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Help designing Tsavorite earrings

giff1023

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Messages
26
Hi! I'm brand new here, and new to gems and jewelry in general. I've decided that with Christmas coming up I'd like to design a pair of earrings for my girlfriend. Her birthstone is Emerald, but from everything that I've read here and elsewhere it seems that tsavorite would be a better choice both in terms of price and durability. What I'm envisioning is a drop or dangle earring featuring tsavorites at the bottom and perhaps a colorless gem stud (probably not diamond due to cost. Budget is roughly $600, but I can be swayed in either direction if it makes a big difference :)

Now being new to this, I basically have no idea how big a stone I would need for these. I'm envisioning small and elegant, but I have no idea what that translates to in terms of carats.

So far I've identified a couple candidates for the tsavorites. What do you guys think?

First set is a lighter green than I would like, but the size seems to be what I'm looking for and the price almost looks too good to be true. Only one picture available from multicolour (working on getting more): http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?/details/pair/tsavorite/zgg136am/&1244716636

The second pair has a beautiful color, and I think the pear/teardrop shape would look fantastic on a drop earring, however it's an ebay sale (from Thailand) and the price definitely pushes hard against my budget: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-4ct-EXCEL...&otn=5&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=3585560010775196808

I'd love some feedback telling me that I'm on the right track (or not), or even proposing some stones or ideas.

Thanks!
 

Arkteia

Ideal_Rock
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To me, the first pair seems too light. The second one looks OK but windowed, and I do not know the seller. Perhaps other PS-ers know him/her. I got two pairs of tsavorites for earrings by buying two similar stones separately on ebay, and they were much cheaper than bought as a pair. I'd also browse GemSelect, I do not know if they currently have tsavorites, but if they have, it is easy to match individual ones. Pairs usually cost much. My two tsavorites cost about $ 200.00 when bought separately. It took me a little bit longer to find them, but I bought them from the same vendor so the color was identical.
 

athenaworth

Ideal_Rock
Trade
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Jun 19, 2010
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I've dealt with Suregems on several occasions and they're very good. IMHO you don't have to worry about that seller. I like the color of the second pair as well but they do seem windowed. BUT being that they'll be in her hears and not on her hand, maybe that wouldn't matter as much and you could possibly close them up some the setting.
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Sep 20, 2008
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25,160
The color on these, while slightly lighter than the first pair you posted, is similar, and these are cut better. I think these would be perfect for an open bezel.

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?/details/pair/tsavorite/ygg292ck/&1244716636

As grossulars, they will sparkle quite a bit, so it's better to have them without windows like the first pair. You could have them bezeled from someone like Daniel M on etsy in silver, and that would be a huge cost savings.

As for the suregems tsavorites, they seem a bit dark, so if you did enclose them in a bezel, or halo, they would be very dark.
 

giff1023

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Messages
26
Thank you for the help so far! I'm learning a lot just googling some of the terms thrown around here :D

Crasru, thanks for the idea of buying separate stones - that certainly opens up more options. As a rule, how closely should I try to match size for earrings? I would imagine color would be the most important, but they ARE on opposite sides of the head, right?

Athenaworth, thanks for recommending the seller. That is my biggest worry about buying on Ebay. Particularly after reading some of the threads in this forum about bad experiences. When you say windowed, are you referring to the dark spots in the gems? I'm not experienced at looking at pictures, so my first instinct was "Of course there are dark spots, it just depends on which angle you look at them". Is that not the case, and would the result of a windowed gem be a lack of sparkle?

TL, I haven't yet looked into how to set these gems. I'm guessing from your comment that that decision will impact my stone choice (alternatively, I've considered purchasing the tsavorites as a present and then designing the earrings together). I am certainly open to silver, in fact both of us much prefer the look of silver or white gold to yellow gold.

In general, does the size of the gems I'm looking at seem reasonable (2-2.5c total) for earrings or is that really too small to really notice?

Thanks again for the help!
 

Arkteia

Ideal_Rock
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Here is what I found:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USA-CUT-EXTRA-FINE-COLOR-TSAVORITE-GARNET-OVAL-/310154921482?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4836ac860a

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EXCEPTIONAL-TOP-COLOR-TSAVORITE-GARNET-OVAL-/310229170900?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item483b197ad4

This is a pair of already made earrings and the price is out of your range. But since you said that the budget was negotiable, I posted them.

Weblorn is an excellent seller and is very flexible in her prices. What you are saving in are the stones, the diamonds and the jeweler's work if you can negotiate the price. As of now, it is steep.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TOP-COLOR-CUSTOM-TSAVORITE-DIAMOND-EARRINGS-2-TCW-/270317461633?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ef02d2081

And here is another way:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-99ct-Round-Portuguese-Intense-Green-Tsavorite-Garnet-/230510696748?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35ab82192c

and
http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-99ct-Round-Portuguese-Intense-Green-Tsavorite-Garnet-/370550992808?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item56468f6fa8

These are different stones, and they do not look exactly the same, I opened two windows in my browser and find both stones, and click on the browser images at the bottom of the screen, you can compare colors. They did not look identical, but I am not quite sure if the material is different or the cut. I bought two round pink spinels this way and two round tsavorites, from his websites, and they look identical. Perhaps send Tan a message?

All I can see is that tsavorites are becoming horrifyingly expensive. I bought two excellent ones for $ 80.00 and $ 125.00, and thought that I overpayed...
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
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giff1023|1319040376|3043521 said:
Thank you for the help so far! I'm learning a lot just googling some of the terms thrown around here :D

Crasru, thanks for the idea of buying separate stones - that certainly opens up more options. As a rule, how closely should I try to match size for earrings? I would imagine color would be the most important, but they ARE on opposite sides of the head, right?

Athenaworth, thanks for recommending the seller. That is my biggest worry about buying on Ebay. Particularly after reading some of the threads in this forum about bad experiences. When you say windowed, are you referring to the dark spots in the gems? I'm not experienced at looking at pictures, so my first instinct was "Of course there are dark spots, it just depends on which angle you look at them". Is that not the case, and would the result of a windowed gem be a lack of sparkle?

TL, I haven't yet looked into how to set these gems. I'm guessing from your comment that that decision will impact my stone choice (alternatively, I've considered purchasing the tsavorites as a present and then designing the earrings together). I am certainly open to silver, in fact both of us much prefer the look of silver or white gold to yellow gold.

In general, does the size of the gems I'm looking at seem reasonable (2-2.5c total) for earrings or is that really too small to really notice?Thanks again for the help!

It depends on your gf. If she's a very tall person with a ton of hair like me, than no one would notice them. If she's more diminutive, and wears her hair up a lot or has short hair, then I think they would be noticable.
 

giff1023

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Messages
26
Wow. Those finished earrings are spectacular! I love the color and that the tsavorites are really left on their own to be the focal point.

Unfortunately a little outside of my price range. I think the most I could really justify is $1000 total, and would definitely feel more comfortable in the $600 range (including setting, etc, which is why I would look to accentuate with non-diamonds).

My girlfriend is only 5'4", but does have shoulder length hair which she will wear back or occasionally down for more formal occasions- in that case I guess the earrings would be lost beneath her hair...

I didn't realize sellers had multiple sites. I think I will try to contact a few directly to see what they have available.

I still am thinking about the pair that you posted TL. They ARE a little lighter than what I originally envisioned, but they sure do look "sparkly".
 

Arkteia

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
7,589
What is the diameter of the earrings/stones that you need? Shape? I am planning to buy the earrings... then it may make sense for you to wait for a couple of days. There are four matched pairs and it will be very affordable...
 

giff1023

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Messages
26
The Weblorn earrings? Congrats! They look fabulous. I'm not sure what you mean by waiting for four more matched pairs, though - does that mean that Weblorn has more pairs coming or is making more earrings?

Jstar, I was looking at those earlier. They are very nice, maybe a shade lighter than I was thinking, but definitely something I'm keeping my eye on. It seems like Ebay has more tsavorites than all of the online gem sites than I've seen combined! Pretty amazing.
 

Arkteia

Ideal_Rock
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Nov 3, 2009
Messages
7,589
I am going to unstock because I have four pairs of matched tsavorites bought a while ago when prices were different... If I like the earrings I buy I am going to sell at least one pair and given the fact that one of them is even set small wired earrings so one can unhook them and use as lower part and use other stones as the upper part if he does not like the upper part of the earrings I decided to let you know. That is contingent on whether I like her earrings or not. I bought several items from Weblorn and have been very happy. She is one of ebay vendors you can trust. I can not say that her pictures look much better than IRL but they never look worse, and she is very flexible in her prices so I do not expect to return her earrings... So if you buy from her or anyone else I think it will be a good deal I just wanted to mention that I am selling mine and I bought them a while ago. Tsavorites are probably good investment and I am not sure that my step is wise but I shall never have the time or the $$ to set all of them. Even for side stones, I still have too many. This is why I was asking you about the dimensions.

I am not advertising my stones and I am not a vendor. Nor do I need the money that much so it is fine with me if people are not interested, but once when I was looking for a marquise diamond ring, someone posted hers as an option so I hope my post is OK with PS, especially now that we have Preloved Jewelry... As I have posted yesterday, I am losing my interest in stones, or rather, am interested only in large stones that I want to be set, so I am at the phase of setting, selling, donating or selling and using the $$ for my charity project.
 

giff1023

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Messages
26
Oh wow. That sounds fantastic. I haven't been blown away with what I've seen so far (except for the earrings!), and I would be very interested in taking a look at anything you don't plan on keeping.

I like the dimensions of the earrings to be honest - 8x6 - but am definitely flexible. I didn't enter into this project with any preconceived notions of what I wanted the stones to look like, so my plan is to pick out my favorite pair in my price range and design the earrings around the stone rather than the other way around.
 

Arkteia

Ideal_Rock
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OK most of mine are round... One is oval like the ones you saw at MC.com, rather light (Merelanis but green not yellow), but I am going to sell them for peanuts. The other three (sort of, more) pairs are round and of different sizes - around 5-6 mm. I have to measure the ones in earrings - I am selling the whole earrings, WG, also cheap. I am getting the earrings next week, so if everything is going well, I am going to post them where everyone does it and if you like them, you'll buy them, and if not, I shall remove them.

I also found a single pear (although I remember buying two). It is lighter but large and plump. I can give a 3d degree to my jewelry box and see where the second pear is. If there is none, there is a likelihood of finding a matching pear on the website where I bought it from. (I think he could use some positive feedbacks, too). This will be an ideal thing, because it is large enough and it is not too difficult to find a match for it. I shall look at all options during the weekend.
 

Arkteia

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
7,589
Hi there,
I received my earrings from Weblorn, pretty nice so I can sell a pair of pear tsavorites. They are not 100% identical in size, but it should not be noticeable in setting or in different ears, similar to what you are looking for size-wise and cheaper than your projects. Tell me if you are still interested, and I can post it in the regular marketplace for you. I am not interested in selling them just for the purpose of selling, but if you have not found anything, I may help you out. The color is very pretty and saturated.
 

jstarfireb

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 24, 2007
Messages
6,232
You guys might want to take this convo to the Preloved PS Jewels forum because it may get deleted here. I think it's great that one PSer is helping another out, but sometimes the mods are a little cautious about not letting people advertise what they're selling outside of that forum.

ETA: And Crasru! We need to see pics of those fabulous earrings!
 

Ella

Brilliant_Rock
Staff member
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Jan 18, 2010
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Please do not discuss personal items for sale outside of the preloved forum. Take this discussion there please.
 

giff1023

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Messages
26
Will do!

I'm also curious to see some pictures of those earrings, btw :)

Any thoughts on this tsavorite? The color is very light, but the price is very low. I was thinking of having it set as a pendant by DanielM (who seems to be highly recommended on this site).

http://www.odysseygem.com/view-image-26667
 
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