Storage Solutions: The Jewel Condo

by Cecilia
(Spain)

I've been reading about the crystal storage problem and the wonderful ideas others have had. I'll be working on my own crystal garden soon. This idea may help where jewelry is concerned, but it isn't completely mine. I hatched it out based on a seminal suggestion from a friend.

We're both artists who met in art school several lifetimes ago. One day I came to visit, bearing gifts: my husband, who had taken a liking to her, had sent a silver scarab, and I got her a lovely pair of moonstone earrings.

She immediately took off her onyx pair (which I've been cleansing since; she insisted on a trade, but they seem to have taken a psychic beating - the art world can be terribly competitive) and put on the moonstones. Then I learned she really didn't take care of her jewelry and I taught her the most basic thing about Mohs - that she had to separate by hardness, else they could get injured.

Two days later, she came up with this architecture that ensured Mohs separation: stackable compartments that also solved the problem of having to rummage in boxes until you found the thing you wanted. Admittedly, it's plastic-based, but it's better than the standard jeweller's solution of individual boxes with transparent plastic covers. I waived the plastic objection because the stones seemed to like it, having passed through the previous torture all jewels undergo to be "worthy" of display. (That might be likened to Homo erectus being brought around to condominium culture).

The "tower" in the background has moldavite and vredefort elements at the base and tanzanite living in the penthouse (just my personal touch after asking the stones and shuffling them around). The smaller "facility" in front contains those frequently-used pieces that also end up being cleansed often. A couple of rubies, for instance, are wallowing in the "crystal tub" around a jade egg and a tiger-eye gourd while a couple of vredefort chunks relax with them. There's also a box with a loupe for examination and the only jewel box left that now contains a pendulum.