Lapis Lazuli
I love collecting minerals, rocks and precious stones from the around the world. Aside from their obvious beauty, they have formed over millions of years creating precious moments and memories for me when handpicked.
One of my favourite semi-precious stones is Lapis Lazuli, for so many reasons!
Aside from being a gorgeously brilliant blue, the pyrite (also known as fool's gold) within it makes it look like you have the heavens in the palm of your hands.
Lapis was worn as jewellery by the rich and ruling classes in Ancient Egypt and Greece and was popular with alchemists as it was said to have many healing properties.
When mixed with oil, it produced ultramarine which was used in the blues of the Renaissance paintings. In pigment form, Lapis was reserved to paint the Virgin Mary’s garments in iconography dating back to the Middle Ages.
Lapis comes from Afghanistan and is quite expensive in pigment form. I therefore use the medieval process of extracting the pigment from Lapis stone for our icons.
~Apostolis