New iPhone = LOTS of Pics! Stones Cut By My Hubby :)

[tara3056]

Just got a new iPhone 5S and I'm so impressed with the pics it takes! After months of struggling to get even halfway decent pics of some of my gemstones, this iPhone does a much better job than our other 2 cameras. All pictures are unedited except for cropping, and were taken indoors by a large window around 5pm. The phone did a good job of getting the colors pretty darn accurate. We probably should have gotten a white/silver phone, though, instead of the black/space gray one. I've heard the lighter phones take even better pics because you don't get any darkness from the phone reflecting in the stone. I know you can tape paper around your phone, but I didn't really feel like going through the trouble of that today.

All gemstones in this thread were faceted by my husband With the exception of 1, they are all variations on the standard round brilliant. Why? Because he mainly cuts for me and that's by far my favorite shape. He's cut some other shapes in synthetic materials, but those won't be shown/shared here.

Some of these stones are from the first 20 that he ever cut. Some colors are better than others. Some stones are cut better than others. So I'm not trying to say that every stone he's cut is perfect, and that every color is ideal, but overall, I'm so proud of him and thrilled with what he's done!

Here we go....

 

[tara3056]

Umbalite Garnet



This pic is a bit over-saturated. It *does* like sunlight, but it's darker generally.

 

[tara3056]

Loliondo Spessartite garnet, set in 18k yellow gold pendant

 

[tara3056]

Pink-Purple Tourmaline (weird mix of colors - purple body color with pink and orange flashes) + Light Bubblegum / Lilac-Pink California Tourmaline (TONS of sugar inclusions... oh well)

 

[tara3056]

The most recent stone he finished - I *love* it, and this one will most definitely be set into a diamond halo pendant.

0.92ct Tsavorite, 6.3mm cushion cut (Jeff Graham's N-Star design)

 

[tara3056]

A few misc:

Lavender (purple w/ some gray) Spinel - same stone, but picked up 2 different colors on the camera



Aquamarine - has nice color (visibly blue and not colorless like cheap aqua), but not quite as saturated as these pics show

 

[tara3056]

Orangish-Red Spessartite
This was a re-cut from a cheap eBay native-cut oval. This stone is pretty amazing in bright light, but it's definitely dark. Indoors at night, you get lots of red-flash as you move it but the body color kinda blacks out.

 

[tara3056]

The first peridot was Stone #4 that he cut. It's from Arizona and doesn't have as nice of color as the Pakistani peridot that we had set into a pendant as a gift for his Mom


Here's his Mom's pendant from a previous thread (pics with DSLR not the iPhone)

 

[tara3056]

Last but not least, this one cracks us up. It's a HUGE tourmaline (10.5mm; 4.02ct), cut into Jeff Graham's modified Portuguese. It was sort a muddy pink-champagne color in the rough and we'd hoped it would be more pink when cut. Instead, it's even more brown. I think it was stone #12 or so that he cut, and orienting tourmaline for its best color wasn't one of his better skills. Neither of us care for it much (we joke that he "polished a turd" LOL), but the cut is nice.

 

[tara3056]

And thaaaaaat's it If you made it all the way through, thanks so much for looking! I had a lot of fun finally getting to photograph all of DH's work.

 

[minousbijoux]

Wow, it took him no time at all to get very, very good! Great colors, great polish and great designs.

Please don't start selling too soon because then we won't be able to see these beauties posted here.

 

[minousbijoux]

Oh, and one more thing - the phone might take great pics, but the subject matter is quite photogenic

 

[tara3056]

Thanks, Minou! No worries - he's not looking to sell his stones. He's still pretty sentimental about each stone he cuts, and I'm fine with hoarding it all for myself!

The quality of rough we've been buying has steadily increased, while his free time for cutting has steadily decreased (we had a baby 6 months ago, and we have a very energetic 3.5 year old who wants nothing more than to monopolize all of his Dad's time from the second he gets home from work). So I'm very excited to see how some of our nicer roughs turn out, but at this rate, it's going to be awhile before I have any new pics to share.

 

[minousbijoux]

Its never too early to start the next generation of cutters...

ETA: is it fair to ask what his recovery is like, or is that out the window being a new cutter?

 

[blingyjules]

They all look pretty good to me. Really love that Tsavorite especially. Lucky you!!!

 

[FrekeChild]

I love the big brown one. I think it's lovely.

 

[tara3056]

Minou: He averages about 25% recovery... the worst was around 15% on a rubellite tourmaline (not pictured). It gave him so much trouble. It started out as 4.4 carats and ended up at 0.68. Expensive material too, so . The best was about 36% on the Umbalite first pictured. It started at 5.71 and ended at 2.07.

Thanks, blingyjules! The tsav is a favorite of mine, too. Freke: I knew someone would like the brown one! Hehe. Actually, it really is pretty in its own right. I think we were just disappointed b/c we'd been expecting pinker (and the rough dealer had said "pink" too), so to have it be sooo brown was a bit of a shock.

 

[chrono]

Both the material and cuts look great! Wow, I really admire your DH. Everything looks to be saleable quality and I'd bet if you decide to ever sell any, they will go quickly.

 

[the_mother_thing]

Last but not least, this one cracks us up. It's a HUGE tourmaline (10.5mm; 4.02ct), cut into Jeff Graham's modified Portuguese. It was sort a muddy pink-champagne color in the rough and we'd hoped it would be more pink when cut. Instead, it's even more brown. I think it was stone #12 or so that he cut, and orienting tourmaline for its best color wasn't one of his better skills. Neither of us care for it much (we joke that he "polished a turd" LOL), but the cut is nice.

I have unusual taste, I admit ... I really like the colors this "turdy-tourmaline" throws off!

Great work by your hubs! Lucky lady you are!

 

[JewelFreak]

How wonderful to have your very own gem cutter in the house! Wouldn't we all like to borrow him! They're really great. I like them all, but the turd could be my favorite. I have a thing for browny-peachy stones.

--- Laurie

 

[deskjockey]

I really love that brown one too. Probably a disappointment if you were expecting something else, but I love it. Such a rich, warm color - reminds me a bit of a satin dress I have.

 

[Mico]

Neat! Thanks for sharing

 

[movie zombie]

loving the pendants particularly.....and also love the unusual so I'm in the "i'll take the turd" camp......LOL.

how convenient to love color stones AND have a hubby who cuts them!

 

[LoversKites]

Whoa, impressive. I love that tsav and the included pink tourmaline speaks to me too.

 

[thecat]

Wow I love your beauties! If only my SO's hobby is stone cutting, I'll be so happy.

 

[katharath]

LOVE your thread! I am so glad you got to experiment with the iPhone, so that we could see these beautiful gems. Each one is special in its own way, but I am quite partial to the tsav myself. Thanks so much for sharing

 

[mastercutgems]

Bravo

That is one of the many reasons some of us started cutting to begin with. To please the Ladies in our lives LOL

He has done a very fine job and I hope he adorns you with many lovely colorful rocks

Keep showing us his beauties and all of us cutters have a few turds in the fishbowl... LOL

Most Respectfully;

Dana Reynolds
ASG certified
Supreme Master Gem Cutter
#96CGE42

 

[msop04]

Umbalite Garnet

LOVE this stone -- great cut too!

 

[minousbijoux]

I'm back to ogle some more. Tara, just can't believe his talent. Does he use very fine polish? They are just stunning. I also love the lavender spinel. For the sake of the PS tradition (being selfless here, really only trying to uphold tradition you know ), I will call dibs on the lavender spinel...

 

[woofmama]

All beautiful! I love that tsav You're very lucky!