A Flight of Whimsy: The Gemstone Opal as a Comic Book Heroine

In my other life I am a theatre director.  And recently I have been directing a play where one of the main characters is a D&D playing, rap writing, comic book nerd.  And I have consequently been talking about Superman more than at any other time in my life.  Usually my conversations center on diamonds but my mind is a porous thing so I inevitably find my self-having the silliest super hero thought digressions as I prepare blogs for the coming months.

Early 20th Century Black Ring 

Usually when I research a gemstone for a blog I focus on the quality of the stone, the biography of the stone, its word origin and the legends surrounding famous examples of said stone.  I may read the more outrageous information but I usually do not include it in my blog but today as I was reading about opals in the context of my newfound interest in Superman something shifted.  Her qualities (you see I have already begun to anthropomorphize her) began to jump out at me and I began to formulate this vision of a justice league like cast of characters based on gemstones and their most extreme legendary qualities.

Beautiful Uncut Opals

And so I decided to follow that idea down the rabbit hole as I began to create my first character Queen Opal hailing from Queensland Australia where legend tells of a woman, Isobel Robinson, who traded in opals.  She walked round the town of Eulo wearing a gold belt as thick as an arm studded with opals the size of Victorian Pennies.  She went by the name the Eulo Queen and it was said she glittered when she walked. Shakespeare, after all, called opals "that miracle and queen of gems". 

Painting of the Eulo Queen

Queen Opal is a blond because Nordic and Medieval legend holds that a blond woman should wear opals in her hair or round her neck to retain the luster of her locks and to protect herself from inclement weather.  And of course she is fantastically beautiful because so are opals.

And in her origin story Queen Opal came to earth on a bolt of lightening as it was popularly believed in ancient Arabic culture that this was the origin of opals.

But what are her super powers you ask?  This is where it gets fun.  There are many, almost too many to list.  First of all she would have the power of invisibility.  The Bishop Marbode of Rennes is quoted "It (Opals) gifts the bearer with acutest sight; But clouds all other eyes with thickest night."

What Queen Opal Might Look Like in Super Hero Form

She also has the gift of teleportation.  I'm not sure where that legend hailed from but it was what provoked my fits of fancy as I read a brief sentence telling of this legend and immediately pictured my new gemstone superhero bopping from place to place with the flash of green or pink in her milky white beauty signaling her movement.  And then of course my mind wandered even further. 

We have the occasional young boy come into our store excited by all the jewels before him, not for their intrinsic beauty like their mother, but because he sees that other quality people have seen in jewels for years—magic.  They see the magic of "The Hobbit" and Bilbo Baggin's ring or the ring Harry Potter seeks.  And I thought how much could I make this boy's eyes alight if I could say sure—with this ring you could teleport.

Edwardian Opal & Pearl Ring

And okay I can't really say that but opals are so beautiful you feel like they would have the power to teleport you.

But my digression keeps multiplying so back to the qualities of our superhero Queen Opal.  Like the opal of legend she can clarify, amply and mirror feelings, buried emotions and desires and she lesson inhibitions and promotes spontaneity.  She also enhances psychic ability and promotes good eyesight.  She protects children from predatory animals and she banishes evil and the evil eye.  She is in fact very cool.  She is also a symbol of hope, innocence and purity.

Edwardian Opal Ring

Like any super hero, she does have her evil detractors.  Many have tried to malign her with false legends of bad luck.  Misguided lovers of diamonds afraid that she will outshine their favorite spread rumors that she will bring them doom but Queen Opal retains her beauty and her purity ultimately winning out over her nemesis with her flashes of brilliance and her super powers and her lasting beauty.

Day to Night: Wearing Your Diamonds During the Day

While working I often hear, “I adore this piece of jewelry but I can only wear it for formal events and I only attend a couple of those a year”. 

And it is true there are not many formal events in the majority of our lives.  We are not the starchy society we once were, particularly in Seattle.  But that does not mean we have to give up on exquisite jewelry just because we are worried we will have no place to wear it. 

Owner, Laura Dalesandro, Dressing Down Her Diamonds

Exquisite jewelry is worth a little effort.  And I admit I may go over the top occasionally in my need to work my life around an outfit.  One of my old roommates and I used to host themed dinners.  We would make it Fellini night or “Roman Holiday” night.  Whatever fashion sensibility we wanted to emulate we would create an event to suit. 

Fashion, not shockingly has always been a passion of mine and for different periods of my life a profession. Some people collect stamps, some people restore cars, I like to see just how dressy you can wear a t-shirt and just how casually you can wear diamonds. 

Store Manager, Elizabeth Schoenleber, Sporting a White Shirt & Diamond Necklace

But if this is not something you want to devote all your time to, there are easy ways to have your diamond necklace and wear it to. 

It’s true.  When a woman asks me where in the world she could wear a fantastic diamond necklace, my response is always where couldn’t she.  Sometimes I even see a little red or rather blinding white as I am called to arms to defend the choice of diamonds during the day. 

Graphic Designer, Mandy Blouin, Fabulous in Victorian Gold & Pearls

First of all everything looks better with diamonds.  There are the classics—diamond stud earrings, diamond pendant necklace, diamond band or perhaps a diamond engagement ring.

But you can’t just stop there.   Who can resist diamond chandelier earrings with a black jersey shirt and your cutest jeans for drinks with the girls?  Or a little bling added to a boring workday in the form of a fantastic brooch attached to a cardigan, blazer or boat neck shirt.

And Me, Miko Premo, Dressing Down Victorian Lapis, Diamonds & Gold

Now some people say diamonds I get, but what about the really antique, ornate and fabulous necklace I love but can’t envision in my daily wear. This is when I call in to play the ever, useful white button down shirt.  Some people say always have a little black dress and I say yes, but also have one, two, three white button down shirts. (Really you can never have to many white, button-down shirts.  Really. ) Wear a white shirt with black pants for office wear or jeans for day wear and pair it with one of those fantastic Victorian necklaces and see how amazing you look with out being too over dressed.  

Don’t have the budget for diamonds, you can also juxtapose that beautiful, sparkling crystal necklace you’ve always yenned for but felt timid about wearing.  Just have fun.  Defy the uber casualness of the day for a stylish casual elegance all your own.


(And please enjoy the photos above of the staff of Isadora's doing our best to dress down diamonds in the most delightful of ways!)


- Miko

happy end of august !

Come check out our latest selection of beautiful European arrivals !

Happy Summer

If everyone played the ukulele, the world would be a better place by wackystuff on Flickr.


Enjoying the last couple weeks of summer and I thought this old sheet music cover was pretty perfect.

Stylish Hands

Today I was e-mailing back and forth with a client interested in a beautiful ring.  She had seen the ring in person but her boyfriend had not, so we decided to take some photographs of rings on fingers so he could have a more dynamic view of this fantastic jewel.

I don’t know why I always think it will be easy to take a photo on a hand.  The rings look fantastic but posing a hand, like posing a body, is an art my hands have not.  And so I decided to go to that ever, useful search function “Google Images” to see how other people make their hands look attractive.

And while I looked for the perfect pose for my hand I was reminded of one of the other reasons I love rings (The first of course being that they are often fantastically beautiful.)  But the second is how expressive they are, not only singularly but also in great abundance, as women and men pile on the rings in the most beautiful and unique combinations.

The “Google Image” that awed me I have put below.  A woman bedecked in Zuni jewelry.  Her hands showing the years she’s lived.

Looking through these photographs of hands, you could see so much about the women who wore them, how they saw the world, how they saw themselves and the beauty they sought to express. 

Having the good fortune of seeing avid jewelry collectors on a daily basis I have such respect for people who know how to build a collection – and not the collection alone, but how they pair their jewelry each day as they dress themselves, showing the world a little bit of who they are with how they attire themselves.  These women make the jewelry they wear even more fantastic by how they pair it and by filling it with themselves.  A snake ring is beautiful.  A Cartier triple band is beautiful but put the right two together and it is art.  Sometimes how woman pair things make sense.   For instance sometimes I like to wear all my Native American jewelry together but other times the way a woman wears her rings can be idiosyncratic and yet somehow divine as she juxtaposes Victorian rose gold with the sleek modernity of Art Deco. 

And so as a project, my co-worker and I decided to pair some of the rings in the store with our imperfect hand poses to play with this art form we love so much-the styling of the hand.

Louise Brooks: Fashion Icon

Louise Brooks was an American dancer, model, actress and show girl from the late 20s early 30s. The style Brooks exhibited was like no one else. The dynamism of her style screams give me a cocktail, a cocktail ring of course.

Summer: A Time for Travel

Summer is always a fun time in Isadora’s.  Thousands of people visit the historic Pike Place Market each May through September, many of them taking a moment, a half an hour or even a half a day to pop into our store, and enjoy our collection. 

Seattle Pike Place Market

We so enjoy hearing each individual’s story as pass through our store and lives, enriching us with a greater sense of the people of this world we live in.  And sometimes those of us who work in the store get a chance to take a trip ourselves.

Tourism is not a new thing.  On my very favorite movies and novels (It is so rare I like both) is “A Room with a View” by E.M. Forster where the young Lucy Honeychurch is transformed by a trip to Italy during the early 20^th century.

Mt. Vesuvius Ash Cameo Brooch

I feel, the good vacations we eagerly anticipate, thoroughly enjoy, and hold as a memory for years to come.  The great vacations transform us.  And so I ask myself, how do we hold those memories after we leave, retain the beauty and the emotional sustenance they provide having returned to our normal life once again? 

Egyptian Revival Bracelet

I remember a quote from the movie Rebecca (another book/movie although I confess I never made it to the book after being captivated by Laurence Olivier’s Maxim de Winters).  Joan Fontaine’s character says, “You know, I , I wish there could be an invention . . . that bottled up the memory like perfume.  And it never faded, never got stale.  That whenever I wanted to, I could uncork the bottle and live the memory all over again.”

1920's Butterfly Wing Necklace

And I suppose one can’t truly live a memory again, but like Joan Fontaine’s imagined bottle, I believe an object can be the keeper for a memory.  You look at it and remember the smell of your vacation, the excitement, the transcendent moments.  And for me jewelry has always been a perfect memory holder.  It is something personal, so personal it is worn on your person and whether it is a ring on your finger or a locket on your neck you hold the memories close when you put that piece of jewelry on.

Vintage Italian Themed Charm Bracelet

And just as I love to look at my souvenir’s brought back from different parts of the world, I also like to look at what others chose to collect on trips aboard.  Particularly the tourists of yester year-whether it is an Italian cameo purchased on a Victorian lady’s grand tour, a piece of Egyptian revival enamel jewelry inspired by the opening of King Tut’s tomb, a British butterfly wing pendant sold at the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 or a sweet 50’s silver charm bracelet collected by a young girl as she traveled the world.