Most people are familiar with the typical blood-red garnet, but did you know they come in other flavors too? How about fiery oranges, browns, even neon green? Did you also know that most garnets aren't composed of a single garnet family, but usually a little bit of several? Almandine, Pyrope, and Rhodolite are the red garnets most people associate with the idea of garnet. I'll show some examples of those at the bottom. The garnets I want to talk about first are Hessonite (yellow or orange, a type of Grossular garnet), Spessartine (orange or brown), Uvarovite (brilliant green - also called "chrome garnet"), Tsavorite (bright green - another Grossular), Grossular itself (the light green variety), and Demantoid (yellow, green, or brown, a type of Andradite garnet ). Whew, that's a lot of names to juggle! Speaking of which, the word garnet comes from the Latin "granatum" meaning "seed" - specifically the red seeds of the pomegranate. Garnet is associated with strength and sexual health, and is said to be a natural anti-depressant.

Let's start off with Hessonite garnets!

Here's a gorgeous pair of nature-inspired earrings by



Just look at these beads! By



An organic piece featuring hessonite paired with blue sapphire by



Now for some Spessartine!

Check out the fire of this spessartine and topaz pendant by



Gorgeous chandelier earrings by



Let's have some Uvarovite!

Uh, actually, the only one I could find is the one made by the husband half of my little team! Pardon me for the shameless self-promotion, uvarovite paired with golden beryl by



Now for super-green Tsavorite!

pairs his with imperial topaz:



A pendant that's almost too pretty for words, featuring tsavorite, ammolite, and opal from



Want some Grossular?

Here's a lovely bracelet by



Demanding Demantoid?

has a very green wrapped pendant:



Now that you've seen what a variety of colors garnets can have, let's look at some examples of the classic reds:

First, Almandine garnet, displaying a lovely hue in this ring by



Then there's Pyrope garnet, serving as the piercing eyes of this wolf's head pendant by



Finally, the more purplish Rhodolite garnet paired with Edulyte in a pendant by



Thanks for looking, and hopefully you've learned a little more about garnets!

Previous Features:

Astounding Alexandrite

Tantalizing Tourmaline