A few new pics, a few new stones..but some craptastic conditions!

[Arcadian]

Today I got a very lovely afgan tourmaline from Gene. (its HYOOOGE!!), and since I had a few other stones to take pictures of, I figured hey, good day for a shoot! I was WRONG!

First, let me show you what I''m talking about. Taken from our great room onto the center deck.

 

[Arcadian]

But whatever, I''m a trooper (I think) I can deal with a little crazy weather. (It then started to pound ice all over the house 2 minutes later) Instead of going outside like i was going to, I took picture using nothing but natural light but I took them by the window.


Note, as I kept taking pics, it kept getting darker..lol that was about 12 this afternoon.


First up, The JXR Ammy I procured from amethyst guy

 

[Arcadian]

Its for sure blue flash, but I also see some pink in there too in certain lighting conditions. I forget the actual ct weight but for sure 3+ct stone.

 

[Arcadian]

Since the walls in our great room is greyish, it provides the perfect background for pictures. Plus the added bonus of tons of windows which let in a great deal of natural light.

On this day however...I got SOME light at least!

 

[Arcadian]

For this picture it was REALLY dark out and pretty dark inside too. I''m standing with my back to the window trying to get as much light as I can. This stone really rocks as it does perform well in low light.

 

[Arcadian]

Next up, the Namya Spinel I purchased from Dana. This is a very petite gem at .99cts and 5.4mm but its extremely big on color.

Shots were pretty much impossible but I''m still taking them. I bumped my ISO as much as I could and not get any noise in the shot.

 

[Arcadian]

This stone does have a strong fluro to it and is amazing to see in sunlight. No sunlight here though. you do see some orange flash to it every once in a while which I really like. Not sure what I''m going to do with it at this point. Maybe I can find something to set it with. Good saturation of color on this stone, especially being so petite. Cutting is gorgeous.

 

[Arcadian]

Next up, the afgani tourmaline. Let me say that its amazing in person, but you''re not going to be able to tell that by the pics I took lol. The cutting is so well done it kept picking up my camera lense, my fingers and my shirt. Also, the cutting on it makes a ton of light reflect back at you so hard that taking pictures is nuts (Gene, how did you do it man??)


So with the craptastic natural light I was getting, plus the fact that this stone was cut to freaking glow like nobody''s business, pictures were not exactly that lovely.

Out of the 10 or so pictures I took before I finally gave up, I have 3 that give an idea of what it sort of looks like. Once I set it in something I''ll take a few more.

This may be the stone I have to drag out my studio lighting for.


-A

 

[Arcadian]

here she is again, taken in a VERY dark room.

 

[marcy]

Very pretty stones.

 

[Arcadian]

Last one! If you ignore the reflection of my camera, you can see the lovely mix of blue and green in this stone. IRL, there''s a bit of yellow there too but its very faint. I like it as it softens transitions of the blue and green.


-A

 

[Barrett]

Your photos of that jxr are excellent....hopefully the sun will be out tomorrow or the next so we can see the spinel nice and bright in sun..hard to photo a stone in the 1ct range..i have a heck of a time also....that afghan whats the size on it? lol..gotta hate trying to show what you are seeing in person but not able to do it with a camera..especially on a stone cut so well...nice stones..edit: the last photo is pretty good..can def. see the nice blue-green color

 

[Arcadian]

Thanks marcy and Amguy. I''m certainly hoping for some better weather for sure. I didn''t have the macro lense on my camera and being that I was already losing light, I just went ahead and took pics with my base lense on.

Gene''s stone is 3.05ct. This stone really throws the light around like crazy. One inclusion which you can see if you hold the stone in a certain position, but dosen''t bug me at all. I certainly can''t fault its performance because in some of the pictures I took it was the only bright thing in it!


-A

 

[lasscreative]

Beautiful photos, I think it was still a successful photo shoot!

 

[T L]

Very nice stones. That Afghan would fit perfectly in a Legacy *hint hint*. Where''s the tornado?

 

[Arcadian]

Thanks lasscreative and TL.

BTW I did think about a legacy, but the stone has such lovely edges, and after I thought about it, I wouldn''t want the legacy halo competing with those. its 8.42mm across, finger coverage is going to be out there anyway...lol. We all know I''m not opposed to halos..lol. I''m looking at something like this linky I''m also checking around with AmericanSet too.

On the ammy is probably going to be apart of a much larger project. My mom sent me a strand of my grandmother''s pearls. They''re pretty with a plat and diamond closure. They have to be restrung anyway, so I''m going to talk to my jeweler about possibly making a pendant with some other ammy''s I''ve got, maybe make this one into a ring, and then some pearl and ammy earrings.

The spinel is something I just don''t have plans for at the moment. I think I may have to set it with somthing else.

-A

 

[Arcadian]

Oh TL, here''s your tornado...lol


-A

 

[T L]

So have you purchased any more stones we don''t know about???? Hmmmm?? I think you mentioned getting a zillion things in the catch all thread.

I would do a legacy with double prongs for the Afghan, but I''m predictable. LOL!

Thanks for the tornado!

 

[Burberrygirl]

Your photos are very nice (especially considering the craptastic conditions, lol). Very pretty stones, I love the colors

 

[blithesome71]

OMG Arcadian! Your new gems are stunning esp. the afghan tourmaline from Gene. It''s huge & gorgeous! *Congrats*

 

[Arkteia]

First of all: I love amethystguy's stones, just purchased one ammy myself, but how can I post it after your pictures? Oh, Arcadian, you spoiled my triumph with your mastery! And we had such a good weather this winter (LOL).

Second, the tourmaline is lovely. For some strange reason, I prefer some minor inclusions in stones - natural stones can not be 100% perfect, can they?

Third, thank you for bringing view of MA house, and the weather, and everything back to me. I sometimes have flashbacks of Massachusetts' autumn, and the sun, and some old houses. Real flashbacks! It was so nice to see a piece of MA's house, which is so unlike houses in WA.

And the spinel is lovely, too. I am waiting to see what happens to Gene's ruby in the hands of the Master, and the line is long, but I think Gene's stones are worthy of special treatment.

 

[Cind11]

All beautiful stones but I particularly like the amethyst and Gene''s tourmaline. That tourmaline is a knockout!!!!

 

[ma re]

Great stones, especially that tourmaline!

 

[hey joe]

Very nice pictures of some very nice stones.

 

[virgoruby]

Date: 2/27/2010 10:42:07 PM
Author: Arcadian
Thanks lasscreative and TL.


BTW I did think about a legacy, but the stone has such lovely edges, and after I thought about it, I wouldn''t want the legacy halo competing with those. its 8.42mm across, finger coverage is going to be out there anyway...lol. We all know I''m not opposed to halos..lol. I''m looking at something like this linky I''m also checking around with AmericanSet too.


On the ammy is probably going to be apart of a much larger project. My mom sent me a strand of my grandmother''s pearls. They''re pretty with a plat and diamond closure. They have to be restrung anyway, so I''m going to talk to my jeweler about possibly making a pendant with some other ammy''s I''ve got, maybe make this one into a ring, and then some pearl and ammy earrings.


The spinel is something I just don''t have plans for at the moment. I think I may have to set it with somthing else.


-A

Very pretty stones.

Can''t wait to see them set!

 

[Kim Bruun]

The colour of the amethyst is gorgeous! I''ve never been an amethyst fan for two reasons. The first is that I have heard that amethyst is prone to gradual colour fade. The second is that quartz can have a somewhat glassy look to it. But I keep seeing pictures of gorgeous amethysts, so maybe I need to re-evaluate my position on amethyst.

The spinel is also very nice. It''s not huge, but with that colour, it doesn''t need to be.

 

[cellentani]

Nice stones, Arc - I especially like Gene''s. I can only imagine how good they''ll all look in better light. Hope you get some sunshine today!

 

[LD]

Arc you clearly live in the UK because if I look out the window I see the same thing!!!

Great photos and lovely gemstones. What are your plans for the Spinel?

 

[oddoneout]

Great stones. I really like the amethyst and the tourmaline.

 

[Arcadian]

TL, I''ve got at least 3 more coming.

One is being certified which is why its taking so long. I''m looking at maybe March for those.

Burberrygirl, its the same freaking song and dance today too! Its such a gray and terrible day out.

thanks blithesome71

crasru, you had BETTER take some pictures of that thing especially if its the one I''m thinking you got, OMG! it would truely be blasphemous not to!

And Mass is such a mess. Parts of Mass had some serious flooding, the other part had a ton of snow. We on the other hand are still seeing brown earth and grass, though we did get a little wet and got some ice which quickly melted. All those mega snow storms that hit the east coast decided to spare the inside of the 495 loop because by now we''re usually ass deep in snow. Maybe we''ll pay for all this tropicalness in March.


Thanks Cind11, ma re, hey joe, virgoruby

Kim Bruun, if you get one, you have to be rather picky about it because so much on the market can be zoned or heated out the wazoo. JXR isn''t a locale I found around a whole lot, which I wanted because of some of the stones I''ve seen on here. Zambian Ammy is also very nice if you want blue flash.

cellentani, still no sun

LD, No suprise we get the same weather because I''m seriously right off the coast from you chica! I always joke and tell folks across the pond that it takes me longer to get to Vegas than to London (which is true lol)

Thanks oddoneout

-A