Help finding stones for studs

[koolchicken]

I've only posted a few times before but now I'm ready to buy, and I need help.

My husband bought me the ID jewelry jackets for my diamond studs for our last anniversary. My birthday is in a few days and I decided I'd like colored studs to go in them. I saw a pair at Ben Bridge that was nice, but they had to move the [offset] posts. Well, they did a poor job and they didn't fit into my jackets so we returned them.

I'm thinking I want pink sapphires. My jackets are made to fit your standard .5ct rounds (1ct total weight). I just don't really know where to begin looking and what's considered an acceptable budget. The ones at Ben Bridge were $250 and bezeled so the stones themselves were obviously under .5ct's each.

I'm okay with treatments (I think), I read the post on what they are but I just got overwhelmed. I guess I just don't want to spend a bunch of time and extra money and come out with something I could have gotten at the mall.

I'm hoping to spend $150 per stone (but less would be good). I don't know if that's a realistic budget, if not I'm open to other types of stones. I like light to medium pinks. I liked the color of these earrings, they're the second from the top,

http://www.thenaturalsapphirecompan...reciated. I really don't know where to start.

 

[Aerix]

Hi there, and welcome!

With sapphire prices these days, it might be hard to find a pair in the 5mm size range for the price you're looking for, even treated. I did a quick search and found some calibrated pink sapphires from Africagems: http://www.africagems.com/calibrated-pink-sapphire-round-diamond-a.html They're a little small at 4.5mm, but they're $154 each. Treatment is described as heat. Another slightly larger and slightly more expensive, pair I came across on Etsy from YvonneRaley (also heated): https://www.etsy.com/listing/159305...lon?ref=shop_home_active&ga_search_query=pair

Would you consider possibly tourmaline or spinel? Spinel is more durable than tourmaline, but since you'll be wearing them as studs, I don't think it should matter too much. Tourmaline would be more affordable than spinel. To give you an idea of how pink tourmaline earrings could look, here's a link to another thread by Yennyfire that shows her IDJ jackets with pink tourmaline cabochon studs:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/cabachon-studs-idj-5-pt-jackets-a-lovely-combo.175870/

 

[koolchicken]

I'm totally open to other things. Spinel and tourmaline are fine by me, I'm really just after a pretty color. Like I said, I'm new to it all and I'd be foolish not to take the suggestions of those who know more about this than me.

I think so long as the color doesn't lean towards brownish I'm happy.

Oh, and I've seen those cabachon studs. I'm in love with them and would love a pair (or 10) in the future...

 

[chrono]

I would go by size rather than carat weight because coloured gemstones do not weigh the same as diamonds, not to mention the depth is different even when it faces up the same size as a diamond. Your local jeweller (IDJ included) should be able to order stock pairs from the Stuller catalogue and set them for you.

 

[koolchicken]

Thanks Chrono!

I think I'm just going to contact someone, likely DanielM or IDJewelry. My husband is leaning towards IDJewelry, he got on really well with everyone there. I'm probably going to contact DanielM first though, as I'd talked to them in the past.

I had literally clicked on every seller on the reccomended sellers page and found nothing right. I think tiny earrings are just going to be too hard to do on my own. So I'll save my first stone purchase for something fancy like a ring or pendant. Perhaps something to match my earrings.

 

[carmen1]

Tara3056 is selling a nice pair of pink spinels stud earrings in platinum settings here: http://diamondbistro.com/category/2...pinel-Mahenge-and-Platinum-Stud-Earrings.html

Assuming your jackets are for 5mm stones, there would be just a small airline with these 4.7mm spinels. I was actually inquiring about these earrings and she was kind enough to send me photos of them in her 5mm diamond jackets, so I happen to know they will look quite nice! If you are interested, she probably can send you the same photos so you can see how they look.

Also, those 4.9mm Yvonne Raley sapphires that Xiriah posted (https://www.etsy.com/listing/159305...lon?ref=shop_home_active&ga_search_query=pair) could work too - and you could ask her how much she would charge to set them for you so you wouldn't have to take that extra step.

 

[koolchicken]

Those spinel studs are beautiful. I'm just bummed by the time I clicked on them they said sold.

I actually contacted DanielM this afternoon. Hopefully they get back to me soon!

 

[koolchicken]

I actually just bought the loose pink tourmalines Tara3056 had up on Diamond Bistro. They're the right size, such a pretty color, and well under what I wanted to spend. I think I'm now going to shift my focus to purple spinel sine I now have these pink stones. Maybe I'll be able to send them to DanielM to set for me at the same time. I'm so excited!

Thank you carmen1 for turning me on to her!!!

 

[FrekeChild]

If you want purple, sapphires or amethyst will be much easier to find. I can't remember the last time I saw a matched pair of purple spinel...

 

[koolchicken]

Well I'm open to other colors I guess. Would blue be easier to come by? Or maybe something grey? I don't have many plain studs so it's not like I'm going to end up with duplicates. Most of my earrings are haloed and/or are dangles. In fact I don't have many studs in general which I just realized and find weird since I prefer to wear studs. Go figure...

Purple sapphire sounds pretty though, so long as it's light. I prefer a lavender periwinkle type color in my purples. Of course now that I've said that I'm sure I'll fall in love with something totally different, lol.

 

[carmen1]

Hooray for spending less than you'd planned on the pink tourmalines!

Maybe tanzanite would fit the bill for your next pair? https://www.etsy.com/listing/156691901/5mm-tanzanite-stud-earrings-in-14-kt?ref=shop_home_active

 

[FrekeChild]

Well I'm open to other colors I guess. Would blue be easier to come by? Or maybe something grey? I don't have many plain studs so it's not like I'm going to end up with duplicates. Most of my earrings are haloed and/or are dangles. In fact I don't have many studs in general which I just realized and find weird since I prefer to wear studs. Go figure...

Purple sapphire sounds pretty though, so long as it's light. I prefer a lavender periwinkle type color in my purples. Of course now that I've said that I'm sure I'll fall in love with something totally different, lol.

Spinels in general are hard to match because they are pretty darn rare. If you want a matched pair of them, it'll be next to impossible to do it yourself (not that I've tried or anything.... ) so you'd have to look to someone else who has put them together. If you're looking for a strong purple and a lower price, I'd look to amethyst. Purple sapphires are going to be harder to find and more expensive too, I think.

I like the suggestion of tanzanite, since they would be for your ears. If you are wanting a more lavender color, these would probably be your best bet because it's going to be the least expensive color of tanzanite.

 

[minousbijoux]

Tanzanite and amethyst are great suggestions for purple; I would go for tsavorite if I wanted a pretty green. Thats awesome you found a pair so fast from Tara too!

 

[koolchicken]

Carmen1, I know I'm so happy about it. I hadn't planned to buy anything extra and there they were. I told my husband and he said to just buy them! We saw a pair of tourmalines at the mall yesterday and were disappointed by them. They were $500 set in 14kt white gold and were obviously brownish. I know nothing about this stuff and still knew I could do better on my own (well, maybe with a little help ).

I had been thinking about tanzanite too. But that is one of the few things I do currently own. They're cushion cut and haloed. I'm not totally opposed to having a second pair that's a bit more versatile. But I may want to hold off on those and purchase something I don't currently own.

I wasn't aware spinel pairs were hard to come by. I just picked that stone because I've seen so many on here and have been drooling over them forever. Looking back I see that all my favorite spinel pieces are rings and pendants. I hadn't thought about why most spinel things featured a single stone.

So I need to think now. I have something pink, my husband bought me pearls yesterday (I know I'm crazy lucky) and I own tanzanite (but I haven't completely ruled out another pair since they'd be a different shape and could be worn plain). So colors I don't own anything in would be orange, green, red, and royal blue. I would like to keep the budget the same if possible since I don't want to spend more than $500 total and I'm trying to factor in shipping and setting costs.

I'm okay with brownish oranges, so long as it's not the dominant color. Like most people I prefer true reds or blood reds but I guessing that's probably too expensive for this project. And for green I like medium to forest green, or minty greens, but I'm not a fan of peridot.

So when Caren gets back to me I'll tell her plans have changed. Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll have something fun and random in stock.

 

[minousbijoux]

Tsavorites would be lovely - just sayin'...

 

[koolchicken]

I can't believe it either. In fact she's already shipped them! It's my first stone purchase and I never expected it to go so fast. I think I'll look into tsavorites. I've seen some on here, and googled some more images. I think they look perfect.

 

[tara3056]

Hi!

So nice to "meet" the person who bought my rubellites posting here on CS! Your comments have me only a little concerned - I already dropped the package in the mail, but wanted you to know that the tourmalines are very much pinkish-purplish-reddish, not primarily pink. If you were hoping for a light-medium purer *pink*, you may still be searching for a pair of those. Rubies would be lovely in IDJ jackets, but you may find that the rubellites fill the need for a "red" family gem (albeit not the purer, more intense red you'd get with rubies), so given that you already have tanzanites, I concur that tsavorites would be lovely and a new color family for you. Aren't the earring jackets fun??

ETA: Given your budget, tsavs might be difficult, but someone here once posted a pic of citrines in their IDJ jackets and they looked nice. Spessartites would be even better but may be hard to find as a pair, and expensive. Well-saturated amethysts would be lovely and inexpensive.

 

[chrono]

Check out garnets; they come in many different colours, are reasonably easy to find in pairs and not too expensive.

 

[koolchicken]

Hi all!

Tara3056, I got the stones today and loooove them. I have to say, they're a lot less pink and more just purplish red, but they're just stunning. I'm so happy to have them. I'll have to post photos of them before I send them off to DanielM. And of course again after I have them set. I'll start a new thread for that though as I'm getting more stones, some from DanielM and possibly from you.

You were right about the tsav's being a bit outside my budget. But I read the email I received from DanielM this morning to my husband and he upped my budget! I partially put that down to me asking him on my birthday.

I'm really happy now. I have pearls, diamonds, purplish red stones, I'm getting green stones, and I'll probably end up with pink ones soon as well. At this rate I'll have studs in every color by the new year- not that I mind! The jackets are really fun, and really practical for my lifestyle (I travel a lot).

Chrono, thanks for the suggestion on garnets. I've been looking at them on different sites. I think after these few pairs I'm having made up I'm going to want orange next and they might be the best way to go.

 

[minousbijoux]

So cool when something stays in the family so to speak, and is loved! I know I already recommended tsavs for you once, but I have to say they look so good dressed up in white with diamonds. As they say, they clean up well! Also, if tsavs are really truly out of the budget (worth saving for imo), there is always green tourmaline, which seems fairly abundant and would look good as well.

 

[koolchicken]

Minousbijoux, my husband actually increased my budget so tsav's may not be out of the question now! DanielM said they'd cost around $4-500 and my husband said that was fine. Even after I bought Tara's stones. I'm seriously the luckiest girl that ever lived right now.

So I'm looking for tsav's, and DanielM is too. I think they'll have better luck. I've clicked on pretty much every link in the recommended vendors tab twice and can't find anything. I'm clearly doing something wrong, I just don't know what. Perhaps there just aren't many 5mm round pairs out there.

 

[FrekeChild]

Matched pairs of round tsavs aren't exactly easy to come by online, I think. You should probably email a few vendors, maybe Prima and some others, to see if they have a pair for you. Most places don't have all of their inventory online.

I found this though, but I haven't ever bought from Prima, so I can't read the color of the stone in the pic with any accuracy.
https://www.primagemsusa.com/content/043-carats-natural-tsavorite

 

[koolchicken]

I was unaware, but I'm quickly finding that out.

I'm really hoping DanielM will be able to come through for me. I'm headed to the mainland very soon so if they don't find anything by the time I'm back (near the end of the month) I'll email around. I just don't want to say "do you have xyz, great- now hold it for me for two weeks".

I'm not going to worry too much though. I will find something eventually, and I'm okay waiting. Maybe I can't find anything right now because my perfect pair just hasn't been cut yet. At least that's what I'm telling myself right now.

 

[minousbijoux]

I was unaware, but I'm quickly finding that out.

I'm really hoping DanielM will be able to come through for me. I'm headed to the mainland very soon so if they don't find anything by the time I'm back (near the end of the month) I'll email around. I just don't want to say "do you have xyz, great- now hold it for me for two weeks".

I'm not going to worry too much though. I will find something eventually, and I'm okay waiting. Maybe I can't find anything right now because my perfect pair just hasn't been cut yet. At least that's what I'm telling myself right now.

Perfect attitude. You might have more latitude than you think in this regard, actually. I'm just thinking that matched pairs must be in demand as we near Christmas, so I would think that more might pop up. I would also ask some of our lapidary friends like Barry Bridgestock, who, his shoulder injury notwithstanding, might find it easier to cut a pair now that he has backed off from his major drops.

 

[koolchicken]

I'm just keeping an eye out for now, something will pop up eventually. My birthday present was/is studs. I was told to pick something that would make me happy, and when I find it I can purchase it. I don't need a physical item on a specific day to be happy. My husband likes to do that though, and as a result I think I've been super lucky. It went from "Pick one pair of studs" to "Here are some pearls to open now, buy those stones, get the ones you planned on from DanielM, and Tara has other stones- go ahead and buy those as well". So I'm not going to sit around complaining I couldn't have what I wanted the second I decided I wanted it.

My only goal, if I had one would be to have all my studs (probably three pairs total) done by Christmas. I just have a lot coming up. I'm visiting the mainland next week and my BIL may come back with us for a visit. If not (or in addition) he'll be coming to stay with us in December. Then I'm moving to the mainland January first. And to top it off I have a one year old, so it's just going to be very chaotic around here. So if I can't get it all done before hand, I feel like I need to wait until after I move.

I was thinking about Christmas too. It's possible some people will get some they wished they hadn't and they'll end up on preloved or diamond bistro. Anything is possible. Stones are out there, it's just a matter of time before I find them.