To understand how lab gemstones are created, let us take a quick look of how they are created in nature. There are basically four ways that gemstones are created. Igneous – These minerals are creat...

Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization between the 9th and 2nd centuries B.C. Although there is some confusion as to their history, it is well known that the Phoenicians had a huge ...

There was a  time that I believed the best way to preserve a book long term was to place it in a ziplock bag and put it somewhere dark.  I had not researched it or even Googled it, I just assumed. ...

Shopping online is fast becoming the way many Americans prefer to shop. We skip the mall and sit in our jammies and shop to our hearts' content. As great as this is, sometimes it can prove to be di...

 Once upon a time dishes were plain. Made from metal, wood, mud, they were Plain Janes. As time passed and one millennium slid into another, society in general continued to want to improve and bea...

Getting into the realm of stones and gemstones is a huge subject so I decided to take just one part of it at a time. So, today, let’s look at round stones. By identifying the cut, it can provide so...

KITCHENS OF THE 1970s, 80s, and 90s As we marched into the 1970s all hell broke loose in the kitchen. Overnight kitchens seemed to go from soft, pleasant colors to loud and overbearing. As I looke...

This small figural pocket knife was a mystery. It measures just 2" long. The exterior is mother of pearl and it is stamped with De Muth's Shoes. There were two things to go on... De Muth's Shoes an...

KITCHENS OF THE 1940s, 50s, and 60s As we near the middle of the twentieth century, the kitchen stays on the same path it began in the 1930s.  The kitchen was not only a place to cook, it was a pla...