Happy Birthday to all my readers born in December!  I’m excited to have finished a full year of this series, and we have three blue stones to choose from this month — Turquoise, Blue Zircon, and Tanzanite, so let’s jump right in shall we?  First up is this beautiful piece called Turquoise Dawn by American deviantartist Rachael Mayo, posting as rachaelm5.  She writes “I wasn’t sure that the gold linework would work originally … I usually see silver [with] turquoise jewelry, but I think the gold really sets off the blues and greens…”  I wholeheartedly agree!

Rachel also posted her pencil version and you can find more amazing dragons and art in her gallery and follow her on Facebook.  I’ve even featured her in a previous post, and you can check out her awesome Dragon Adventure 3: A Kaleidoscopia Coloring Book: Dragons and Friends on Amazon, with links to her first two coloring books as well!

So back to the stones — from the Wiki:

Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral … [and] has been known by many names … the Aztecs knew it as chalchihuitl. The word turquoise dates to the 17th century and is derived from the French turquoisfor “Turkish” because the mineral was first brought to Europe through Turkey…

Turquoise was among the first gems to be mined, and many historic sites have been depleted…  Iran has been an important source of turquoise for at least 2,000 years. It was initially named by Iranians “pērōzah” meaning “victory”, and later the Arabs called it “fayrūzah“, which is pronounced in Modern Persian as “fīrūzeh“. … Since at least the First Dynasty (3000 BCE) in ancient Egypt, and possibly before then, turquoise was used by the Egyptians and was mined by them in the Sinai Peninsula.

Up next we have this amazing Giant 8 Foot Teal Turquoise Cozy Flannel Dragon by American artist Sarah Miele that she sold for $349 on eBay!  I would love something like this in my house, I’ll definitely be looking Sarah up when I can afford a new addition!  You can see some interesting Ghostbusters fanfic/art in her gallery and see more of her artwork in her Etsy shop.

I just love this next little Turquoise Dragon by Israeli professional artists Elly and Vik of Vishnya Studio, posting as vavaleff.  It’s hand glazed ceramic stoneware and I like the little details like the wings and the toes!  Check out their gallery, Etsy shop, Elly’s Facebook, and their official website for more great pieces.

Then because I keep finding amazing origami dragons lately, here is Turquoise Destiny by Australian deviantartist Michael Lam, posting as Blackvegetable.  According to Michael this is John Szinger’s Classic Zing Dragon pattern of advanced difficulty level, and when one of his fans mentioned in the comments that they were having difficulty with steps 10 & 11, Michael took the time to write back and help them through it!  Check out his gallery for more amazing origami, some cosplay, and even food pictures, and you can also follow him on Facebook.

The next stone for December is Blue Zircon, so from the Wiki:

The natural color of zircon varies between colorless, yellow-golden, red, brown, blue and green. Colorless specimens that show gem quality are a popular substitute for diamond and are also known as “Matura diamond.”

The name derives from the Persian zargun, meaning “gold-hued”. This word is corrupted into “jargoon“, a term applied to light-colored zircons. The English word “zircon” is derived from Zirkon, which is the German adaptation of this word.

Here’s one of my perennial favorites from her Birthstone Collection: December by American professional artist Lindy Briggs of How Many Dragons?.  Check out her gallery and especially her new alcohol-ink dragons, and follow her on Facebook to see her latest work!  Lindy captions this one:

December’s birthstone is either blue zircon or turquoise, and this dragon sports a bit of both. He is holding a blue zircon rhinestone gem and has a matching gem on his forehead, while his belly is made out of inlaid turquoise chips. His body is turquoise blue and he has black accents – December is a dignified fellow!

Next is this December/Blue Zircon cross-stitch dragon by creator Brittany Church, posting as InglesideImaginarium on her Etsy store, part of her Birthstone Dragons Monthly Stitch-A-Long series.  Once again this is Brittany’s sample, because the artist who turned me on to this series, American crafter Gayle Tominaga, posting as jijikit, stitched the alternate Turquoise colors.  Gayle write this is a “Lindworm … their ‘legs’ are actually arms!  They slither on the ground like snakes, their arms helping them to crawl.”  You can see Brittany’s work on Etsy and Gayle’s gallery for more.

Sadly, there’s once again no update on my own cross stitch, but I’m planning to bring my stitching ‘home for the holidays’ and work on it over Christmas festivities, so perhaps an update next month?  I also do intend to pick up Brittany’s dragon series, but who knows when I’ll ever complete that.  🙂

The third December birthstone is Tanzanite, and it’s pretty interesting!  From the Wiki:

Tanzanite is the blue and violet variety … of the mineral zoisite… The gemstone was discovered by Manuel de Souza in … Northern Tanzania [Africa] in 1967, near … Mount Kilimanjaro. Tanzanite is only found in Tanzania, in a very small mining area (approximately 7 km (4.3 mi) long and 2 km (1.2 mi) wide)…

The gemstone was given the name ‘tanzanite’ by Tiffany & Co. after Tanzania, the country in which it was discovered. The scientific name of “blue-violet zoisite” (which might be pronounced like “blue suicide”) was not thought to be consumer friendly enough by Tiffany’s marketing department, who introduced it to the market in 1968. … Tiffany’s original campaign advertised that tanzanite could now be found in two places: “in Tanzania and at Tiffany’s”.

In 2002, the American Gem Trade Association chose tanzanite as a December birthstone, the first change to their birthstone list since 1912.

So here is the first Tanzanite dragon by American deviantartist Haley Eason, posting as Esprit-Arait.  She captions that this dragon is blind in one eye and I like how she’s conveyed that trait.  I also adore her art style, and I especially love her gallery full of CATS!  So. Many. Cats! 😀  She has other great artwork too including more dragons, and you can check out her YouTube channel to watch her speedpaint too!

Then here’s another Tanzanite Dragon by deviantartist Kheori, posting as pluto-my-way.  This dragon is amazing and appears to be made up of tanzanite stones rather than scales!  Going back to the Wiki, this dragon also displays the stone’s inherent “trichroism, appearing alternately blue, violet and burgundy depending on crystal orientation.”  These details must have taken forever (evidenced by Kheori’s caption that they were “literally done with it,” lol) but the end result is really spectacular.  Check out their gallery for more including lots of dragons!

Then finally we have the December Dragon by American artist and crafter Misha Wiles, posting as Amaze-ing Hats.  She doesn’t specify which of the blue stones she’s representing here, so I thought it was a great dragon to end with, encompassing all three!  You can see her streaming on Twitch and follow her on Facebook and Instagram, and also check out her gallery and order your very own customized dragon at her website!

Oh my gosh, right at the buzzer but I got it posted, woo!  We’re finally to the end of the Birthstone Dragons series… or are we?  Great news if you’ve loved this series as much as I have — I realized tonight that I always have so many dragons to choose from for these posts that next year I might as well start again!  This way I can show off even more fabulous dragon birthstone artwork and focus on new artists rather than the talented folks I featured multiple times this year.

Next week come back for another Renaissance Fest feature, then it’s Christmas and New Year’s, and then we’re on to a whole new year — time to figure out my posting and writing schedule again!

Thank you as always for reading, take care, and stay creative!

Image credits:
+ Turquoise Dawn by Rachael Mayo, posting as rachaelm5 
+ Giant 8 Foot Teal Turquoise Cozy Flannel Dragon by Sarah Miele 
+ Turquoise Dragon – 2 by Vishnya Studio, posting as vavaleff 
+ Turquoise Destiny by Michael Lam, posting as Blackvegetable  
+ Birthstone Collection: December by Lindy Briggs of How Many Dragons?  
+ December/Blue Zircon by Brittany Church, posting as InglesideImaginarium on Etsy 
+ Tanzanite Haley Eason, posting as Esprit-Arait  
+ Tanzanite Dragon by pluto-my-way  
+ December Dragon by Misha Wiles, posting as Amaze-ing Hats