cc spinel -- to bezel or not to bezel?

[enbcfsobe]

hi -- it''s been a long time! i tried (unsuccessfully) to keep from coming back to feed my growing gem habit after the wedding and job-change madness died down. i think it has something to do with working nearly on top of jeweler''s row... but here i am again begging for the help of you knowledgable folks. i hope you don''t hold my long silence against me.

anyway... i have a 6mm rb color change spinel from dan stairs that''s been languishing in a drawer for too long. it shifts from a deep blue in natural light to a medium purple (more bluish than reddish) in incandescent light. i haven''t tried it under flourescents yet -- don''t know if that would make a difference. i also (shamefully) haven''t managed to get any good pictures of it. in any event, i''d like to put it in a ring so i can see the color change but i''m not sure whether a bezel would enhance or detract from the color change effect and sparkle. any thoughts?

 

[chrono]

If the stone is at least medium dark or darker in tone, I would stay away from bezeling it as there is the possibility if it appearing even darker after it is bezeled. Also since it is a colour changer, allowing maximum light in from everywhere will let it shift easily.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

I wouldn''t bezel it - or if you really want a bezel, maybe consider a semi-bezel? I have a CC spinel that''s prong-set and darker. I definitely wanted maximum light hitting it outdoors so that I could see the blue shift better. Do you have pics?

 

[enbcfsobe]

thanks chrono and BEG! this is what i was thinking (that max light going in means max color coming out) but i feel like i''m out of practice and wanted to confirm with the experts!

the CS group seems to have found some great new resources for settings -- I''m thinking either a delicate halo from LOGR or one of Sally''s lotus settings.

i''ll work on pics but given the season it''s tough to get any w/ natural light.

thanks much!!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

I vote sally lotus

 

[D&T]

well I may be biased, but I''ll vote a sally Lotus setting as that is what I put my cc change spinel in

 

[enbcfsobe]

my biggest hesitation with going with sally is having to send the stone to her overseas (from the US). at the risk of changing the topic, anyone have thoughts or tips on how to do that at a minimum of cost and risk? i''ve never shipped stuff out of the country before...

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 1/12/2010 2:43:24 PM
Author: enbcfsobe
my biggest hesitation with going with sally is having to send the stone to her overseas (from the US). at the risk of changing the topic, anyone have thoughts or tips on how to do that at a minimum of cost and risk? i've never shipped stuff out of the country before...

I've shipped some really nice stones to her before without problem. She will send you good instructions for shipping in the safest way. It's usually around 25$ to ship to her.

Her lotus settings are amazing in my opinion, I have 2 and will probably end up with more!

 

[Liane]

Yes, her instructions are very clear and easy to follow. I wrap my gems in something else -- magazines or old books work nicely, or take a page from Swala and using a touristy T-shirt -- to add some bulk.

The one note I''d add is to make sure you tell her exactly what you''re sending in the package and where it can be found, because I recently lost an aqua that was hidden a little too well for its own good. The loss of that stone was not heartbreaking, but I''d like to warn anyone else away from losing one that might be.

Sally can also make the lotus setting separately and send it here for another jeweler to put your stone in. Since it''s basically a prong mounting that shouldn''t be too hard; I know other PS''ers have done that and it''s worked well, though I can''t recall who specifically went that route.

 

[enbcfsobe]

i appreciate the suggestions on shipping and your vote of confidence for Sally...i''m leaning toward going this route. do you think yg or wg for a blue/purple stone like this?

 

[bleeblue]

What about the really beautiful open bezels that Julia Kay has done for some pricescopers? The stone is quite raised which would allow light through... let me find a link

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-new-jkt-aqua-ring-real-life-photos.123058/

(i hope the link works)

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

I would have her make the setting (is this for a round stone?) and have it set locally, which is what I did. I think she wanted to know the size of the stone in mm and wanted a profile pic of the stone so that she could gauge how deep it was. Are you in Chicago? (There's a Jewelers Row here so I was curious). If so, I had my tourmaline lotus set by Windy City Diamonds, who did a great job.

Here are pics of mine (I lean towards WG for a CC blue/purple spinel btw).

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

And the setting by itself:

 

[enbcfsobe]

Thanks so much for the pics, BEG! Thanks also for the recommendation, though I''m in Philly, not Chi. I''m actually considering the "lush lotus" -- do you think those prongs would be more difficult to set properly thru a local jeweler?

Also, here are belated pics of the stone. I couldn''t get the natural light color, but this gives some idea. Sometimes it shows up much lighter, while other times it is darker. It does have a good amount of dispersion/fire (is that the right term?).

 

[enbcfsobe]

one more pic...

 

[marcy]

I have a similiar spinel from Dan that is color shift and seems to be about the same colors. I would definitely not bezel set it as it does appear dark in some lighting. I have mine prong mounted and it gets a lot of light that way. I can''t wait to see what you do with it.

 

[enbcfsobe]

marcyc -- i''d love to see what you did with your cc spinel. do you have pics?

anyone have the "lush lotus" setting or have thoughts about that vs regular lotus? i love both, but was thinking maybe the curvyness of the "lush" version would be cool. also, does anyone have handshots of their lotuses from Sally?

thanks again all for your input!!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Hmm I would make sure I trust the jeweler doing the setting job. Mine aren''t perfect - part of it is because I think the stone is a bit large for the setting (not a lot, but enough to screw up the prongs a bit). That''s definitely one reason to send the stone to Sally, so she can craft the setting around the stone.

I don''t have the lush lotus but I love it - I think it''s very beautiful!

 

[enbcfsobe]

Thanks BEG. I''m leaning towards just sending it to her. But that has also got me started thinking that I should get together a few things to send together to have her set...