Show Me Your Learner Stones!!!!

[FrekeChild]

I'd love to see them!

I collected a TON of stones at the beginning of my saga of learning about colored stones, and I know lots of you guys did too!

So please share pictures! The more the better! And if you could, share what you learned too! (example: that you must have eyeclean stones, that you don't mind windows, that color trumps size, etc.) Also, if you remember, where did you buy them from?

(I have to go find all of my pictures...there are a lot.)

 

[koolchicken]

My new spinel and ametrine came in today. Let me round up my photos, and I'll be back with them and my thoughts!

 

[Snowyrin]

This is my starter stone and ring. Fortunately it isn't faceted so I don't have to look out for windows and etc, rather I focus on treatments possibly done to it. This light blue star sapphire btw is untreated.





Then I went a little more adventurous and started looking online for faceted sapphires hoping to find something 100% natural as well. And I came back with this, a mild pink orange unheated sapphire. I had a whole range of flower shots on it but this is the most accurate and my favourite shot.



When I'm new and searching I'm too afraid of mistakes and started off with precision cuts.

 

[ilovegemstones]

Snowyrin, what amazing beginner stones! That is such a gorgeous natural star sapphire. I am embarrassed to dig out my beginner stones in comparison! What a great way for people to learn though.

 

[SouthernSunset]

Well I am still a learner. So my collection is tiny. I've loved jewelry forever. But it wasn't till last October I started researching it heavily. I have a few dime a dozen department store or amazon pieces, all synthetic/lab grown except one or two.

I've posted all my recently, but okay you've twisted my arm I'll post again!

First Ever purchase: Native sold by Dana from Mastercut
Nigeria Green Tourmaline, 2.2 Carats, VVS2, No treatment, scissor cut emerald shape.
I love love love the velvety color. Its native cut so the sparkle isn't breathtaking or showy and its windowed, but the price and smooth dark color made up for it in my eyes. It was also an emotional buy, as it looks a lot like a ring I once had that was stolen.


Bonus!: Extra from Dana
Tanzania Umbalite Garnet pair, 1.31 tcw, VVS2, cut by Dana
It was a super happy surprise! Made my first buying experience very special and I had Christmas colors.


Purple Beauty: Cut by Gary at Fine water
Burmese Sapphire, 1.11 carats, VVS, Unheated
One step closer to my dream stone! Its a beauty to hold me over a few years till my 'soul stone' is found by me. Was going to wait on it, but after talking to Gary and finding out he lives near me, I thought it was a 'sign' to go all in. Very glad I did. I love its pink and blue sparkles and the clarity, cut and color combined is so obviously better than my other twotwo/three stones. I smile just staring at it.


And a group shot! Though the sapphire under performs in this one. -_-


I'll stop posting so much. I'm just anxious to try and run with the big boys(or girls ) around here.

 

[koolchicken]

Allright FrekeChild, you asked for it! Get ready to see about a gizillion photos!

I just started collecting stones in November, since then I've somehow managed to amass quite the collection. I feel like I've learned a lot from each purchase and as a result have been happier and happier with each one. I hope that's a growing trend!

These first three I almost forgot I had. I bought them from Gemselect a few years ago before I even found this site. Just came across it while playing and bought a few things I thought were pretty, and they were only a few dollars each so no real loss. The Citrine is 2.44ct, the Almandine Garnet is 1.2ct, and the Amethyst is .70ct. The citrine has a huge window, the garnet a tiny one, and the amethyst none. When I first got them I knew I didn't like the citrine because it didn't sparkle enough (the window). I now know I don't really like anything with a window, but I'm okay with a tiny one if it looks like it'll close up upon setting. For the record the garnet is't really that bright in person, but it's not much darker either. Kind of depends on the light.





The next one is a tanzanite. My husband actually bought this on our honeymoon in the Caribbean (I know, I know, but we didn't know back then) from Effy Jewelers. It's like 3ct's I think, and I can't remember the measurements. It does have a window but it's not horrible. I probably wouldn't have picked it (again, because of the window) but it was his purchase. The color is nice and I'll probably have it set into a pendant at some point.



The next stones I bought were Tourmalines from Tara3056, they were a bubblegum pink and rubellite. I love them both, neither set had any windowing that I could see and if there were inclusions they weren't visible to the naked eye. Neither browns out and both sets are always bright which I realize now is very important to me.



This next photo shows some 5mm mandarin garnets I bought from Yvonne but sent back. I felt like they had too many inclusions and the color wasn't quite right. I wanted something darker, more reddish brown, and less yellow. So I am okay with brown (unlike with the tourmalines). I just have to know it's going to be there always, not just sometimes.



I next got these sapphires, they're 4.6 and 4.7mm, very small window on both and lightly heated (I though heat was heat, but Yvonne mentioned it so I assume there's different types). I'm okay with heating, I don't really see an issue with it. After all I'm okay with it (and it's accepted practice) in plenty of other gems, so why not this one? I decided rather have the price savings then go unheated if it's not hurting anything.



I'm not sure if I want to call these my favorite, but they might be. They're amazing. I got these Tsavorites from Yvonne via Jamieen, they're 4.9mm. They're just so bright and sparkly, they never go dark and are just amazing. I LOVE anything that has this level of ZING!!! The photos really do them no justice at all, and they aren't blueish IRL more of a true green. Sadly I don't appear to have any good photos of them loose.



This one was my first Spinel purchase, I bought this from Dana. It's 2.49ct and 8.7 x 7mm. I love the color, it's mostly purple but with a slightly grayish cast (that I like) with pink flashes. People who've seen it seem to think it's an amethyst but I'm guessing it's because they don't know what a spinel is. The only thing it has in common with an amethyst is that they both come in purple. Otherwise they have no similarities appearance wise.



This was a Christmas present from my husband. It's a 3.57ct Spinel from Dana, it measures 10.6 x 8.5 and he listed it as VS2- SI-I2 with 2 veils. They are there, but in general viewing they just aren't that visible. Yes, if I'm holding it up to my face I can see them quite readily, but at normal viewing distance it's just not an issue, they get lost in the sparkle and don't detract from it. So I guess I am okay with some visible inclusions, but it's really a case by case scenario. It goes from a beautiful pastel pink with lavender tones in daylight to the pretty almost medium pink you see here in my bathroom.




I had been wanting an Ametrine for some time. I knew I wanted an asscher or similar cut and wanted it to be as close to square as possible and this is 11.2 x 10. It has a perfect 50/50 split, although the corners go to an almost lavender color on the gold side at some angles, I like that. It does have a tiny little nick on the top part of the gold side, but it's not an issue for me. This is going to be made into a pendant as soon as possible!



Lastly, this one had a bit of interest. I was able to snap this one up as well during Dana's sale, it comes as a gift from my husband. It's a 2.2ct 7.2mm round brilliant rose pink Spinel. It's amazing, a bit dark at times, but amazing. It can and does go a bit peachy under my kitchen lights, but nowhere else in the house. I'd love to see this one under real daylight but here in the Pacific Northwest that seems to be rare. It was amazing in the little light I had by the window and even more so in my bathroom (where all my stuff seems to come alive). I really can't wait for this one to be set, I'm thinking a ring because I want to look at it all the time.




These last ones were all freebies from Dana. I see them being made into stackers quite soon. The rounds are 5mm each the pale pink ones are spinels and the others are garnets. The oval is a garnet, I think 5x7mm. I like the round garnets best.



So, all in all this is what I've learned. I'm okay with small windows- if they'll close up. I like pastel colors and I love medium ones. I don't want anything that goes to black, really ever. I'm okay with some inclusions, but I need to be able to see the gem. I don't know if I'll ever find an orange garnet I can tolerate, let alone love, as a result. I think written descriptions are very important to me, maybe even more so than photos. Sorry this was so long!

 

[Snowyrin]

Please post yours too! We are never tired viewing stones. I started off with collecting sphere beaded bracelets like below.
FYI, This is my favourite multi colours tourmaline bracelet.



But I shall not bore you guys further.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Hmm, I'll have to take pics. I think my first ones were a variety of garnets from Litnon, and my first real one was a light blue sapphire from Michael E.

 

[katharath]

This is a fun thread idea. I will see what I can find pics of. I started out focusing on buying finished jewelry but soon realized that for a piece of jewelry to feel really special for me, I needed to choose the gem myself, as in buying a loose gem. Like probably a lot of us here, most of the gems I prefer are not found in everyday, ready made jewelry. I wasn't that interested in the more common gems and started seeking out color change garnets, demantoids, merelani mints, etc etc. I bought a lot of tourmalines early on too, but fairly quickly realized that I much prefer garnets over tourmaline, and further exploration found me buying a lot of spinels along with the occasional sapphire.

I'll try to post pics of my earlier stuff, but most of those pics were on my old cell phone that died not long ago. I bought a lot of cheaper gems just to see what was out there and to see things in person; I've since sold most of those, but I still have a nice amount of loose gems (at least by my standards) . I've pretty much posted about everything I've bought since I've been on these boards, so nothing I post will be news - maybe I'll just link to a couple of my old threads, lol.

I will say that I realized VERY early on that I hate windows. Cutting is far more important to me than I realized at first. In some cases I will choose cut over color, which I never really thought I'd say. I do prefer color over size; in most instances I prefer a smaller more intensely colored gem over a larger, lesser saturated stone. Experimenting with different sizes has taught me that for rings, I won't buy gems under about 5.5 mm but I like them up to about 8 mm. I didn't like them that large at first; it took time to develop that preference.

I feel like my preferences with gems are fairly set right now (although they do change a bit from time to time), but my tastes in settings are definitely still evolving.

 

[athenaworth]

This is a great idea for a topic (albeit a little embarrassing for me because I was sooooooo annoying). Here are a few of my many, MANY learner stones. Honestly I can say what I've learned to most is to recognize good tone and saturation in stones. That was really tough for me in the beginning.

 

[LoversKites]

My first cs ever was a demantoid. It was a great price because of it's inclusions and I still like the stone a lot. I think its 0.99ct, or something just under a carat. The photos don't do it justice. Its an apple green colour with red and blue flashes irl.

Like SouthernSunset, I'm still a learner.

 

[eos512]

my first 2 gem stones are a red tourmaline and a green tourmaline

here comes the pics~ just forget abt the topaz on the right

 

[eos512]

Please post yours too! We are never tired viewing stones. I started off with collecting sphere beaded bracelets like below.
FYI, This is my favourite multi colours tourmaline bracelet.



But I shall not bore you guys further.

I also got a tourmaline bracelet and it almost cost me half an year to collect the beads one by one

 

[Snowyrin]

Hi eos, how do you collect your beads one by one? Are you able to disclose your source? I'm drooling over the colours!!!!!

I want one too!!!!!!!!!!! The beads are of the same size.......

 

[eos512]

Hi eos, how do you collect your beads one by one? Are you able to disclose your source? I'm drooling over the colours!!!!!

I want one too!!!!!!!!!!! The beads are of the same size.......

i dun mind give you the source, but may i know where you from? cos there may be a language problem there

 

[Snowyrin]

Hi eos, how do you collect your beads one by one? Are you able to disclose your source? I'm drooling over the colours!!!!!

I want one too!!!!!!!!!!! The beads are of the same size.......

i dun mind give you the source, but may i know where you from? cos there may be a language problem there

I'm from Singapore. What language do they speak?

 

[eos512]

Hi eos, how do you collect your beads one by one? Are you able to disclose your source? I'm drooling over the colours!!!!!

I want one too!!!!!!!!!!! The beads are of the same size.......

i dun mind give you the source, but may i know where you from? cos there may be a language problem there

I'm from Singapore. What language do they speak?

haha i m in singapore now. I bought all these beads from TAOBAO.COM which is kinda of AMAZON in China in case you dun know

 

[eos512]

Hi eos, how do you collect your beads one by one? Are you able to disclose your source? I'm drooling over the colours!!!!!

I want one too!!!!!!!!!!! The beads are of the same size.......

i dun mind give you the source, but may i know where you from? cos there may be a language problem there

I'm from Singapore. What language do they speak?

But it will take huge time and probably a lot of money if u try to do this stupid thing as i did. haha cos it really takes time for to find out which store has the most beautiful color (often the rarest color) not to mention the time u may waste on deciding whether it is acceptable of the difference between vendor's picture and the bead itself.

 

[Snowyrin]

Hi eos, how do you collect your beads one by one? Are you able to disclose your source? I'm drooling over the colours!!!!!

I want one too!!!!!!!!!!! The beads are of the same size.......

i dun mind give you the source, but may i know where you from? cos there may be a language problem there

I'm from Singapore. What language do they speak?

haha i m in singapore now. I bought all these beads from TAOBAO.COM which is kinda of AMAZON in China in case you dun know

Omg, must be some kind of fate. Haha. Are you Singaporean too? Do you mind providing the link?

 

[eos512]

nope, I m from china. And for the link, I have to explain a bit further. The website is www.taobao.com.. Basically it's a Chinese version of EBay and when u key in the word u wanna search, thousands of stores will come out. Unfortunately I did not buy from a single store so I may not be able to provide u with the vendor name. I used to maintain contact with tens of store so that i can have the chance to choose from those newly listed beads. And there is another problem, I dun think most of the stores will cater to the requirement of international shipping, so u may need to do a transshipment (7S$ for the minimum weight). Btw u have to key in the Chinese character " 碧玺单珠 7mm＂ something like that. Got any questions just feel free to ask

 

[Snowyrin]

Oic, thanks a lot for your clear explaination! Btw your stones are very pretty!

 

[eos512]

Oic, thanks a lot for your clear explaination! Btw your stones are very pretty!

You are welcome btw any idea abt finding colored-stones locally? Any addresses recommended? I just wanna have a walk there. And if not, is the gem fair the only solution if say I wanna see the stone myself before I pay for it.

 

[Snowyrin]

Oic, thanks a lot for your clear explaination! Btw your stones are very pretty!

You are welcome btw any idea abt finding colored-stones locally? Any addresses recommended? I just wanna have a walk there. And if not, is the gem fair the only solution if say I wanna see the stone myself before I pay for it.

I'm more than glad to share! But I find it unrelated to this thread, sorry for threadjacking earlier on guys. I'll post more details on your thread

 

[FrekeChild]

I'm going to have to do this in chunks I think....

First up is a stone my father bought me when I was 17. I don't know what it is, but it cost more than double the price of a sapphire that was three times it's size. Even at only 17 I couldn't resist the bright blue flashes. It's little, only about 4mm or so, but it packs a punch.

First stone I bought myself, around the age of 25 was a 8.41ct "silver topaz" cut in a supernova by Barry Bridgestock. It's in some of the collection pictures.

Other gems...well yeah. I wasn't joking when I said I bought a lot.

I'll make a list...of gem types.
Topaz: white, London Blue, Swiss Blue, Sky Blue
Quartz: Amethyst, citrine
Garnets: Rhodolite, demantoid, tsavorite, color shift, spessartite, hessonite
Tourmalines: indicolite, pink, green
Sapphires, spinels, peridot, zircon

 

[FrekeChild]

I was really lucky that there was a store in my hometown that sold anything and everything, so I could go and play with any variety of stuff whenever I wanted to. But I couldn't resist the pull of precision cut stones, so I bought from Barry and Dan mostly.

Things I learned:
-I don't mind inclusions,even a lot of them, so long as the color is awesome
-I don't mind windows or other cut issues within reason, so long as the color is awesome
-I prefer precision cut stones where possible, especially for spinels
-I do not like asymmetrical shapes: pears, hearts, trillions
-I do not like marquises.
-I love stepcuts
-I love ovals, but I have a hard time figuring out how to set them.
-I like elongated shapes: cushion, emerald
-I love the sparkle and coldness of spinels
-I don't like outlines that are typical for stepcut shapes, but have brilliant pavilions
-I like big chunky facets
-I abhor concave cut and Portuguese cut gems
-I don't like pink tourmalines
-I'm really picky about reds
-I like orange more than I thought I did
-I like gray stones and brown stones

Lol....thats a lot.

These aren't even close to being my entire learning stone collection. The pictures of them were not well organized and I have something ridiculous like 40,000 photos in my jewelry folders on my computer!

 

[koolchicken]

Oh my gosh Freke, I thought I bought a lot! I actually omitted two stones that I just bought from Jeff Davies (haven't arrived yet) because I thought I had bought too many and should know what I like by now.

I now realize I'll probably always be learning. I still haven't figured out who my favorite stone vendor is, and what my favorite stone type is. And I'm sure there's a lot more that I haven't even hit the surface on.

This is a great thread by the way. It really made me stop and think, "What is important to me?" Something I think I should probably keep thinking about as time goes on. Because I don't want to keep buying stones impulsively, and I want to have a clear direction for the future.

 

[Kelli]

What a great thread! I'll just post my 2013 group shot again, as these really are the official start of my collection. I bought a couple other things, but gave them away because they were cheap impulse buys and just not "special" to me.

The first I got was the pink tourmaline in a portuguese cut from gemfix. It doesn't show up well in this pic, but it basically taught me that I LOVE icy pinks in the summer sunshine! It's cheerful and gorgeous and I have no complaints.

Next I bought the Mali in a "galaxy" cut, also from gemfix. I was intrigued by the color on the website; earthy tones just totally do it for me. I also learned that I LOVE a high crown, small table, and chunky shape. That's probably my favorite thing about the stone. It has some dispersion in the sunlight that makes it absolutely mesmerizing. I also learned, unfortunately, how moody a stone can be. This stone turns an ugly murky swampy green when moved out of direct light, and therefore doesn't get worn as much. I also learned to stop playing with loose stones on tile floors.

Next up was my spess- yet again from gemfix. I learned that being nit picky about hard-to-see natural inclusions is silly when you've got such a cool looking rock in your hand. I also saw for the first time what people meant when they say a stone "glows." Diffused lighting switches this one ON. Other times it looks less glowy, but still pretty and bright. I've gathered from pricescope that there are stones that glow at all times in all lighting… and I can't afford them. I like how this one switches from an earthy fall leaves orange sparkle to an unearthly neon glow (which I absolutely cannot catch on camera).

The amethyst I bought from Jeff Davies to fill a setting I already had. I learned that inexpensive stones can be super fun and enjoyable too. It goes almost an opaque grape soda in the sunlight, which for some reason I really really dig. It looks like a concord grape on my finger- so fun and juicy! Then in other lighting it looks clear as can be with pinkish-reddish flashes that are so gorgeous. Someday I will find a better setting for this, maybe with small orange or lime green side stones.

I got on a red wine kick and went on a search for a stone in that color, which lead me to my rhodolite. I learned just how RED RED RED a garnet can be at times, and how red-pink at other times, and how rusty it can be at other times. I also learned that I am in love with all three looks. I also learned that red and pink look really cool together, even though they are not "supposed to." Red wine and rose wine… yum. This is possibly my favorite stone, and I got it and the complementary side stones for a whopping $240 from Dana at mastercutgems. I'd love to make this ring's equal in blue tones someday.

Barry blue topaz next. I learned that bright irradiated colors are fun and inexpensive, but not as cool to me as natural stones. I also learned that Barry's supernova ovals are awesome, and make my least favorite shape look amazing.

Lastly, my blue-green tourmaline from Barry. I learned (even though I already knew) just how much precision cutting sets stones apart from the common junk at local mineral and gem shows. This stone has some grayish which I know isn't favored, but it's an awesome "indoor" stone which is different from most of my others.

I also have an Umbalite from Jeff Davies that will hopefully arrive tomorrow. It was another impulse buy… probably not my best purchase but seeing it in person will tell.

Overall I learned that buying stones is addicting and oh-so-FUN! I learned that I absolutely cannot afford super rare museum quality gems, but that finding well-crafted stones in pretty colors is totally doable. I really want to branch out into step cuts and more blues and greens and lavenders and different kinds of stones… NEED MORE MONEY. That is all

And thanks to y'all for being such a great community to learn from.

 

[4_cs]

Just wanted to say how much I appreciate this thread. I am just beginning my gemstone journey and with the help of all the wonderful posts on PS I am learning more than I ever thought possible about gemstones. I’m learning what I like and I’m learning what to look for in a stone. I hope all my “learner stones” will be as beautiful as so many of these posts.

 

[SouthernSunset]

Freke I will now use you as my reasoning for buying more stones to my SO! I showed him your posts and told him see I still have a ways to go! He looked at me funny then said 'Now I understand what you probably think when I talk about buying a new car every other week...'

Except I actually love cars at least half as much as him. Hehe.

 

[FrekeChild]

Oh dear. You guys haven't even seen most of it. I didn't even take pictures of some of them.