All about Rosarita

Rosarita is unique stone that comes in various shades of red and deep orange, sometimes featuring yellowy swirls. You can see it in many of the heart-shaped jewelry I've created over the last couple of years, including pieces that are in the oaktownwendy shop right now. It is one of my favorite stones to work with and it comes with a fascinating history.

Rosarita is a by-product of the gold refining processes prior to 1960. Alaskan beach sand was smelted for its gold content and the slag by-product became known as Rosarita, which is essentially a gold-infused glass. When an ore that is gold-bearing is heated to high temperatures, gold sinks to the bottom and the non-metals solidify into red and. orange boulders: Rosarita.

One of the things I appreciate about Rosarita, aside from its beauty, is that it is a sustainable product. Rather than letting this slag go to waste, some enterprising folks saw the potential to turn it into wearable art and we now have gorgeous cabochons of all shapes and sizes to set into silver and gold jewelry. It's also an eco-friendly alternative for using coral, much of which is endangered.

Rosarita is no longer produced because of improved efficiency in gold refinement. It has become a very collectible material for jewelry making (and wearing!). I enjoy creating Rosarita pieces that can be dressed up or down and worn daily. I wear my own Rosarita heart and turquoise open-shank ring just about every day and get compliments on it regularly.

I really love working with this special material, so you can almost always find handcrafted, one-of-a-kind Rosarita jewelry in the oaktownwendy shop.

(Sadly, not all items in the above photo collage are available, but there will be more to come!)