Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

[LD]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

My sapphire came loose from my setting today - I am so upset!! Stone and setting are both safe and waiting in a little box to go to the jeweler, but still.

Thread here:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/stone-almost-fell-out-of-ring-mass-panic.183630/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/stone-almost-fell-out-of-ring-mass-panic.183630/[/URL]

Forgive me because I only literally jump in and out of this thread and so don't read everything BUT I looked at the photos in your other thread and it was very apparently that the bottom two prongs (in the close up photo) are barely holding the sapphire. Even a slight move to either of those could result in the sapphire being dislodged. Can you go to another jeweller to get this reset and straighten up the prongs and then make sure they hug the sapphire better? If your jeweller set it before, I'd be sorely tempted to use another jeweller because the finish on setting the stone before was not good (sorry hun). x

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

My spinel three stone ring in the making.

 

[chrono]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Sending this one off to be custom set into a simple 3 stone 18K yellow gold setting. My iPhone failed me on these spinels because they look far more brilliant and red in person. Oh well....I'm not braving the 30 degree F cold outdoors with loose stones in my hand for accurate pictures.

The green garnet will finally be set in the WF halo splint shank setting.

 

[Rosebloom]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Sending this one off to be custom set into a simple 3 stone 18K yellow gold setting. My iPhone failed me on these spinels because they look far more brilliant and red in person. Oh well....I'm not braving the 30 degree F cold outdoors with loose stones in my hand for accurate pictures.

The green garnet will finally be set in the WF halo splint shank setting.

What is the center stone, Chrono? Beautiful combination.

 

[Fly Girl]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Last week I dropped off the 6 10x12mm Australian chrysoprase cabochons with designer T Lee to be set into charms to wear on a Story lambskin bracelet. The charms will be attached tightly to the bracelet, and will not move. No plans yet for the 10 x 14 mm pair. They were to be earrings, but I was weak and went and purchased chrysoprase earring drops already.

http://www.storybracelet.com/

T Lee recently began carrying the Story bracelet line with the intent of making her own charms with the many loose gemstones in her safe that she has collected over the years. Mine is her first order for custom charms, and hopefully will set off the production of some colorful gemstone charms by T. I purchased the chrysoprase nearly four years ago from ArtCutGems, and I am continuing my theme from last year to set more of my loose stones. The cabs will be circled in 18 kt yellow gold, and the backs and bottoms of the charms will be sterling silver. This should be a trendy, yet quite affordable, piece. The chrysoprase is very fine, and just glows in the light.

At the same time T Lee will set a carved chrysoprase pendant I purchased last year during a gemstone round table with Sherris Cottier Shank. The pendant will be set with 18 kt yellow gold and have brushed palladium highlights. It will hang from a necklace of white rice shaped freshwater pearls with chrysoprase rondelle accent beads. My new green suite should be ready the second week of March, in time for the green St. Patrick's Day holiday.

 

[JewelFreak]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Beautiful chrysoprase! They'll be stunning. I can't wait to see your pendant too, sounds marvelous.

Chrono, the ring is gonna be dynamite! I like the rounds & square together as well as the colors -- eye-catching & so handsome.

--- Laurie

 

[chrono]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

FlyGirl,
I can't wait to see your chrysoprase project come to fruition. I love the cabochons and the design idea is fabulous.

Rosebloom,
The center stone is a 1.64 ct August Vintage Cushion or AVC purchased from Good Old Gold.

JewelFreak,
Ummm....there are no round stones, just 3 cushions. I mistyped the AVC as AVR earlier. Perhaps you were confused by that.

 

[bluebirrrd]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Flygirl, the story bracelet will be beautiful! I must say, the snakeskin version is kind of awesome. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

LD, if you see this...I didn't notice it until just now.

Can I make a suggestion? If you are going to keep that Alex you need to get a lab report. If it comes back as natural then you need to keep it!!!!

The alex is 3.3mm and cost $160. Off the top of my head, an AGL brief would be around $65ish plus the shipping. I did end up keeping the alex, without a report. It isn't set yet and I was actually thinking of making it into some sort of bail, peg, or pearl cap.I assume you wanted to prevent me from making an uninformed purchase, but it's probably too late for that. Still worth it to get a report?


On a sidenote, the sapphire from TGT already has an AGL brief. Having been on the hunt for over a year now, and having reached out to almost every vendor on our list I was surprised to hear people thought it was priced too high. The market is so competitive and I see a lot of top cutting combined with poor color and vice versa. Fingers crossed that it matches his description - incapable of disappointing!

 

[chrono]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Bluebirrrd,
I think LD just wants to make sure you did not purchase a synthetic or simulant stone; just looking out for you. Also, with regards to the TGT blue sapphire, I think MTG purchased one that is bigger, not as dark but with equally good saturation for less about 1 year ago. I think that's the reason why others commented on it being expensive. In fairness, my guess is that blue sapphire pricing is still on the upward trend.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-sapphire-need-setting-help.173077/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-sapphire-need-setting-help.173077/[/URL]

 

[ChrisA222]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

I have a thing for Namibian Blue-Green Tourmalines, and I think I finally found "the one".

This is 1.80ct and 8mm trillion, cut by Bob Sivinski of Flat Facets on etsy.

It was cut on the C axis, which has the blue color. He was surprised to see that when bright light hits it, it shows the strong bright blue, and in dimmer light, the AB axis bleeds in showing the blue-green. It really does shift depending on the light!

I was lucky to find this when reading that website for gemology that happens to be online. On that website lapidaries post their creations and when I saw this one I had to have it.

 

[chrono]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Very interesting tourmaline, Chris. I'd love to see hand shots of this one for sure.

 

[ChrisA222]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

NOOO dont make me struggle with my camera, taped white paper and all. LOL.

 

[chrono]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Time to put your newly found photography tips to the test.

 

[Rosebloom]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

FlyGirl,
I can't wait to see your chrysoprase project come to fruition. I love the cabochons and the design idea is fabulous.

Rosebloom,
The center stone is a 1.64 ct August Vintage Cushion or AVC purchased from Good Old Gold.

JewelFreak,
Ummm....there are no round stones, just 3 cushions. I mistyped the AVC as AVR earlier. Perhaps you were confused by that.

Oh Chrono - that will be spectacular. I have a five stone of AVCs and would love a french cut ruby eternity to pair with it. In the meantime I'll drool over your pictures!

 

[jbkhere]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Chris - I too can't wait to see hand shots of that tourmaline - I love it!

 

[jstarfireb]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Flygirl, the story bracelet will be beautiful! I must say, the snakeskin version is kind of awesome. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

LD, if you see this...I didn't notice it until just now.

Can I make a suggestion? If you are going to keep that Alex you need to get a lab report. If it comes back as natural then you need to keep it!!!!

The alex is 3.3mm and cost $160. Off the top of my head, an AGL brief would be around $65ish plus the shipping. I did end up keeping the alex, without a report. It isn't set yet and I was actually thinking of making it into some sort of bail, peg, or pearl cap.I assume you wanted to prevent me from making an uninformed purchase, but it's probably too late for that. Still worth it to get a report?


On a sidenote, the sapphire from TGT already has an AGL brief. Having been on the hunt for over a year now, and having reached out to almost every vendor on our list I was surprised to hear people thought it was priced too high. The market is so competitive and I see a lot of top cutting combined with poor color and vice versa. Fingers crossed that it matches his description - incapable of disappointing!

I thought it was priced high for exactly the same reason Chrono mentioned - MTG got one for cheaper less than a year ago. It's probably a sign of how the market is going more than anything else. I trust Brad with his descriptions and when he talks about pricing.

As for the alex, I concur...I have several 4mm and below and I just don't think it's worth the expense and hassle to get them certified. Over 5mm or 0.5 ct would probably be my cutoff. For what it's worth, the color change looks just like mine.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Helloooooooo beauties! Where have I been that so much has been posted on this thread and I've missed it all! Where to start?

Bluebirrrd, I can't speak for LD, but I would suggest that you find out whether that is a synthetic or not. Although its not big in carat weight, its a decent size for an alex and appears to have amazing colorways. That looks to have a very high color change, probably upwards of 90%, and the colors are lovely. So if its real, I think you did very, very well for $160 and might want to insure it, so the first step would be to get it examined by AGL. Perhaps that is where she was going.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Oops. Just went back and looked again - that is a littly alex, isn't it? Sorry, I still think you may have gotten a good deal, but I overstated it because I thought it was bigger than it is. How much does it weigh?

Also, I love the photos you took. Very nice to demonstrate by using the same background and leaves with the different lightings. It makes the color change very clear.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

I'm back again to address more of the beauties on this page. First, Chrono, I look forward to seeing your ring. The AVC looks lovely, though I can see what you mean by the odd coloration in the photo as the AVC looks quite tinted and the spinels look brownish to my eye, which I KNOW you would never tolerate, lol. I really look forward to seeing your finished ring.

Flygirl, I love that color, and have loved your chrysophase ever since you first posted them. The contrast of the brown leather, gold and chrysophase will be dramatic and add an haute couture sense to it. I know you won't disappoint, but please post pictures, as I can't wait to see the end results. For someone who does not have the ability to envision things in my head from written descriptions, you were so thorough in your explanation that I could actually see it in my mind's eye and cannot wait to see it finished. Will you have the freshwater pearls handknotted? Love, love, love!

 

[erinl]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

I have some tsavorite melee coming my way from Jeff Davies. I think they are 2.4 mm each. I either want to set them with a tsavorite center stone or a tsavorite cabochon Any suggestions on where I could find a nice tsavorite cabochon?

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

I should've known you'd get those Erini, as I coveted them as well. Just another example of our "twin taste!" Unfortunately, this twin has no ideas. I love the idea of a cabachon, but would worry that the cut stones would outshine the cab so to speak. In order to prevent that, you'd want to make sure it was a very high quality cab and that the proportions between the size of the cab and the size of the melee works. I would worry that at 2.4mm, unless the cab was very large, they might overwhelm it.

Chris: that tourm looks stunning in the photos. I hope it is that light and saturated in hand!

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

I'm going to be a total tease and tell you all that I unset my brown radiant diamond and replaced it with a blue cushion spinel Seeing as how I'm not even at home to see it yet... neither does anyone else.

But from my jeweler's picture it's amaaaaazing!

 

[chrono]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Minou,
Yup, the colouration of my picture is completely screwed but I can't be bothered to try balancing the camera, loose stones and etc. I'll attempt more accurate pictures once the ring is completed which will be easier because I can wear the ring without worry. The AVC looks like some funky colour and the spinels definitely look brown here.

Erin,
Those tsavorite melees are fantastic! They look like little demantoids. Swala and Tan (eBay) sometimes have tsavorite cabochons.

Davi,
At least tease us with pictures of the cushion blue spinel before it was set.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

So what color is the AVC?

I agree that Erini's stones look like high end demantoids.

 

[chrono]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Minou,
The 1.64 ct AVC is an L SI1, that faces up surprisingly white for a diamond that has no fluorescence. The blue you see is a reflection of the sky. This diamond picks up colours from its surrounding and sparkles it back to the eye.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Very nice, Chrono. I know so little about diamonds and I am trying to assess my color threshold limits if you kwim.

 

[chrono]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Minou,
It gets trickier with diamonds because my threshold is different for each type of cut. I like my step cuts to be icy white (DEF), rounds to be regular white (GHI) and my old cut stones to show a hint of old world warmth (JKL). I cannot handle N and lower in any cut shape until it trips into the FCD range.

 

[bobsiv]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Chris: that tourm looks stunning in the photos. I hope it is that light and saturated in hand!

Maybe I can field this, I'm the vendor that sold Chris the stone. Here's a 'hand shot', I took this with my iPhone (no 'post-processing') on the way to the Post Office to ship the stone out. I was sorry to see this one go, nicest tourmaline rough I've had to work with and I doubt I'll see any more of it. For hobby cutters like me, the only way to get really nice Namibian indicolite is to do recuts and that's prohibitively expensive right now given tourmaline prices.

 

[ChrisA222]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Sorry Bob, I think I see a little over-exposure there...the white cotton looks unnaturally white. It may be exaggerating the blue color, making it look more saturated than it is in real life. I think I see a little blue halo around the stone confirming this. I suspect this stone is darker in hand. I know you can see it with your own eyes, but those eyes should be checked. Have you taken the color test? Have you had your monitor calibrated?

Sorry...all in fun.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Catch all thread - talk or better yet show us

Sorry Bob, I think I see a little over-exposure there...the white cotton looks unnaturally white. It may be exaggerating the blue color, making it look more saturated than it is in real life. I think I see a little blue halo around the stone confirming this. I suspect this stone is darker in hand. I know you can see it with your own eyes, but those eyes should be checked. Have you taken the color test? Have you had your monitor calibrated?

Sorry...all in fun.

This made me laugh! Good one.

It looks to be a beauty.