Many minerals form beautiful crystals, but the most prized of all are gemstones. Uncut gems often look fairly ordinary–like rocks. It's only when they are cut and polished that they obtain the ...

A ring made with a beautiful emerald ... or polished to be used in jewelry or other things. While many gemstones are also minerals or crystals, not all of them are. For example, a pearl can ...

We hardly ever talk about homegrown crystals, though, and that’s a shame once you see how easy it is to make beautiful crystals from scratch. We’ve got to say that we’re impressed by the ...