My first CS!

SouthernSunset · Dec 26, 2013

It was my Christmas present to myself.

its not exactly perfect, but I absolutely love it. Its a 2.2 carat green tourmaline. Its a native cut, and a fairly dark color but it was very affordable as my work is seasonal and I'm a full time student so from November to March I live on tightly budgeted scholarship and savings.

You'd think it would black out in low light but it doesn't one bit. And i actually bought it because of its rich, dark green shade as its reminiscent of a ring I once had that was stolen. It was hard to photograph as well because it turns out so much darker in photos than in person. However it has wonderful flashes of green in every light and is actually quite sparkly in indoors!

And as a surprise, I received a Christmas present from the vendor, a garnet pair!

So now I can officially say I have a CS collection!!!!

innerkitten · Dec 26, 2013

Congratulations! Christmas colors

Starzin · Dec 27, 2013

Well done you!

The tourmaline does indeed look a lovely rich green - more pics might be in order. Any setting plans?

ETA: most of the vendors are very sweet with "gifties" and this one obviously has a sense of humour - not to mention seasonal good cheer

redwood66 · Dec 27, 2013

How pretty! I love that green!

SouthernSunset · Dec 27, 2013

Thanks y'all! I just love the dark green. I feel like the color makes up for the fact its a native cut. Or maybe that's just my budget friendly mind thinking so atm XD. It does have* an obvious window, but I can't get over how similar it looks to my old ring which was given to me by one of my great aunts who's now since passed. Its resemblance is probably why I bought it, I can be an emotional shopper sometimes. :/

As far as setting I'm open to ideas! I want something very simple to not distract from the stone so no halos(it also feels pretty big anyways, 9.2 x 6.2 x 3.8 ) and yellow or rose gold because I'm thinking it will warm the stone up a lot. Maybe a few tiny sparky diamond sides, but nothing greater than ~.1 carat. Or a solitaire with some unique metalwork?

I'd also like to keep it around 200 if possible. If I find something I really love more than that though it'll just have to wait till late spring when my jobs pick back up and I have many more zeroes in my bank account.

Oh and I will try to take a few more pics too. It tends to turn out so disappointingly dark though. Or maybe I'm just a bad stone photographer...

minousbijoux · Dec 27, 2013

Its interesting to me how often green tourmaline is overlooked. I think that is due to the less durable nature of the stone, but is often due to the somewhat insipid color people tend to find. But not yours! That looks like as saturated a green as they come - is that a chrome tourmaline? It is truly beautiful and will make a fine ring if that's the direction you choose. And yay! on your matching garnets!

SouthernSunset · Dec 29, 2013

I wish it was chrome! He he. But I don't believe so. It certainly wasnt sold with the comparable price tag of a chrome from when i looked around. Granted it didn't come with a certificate but I bought it from one of the very loved vendors on this site and it was very affordable.

PS is bad for choosing a setting though. I prowl for hours on here and when I think I have one idea/direction I see something else I like.

Good news is, since I recently moved and have started to get serious about jewelry as a hobby, I checked out some local jewelers in the area, and think I found a winner. So once I do make up my mind on something, I feel comfortable to try out the place for a jewelry audition heh.

I managed to get two more not terrible shots of the stone too. It's definitely a camera shy specimen.

You can also see the windowing is much more obvious in these two, but like the description for the vendor said in his blurb,*me paraphrasing* the native cut isn't horrorific and the stone needed a new home for Christmas. :]