of the colour. Ranges from 1 -10. One is almost clear and ten is very dark, almost black.