The full range of Heathergems jewellery and gifts can be seen in many quality gift shops throughout Scotland as well as quite a few stores overseas. Some are inserted into decorative metal settings, the majority made from pewter and silver.” Some pieces are natural shapes like hearts and ovals. “Each piece is then filled and sanded to a very fine finish before being lacquered by hand. “The individual pieces are cut out on computer-controlled machines to different shapes,” Buyers said. Later, it is cut to produce the jewellery. The compressed block is then left to harden. The colours are mixed and soaked in resin before being put in a hydraulic press which squeezes the heather between two moulds at a pressure of up to 80 tons.
He said that after the dyed stems have dried, they are made into blocks, which are normally composed of two colours. That is very important to tourists researching their Scottish heritage and it’s one reason our products sell extremely well to the American market.” You are getting your very own piece of Scotland when you buy a Heathergem. “The colours never come out exactly the same, which means Heathergems are special to the individual. It takes several days for the dye to penetrate the heather,” Buyers said. The heather is very hard, so the stems are put in a vacuum chamber before the dye is released. “The cleaned stems are then coloured with natural dyes. The heather stems are then dried before being shot blasted to remove the bark. It is normally burnt to allow new heather to grow, although the process of cutting the heather also allows new heather to grow up,” explained Buyers. “This is old heather which has lost its nutritional value to wildlife. The process of turning heather, that quintessentially Scottish plant, into jewellery and gifts begins when workers collect heather stems from the Perthshire hills. “The finished Heathergems display the natural markings of each individual heather stem, highlighted by the varying shades of the natural dyes,” said Stuart Buyers, Managing Director. The final step is to lacquer them in order to bring out the brilliance of the colors and to make them smooth to the touch.Įvery Heathergem that's created is different from the last, and any piece that you own is the only quite like it in the world.An unusual form of Scottish jewellery and giftware made from natural heather stems, Heathergems make deeply personal presents as no two are ever alike, thanks both to the beautiful toughness of Scottish heather and the unique Heathergems treatment process.īased in Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire, Heathergems is a Scottish craft business and success story, which is gathering sales and attention around the world after quietly building focus and momentum over more than half a century. The blocks are carefully cut by expert craftspeople, by hand, using a band-saw. Newly dyed heather stems of various colors are combined and compressed into blocks using enormous amounts of pressure. The heather is then dyed in various shades that are meant to reflect the natural hues found in the Scottish highlands. The stems are gathered and stripped of bark, then cleaned to prepare them for what follows. Heathergems are made from the woody stems of aging heather. Heather grows abundantly in the highlands of Scotland, and as it ages it provides little benefit to the environment and to the local wildlife. The company was formally established in 1970 as the only manufacturers of the unique and imaginative Scottish jewelry. Heathergems is a family run business based in Scotland that has handcrafted a wide variety of jewelry since the 1950's.
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