My modest gem corner

[thorstedswife]

Very nice

 

[Avondale]

Oh dear, I have replies here that I've totally missed!

Very pretty, and a great tone on you!

Thank you! To be honest, I think that tone of pink coral might just be universal. I can't imagine a skin tone they wouldn't suit. They're just so gentle.

Oh I love your two rings and the earrings! I, too, am a sucker for blue. Anything that's blue I want, lol. The earrings are so sweet and they look perfect on the leverbacks.

Oh, if you only know how much I debated whether to have them as leverbacks or traditional studs... But in the end my desire for comfort won over. I don't regret the decision, they're very wearable and don't hurt the side of my neck every time I take a phone call.

You need to add your rings to this thread! https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/show-me-your-blue-sapphire-rings-ps-addition.263598/

To be honest, that thread is full of so many spectacular creations... I kinda feel I wouldn't really contribute all that much. But I have added them to the similar thread we have on the CS forum! You know, less of an audience over here.

Very nice

Thank you!

 

[Avondale]

And now for the reason I dug this thread up from the archives... The newest addition, still in the modest category, of course, but very wearable and just my style.



I bought this pendant from @gingercurls. I was browsing LT, and I saw that eye-catching orange, and the decision to write and make an offer took less than a day, which for me is a very short amount of time. She agreed to sell it to me, and ship it half way across the globe, and to be honest, after what I suspect she went through organising it, she'd be a saint if she ever agreed to send anything internationally ever again.

Waiting for it to arrive ate my nerves. Nibbled on them for so many days, when I finally had the pendant in my hands and needed to untangle the chain, my fingers were too shaky and the whole process took 5 times as long as it needed to.

And it's not just the usual "well what if it's lost" business. @gingercurls sent the package on the 1st of September, and it landed on our airport on the 6th. And from that point on, until now, it was stuck in the limbo of the local slow and infuriating postal service. It flew thousands of miles and went through a dozen transit stops in 5 days. And then the last 20 kilometers took two weeks. But hey, at least it arrived, eventually!

The gem is a precision cut spessartite garnet by Gene, weighing 3,365ct and measuring 8,260 in diameter, from Loliondo, Tanzania. I am not familiar with the trade names of spessartite and have no idea what is considered mandarin or fanta, so we'll just call it a spess and that's that. The setting is 14k yellow gold by DK.

And it's here just in time for autumn, which is just perfect.



Here's something curious. Now, don't be too rash to call me insane, I needed something to occupy my thoughts while I was waiting for customs to clear the package. But I found the original image from Gene in the Web Archive, from 7 years ago. I wanted to be able to compare when it finally arrived. I'd say it's pretty accurate.



Of course, what the pictures can't quite capture is just how neon-levels of glowy this baby is. I stuck it under the desk and it still glowed - I have no idea where it found light to capture, but it amazed me.



And in direct sunlight it transforms into a tiny shining sun.




Soooo... lucky me, I guess.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

And now for the reason I dug this thread up from the archives... The newest addition, still in the modest category, of course, but very wearable and just my style.



I bought this pendant from @gingercurls. I was browsing LT, and I saw that eye-catching orange, and the decision to write and make an offer took less than a day, which for me is a very short amount of time. She agreed to sell it to me, and ship it half way across the globe, and to be honest, after what I suspect she went through organising it, she'd be a saint if she ever agreed to send anything internationally ever again.

Waiting for it to arrive ate my nerves. Nibbled on them for so many days, when I finally had the pendant in my hands and needed to untangle the chain, my fingers were too shaky and the whole process took 5 times as long as it needed to.

And it's not just the usual "well what if it's lost" business. @gingercurls sent the package on the 1st of September, and it landed on our airport on the 6th. And from that point on, until now, it was stuck in the limbo of the local slow and infuriating postal service. It flew thousands of miles and went through a dozen transit stops in 5 days. And then the last 20 kilometers took two weeks. But hey, at least it arrived, eventually!

The gem is a precision cut spessartite garnet by Gene, weighing 3,365ct and measuring 8,260 in diameter, from Loliondo, Tanzania. I am not familiar with the trade names of spessartite and have no idea what is considered mandarin or fanta, so we'll just call it a spess and that's that. The setting is 14k yellow gold by DK.

And it's here just in time for autumn, which is just perfect.



Here's something curious. Now, don't be too rash to call me insane, I needed something to occupy my thoughts while I was waiting for customs to clear the package. But I found the original image from Gene in the Web Archive, from 7 years ago. I wanted to be able to compare when it finally arrived. I'd say it's pretty accurate.



Of course, what the pictures can't quite capture is just how neon-levels of glowy this baby is. I stuck it under the desk and it still glowed - I have no idea where it found light to capture, but it amazed me.



And in direct sunlight it transforms into a tiny shining sun.




Soooo... lucky me, I guess.

I love this pendant and I'm happily jealous you have it. It's just one of those pieces that's going to be coveted by me forever. Perfect signature classic.

 

[Avondale]

I love this pendant and I'm happily jealous you have it. It's just one of those pieces that's going to be coveted by me forever. Perfect signature classic.

I am amazed by it, truly. Can't take any credit, of course, just giving it a second home. But I had read that spessartites are some of the most underrated garnets and maybe even gemstones in general, and holy moly, do I understand why now. Part of it must be Gene's cutting, I imagine, but the neon brightness of the material is on another level. It just makes me... joyous, you know?

 

[Rfisher]

It’s beautiful and looks fantastic on you.

Great snap up!

 

[Avondale]

I just need to vent for a little bit. So I'll spare the unnecessary details.

Long story short, I got my eye on a beautiful ring with floral design with lovely elongated pointy petals.

Paid for the ring, it was sent for resizing to get it 3/4 of a size bigger, after which it was supposed to be shipped.

Turns out, the resize isn't the only thing that happened to the ring. The vendor had the tips of the petals polished and rounded for practical reasons - apparently they were too sharp before and could scratch and catch on things.

The thing is, I never requested that. I loved the original design. I bought a ring that was already made, it wasn't a custom order, there was no design process involved, where you can expect some sort of variation.

And I tried to be understanding, and I really tried to like it, but it's just not working... The ring got repolished a second time, but it still doesn't look anywhere close to its original state.

I am so bummed out.

I don't know what happens next. I fear that fixing it might not be possible, and I'll just have to... cancel the purchase?

I just really liked it and really wanted it.

Ok, vent over. Bye now.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Aargh! Beyond frustrating and disappointing. Can they retip the prongs back the way they were? If not, then there really isn't much else to do unless they recast it. I'm sorry this is happening. I would be bummed, too.

 

[Avondale]

Can they retip the prongs back the way they were? If not, then there really isn't much else to do unless they recast it.

No, we can't retip the prongs, because it's not the prongs, it's the main body of the ring, the main design, that's been altered. I don't want to place blame. My main suspicion is that whoever from the bench worked on the ring... overdid it, let's say, but the vendor so far prefers to assume sole responsibility. Undeniably professional, and also why I don't want to react harshly. Mistakes happen, after all.

I've actually been offered to have the ring recast and remade entirely. I did not expect it, honestly, it must be so much extra work for the vendor to make it happen. I believed I would have to make peace with missing out on it entirely, and it's not like I could just have it remade locally, it would be a huge infringement on the designer's work.

So now I'll just have to wait for a while. I'll gladly accept some unexpected wait time if it means I get to own this beauty.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

No, we can't retip the prongs, because it's not the prongs, it's the main body of the ring, the main design, that's been altered. I don't want to place blame. My main suspicion is that whoever from the bench worked on the ring... overdid it, let's say, but the vendor so far prefers to assume sole responsibility. Undeniably professional, and also why I don't want to react harshly. Mistakes happen, after all.

I've actually been offered to have the ring recast and remade entirely. I did not expect it, honestly, it must be so much extra work for the vendor to make it happen. I believed I would have to make peace with missing out on it entirely, and it's not like I could just have it remade locally, it would be a huge infringement on the designer's work.

So now I'll just have to wait for a while. I'll gladly accept some unexpected wait time if it means I get to own this beauty.

Well, that's the best outcome you could hope for and very decent of the vendor, says good things. I'm glad it's still happening and I await the big reveal. And the handshots.

 

[Avondale]

Yesterday was not a great day for jewellery.

First I was careless, allowed my floral sapphire ring to snag on the cuff of my jacket, didn’t realise it in time, yanked too hard taking the jacket off and now the tip of the petal is deformed. It’s not too noticeable, it just looks round, but still… Immediately visited my jeweller to see if he can fix it but he said there isn’t enough room and he doesn’t have a thin enough instrument to get in there and pull it. He could maybe remove the stone from the petal, move the prong, straighten it up and then set the stone back in place, but for now suggested I just wear it and see it if bothers me. Why risk it with a more major repair, after all.

On the other hand, everyone’s saying that’s one tough jacket if it can deform metal…

Another thing is it turned out DBL is closed for me. I’ve been talking with them over the past couple of weeks as I’ve become interested in dipping my toe in yellow diamonds, and they have a good selection of coloured stones as well. Sadly, there just isn’t a way for them to ship anything my way. Can’t get a quote with insurance, therefore can’t ship. A real bummer.

So what I did instead was ask to see some available yellow diamonds while I was at my jeweller. Diamonds are his specialty. His words were, I can get you one, but I’ll have to source it especially for you. The local market just interested in anything colourful, ugh! He did have this to show me, and I took pictures because it was a very pleasant gentle yellow:





This is a little under a carat, .97, and the camera gives it a little bit of a sharper, greenish tinge. Don’t know the colour grade, the certificate was somewhere in a large pile of documents and it just wasn’t necessary to dig it up the moment, I mostly wanted to look. But I can say it might even be a bit too saturated - in terms of yellow I prefer something gentle and light. Has a large visible inclusion (in the jeweller’s words, not a quality stone). Also not available - part of a parcel for another client.

I need to start combing through PS for info on yellow diamonds. It’s the only colour I need to complete the rainbow.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Yellow sapphire perhaps @Avondale ?

 

[Avondale]

Yellow sapphire perhaps @Avondale ?

Yes, but… sparkles

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Yes, but… sparkles

Ahh you need super sparkles? I’ve seen some really sparkly blue sapphires! Assuming the right yellow could do the same?

Am a fan of yellow diamonds though as I do own one! And yes, it sparkles!

 

[Avondale]

Ahh you need super sparkles? I’ve seen some really sparkly blue sapphires! Assuming the right yellow could do the same?

Am a fan of yellow diamonds though as I do own one! And yes, it sparkles!

In my eyes yellow benefits from sparkles a lot. In blue I even prefer a velvety, silky look, but for yellow... sparkles just fit it so well, you know?

The thing with yellow sapphire is I'm going to have a harder time finding something good. My jeweller isn't a coloured stones guy, it's possible he isn't familiar with beryllium diffusion at all. I'd have to source it online by myself and right now I'm just not in the mood for a purchase that likely won't meet the expectations the vendor photos have set.

On the other hand, my guy knows diamonds, and knows them well. If I ask him to find a yellow diamond within a certain set of criteria, he will and I can be confident it will be a good stone. I just need to figure out the criteria first.