Second sparklie splurge - red spinel

[the_mother_thing]

Self-control was clearly on backorder this past week.

I also have a personal goal that will soon be met, and decided I needed this to help commemorate it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

From Finewater ...
1.45ct Burmese Red Spinel
Dimensions: 6.6 x 6.2 x 4.2​ mm
Clarity: VVS
Origin: Mogok, Myanmar (Burma)

Gary's pics first:

 

[the_mother_thing]

My pics below. I am feeling the YG for this one, as it's more 'red' than the Mahenge Garnet. I am so glad I didn't need to choose between the two though because I love them both equally, but for slightly different reasons.

 

[Arkteia]

Totally understand lack of self-control. A beautiful stone, congratulations! Red spinel is classic. The color! Ferrari, flame, whatever they call it. One thing, I once set a similar stone in YG, and several people told me I should have done white for at least the prongs. (Yellow gold dragged out orange, and the stone, unset, had plenty of pure red). People here could advise better on it, of course.

 

[Burmesedaze]

Congrats! I love the red spinels in Myanmar and am always on the lookout for more. Majority of them run a bit dark, it's extremely difficult to find those that are just right or even the classic flame/traffic light red.

I have a similar 1.5ct red spinel cushion cut that's currently being set for me in Hong Kong. I've opted to go with an open halo design and in WG because, well, I prefer my reds on the lighter side.

But it really boils down to personal preference and what you like.

 

[arkieb1]

It's pretty but it doesn't look at all like his photos, does that bother you?

 

[Arcadian]

I'm going to be another that thinks you should go with white metals. To me it looks like that stone goes from a dark raspberry to strawberry. Mine does this, and its roughly the same size. looks amazing in diffused light and and inside of course! When I'm out shopping I've had more people grab my hand and ask "where did you get that". (unknowns would ask if its a ruby but thats just about any red stone...lol)

I don't want to dirty up your thread, but I do have some pictures. let me know if you want to see and I'll post them here.

 

[elle_71125]

So pretty. I love bright red stones! I too would vote for white gold but you should do whatever speaks to you.

 

[the_mother_thing]

Thank you all for the kind comments & feedback on metal color. I will have to play with it some more against other metal colors to see when time allows. Is there a 'show me Burmese red spinel' thread? I saw one for Mahenge spinels, but not sure how much different they are/behave from the Burmese ones.

Burmese & Arcadian and anyone else - Please post as many pics of yours as you have! I'd love to see them and how you chose to set them.

Arkie - I think the differences are due to my lighting & camera vs Gary's. In person, it's pretty close to his hand shot, which his website noted as well due to the lighting in his facility. So I knew it wouldn't be identical to his solo-stone shots.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:



cheers--Sharon

 

[Arcadian]

@Jen. heres a few I took today. I have some from when before it was unset...somewhere...lol

Mine is a vietmanese spinel, I call it strawberry red mainly because it can be more red (full on sunlight) or pinkish red. But it has a pink side which I adore.

Like I said above, the stone is very different down here than it was when I lived in Massachusetts. I did try to get it when it was on the darker side but again, its hard to do in Florida when the sun is really blazing...lol.

Here's a kitchen shot. Sun is on the west side of the house so to get a decent shot I did have to turn on the lights. The bulbs are LED cans but, soft white (which always throws a bit of yellow cast)


This one is outside under some trees in the backyard.


This is in my office. My office faces east, so gets more morning light than afternoon. This is VERY diffused light. Never have the lights on until the evening. any additional lights come from my extremely big monitors.


Taken in the living room/dining room.


I didn't do full sun. Its amazing in full sun though. I think some years ago I also took some black light images...it is ridiculous how much it glows.....

 

[ElizabethR]

It's beautiful!

 

[Siameseroo]

Oh my it looks amazing on you!

 

[Burmesedaze]

This is the spinel that's being set into a WG ring.

 

[Burmesedaze]

My current spinel ring in 18k WG. Taken indoors in the car under daylight.

HTHs!

The reds do shift under different lighting.

 

[the_mother_thing]

Arcadian: your ring is just beautiful; thank you for sharing.

Burmese: you have quite the spinel collection!

Thank you ladies for sharing! I found this thread last night with Katharath's gorgeous ring from Yvonne Raley. It's kind of similar to what I have in mind and have been drawing up for mine. And I love how the stones look in this pic of hers, and is what I was looking for in a red spinel (vs the lighter/more pink varieties). [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-camellia-ring-mahenge-burmese-spinels-diamonds-14kyg.215386/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-camellia-ring-mahenge-burmese-spinels-diamonds-14kyg.215386/[/URL]

 

[chatoyancy]

What beautiful red spinels! I feel like they are needles in a haystack.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

I love me some red spinels, so nice addition! I'm excited for you to set yours. Based on your most recent post, does that mean you'll be adding more red spinels to the ring? Or diamonds, perhaps? I did my red spinel in platinum, so let me know if you need to see a different metal choice.

Exciting!

 

[the_mother_thing]

I love me some red spinels, so nice addition! I'm excited for you to set yours. Based on your most recent post, does that mean you'll be adding more red spinels to the ring? Or diamonds, perhaps? I did my red spinel in platinum, so let me know if you need to see a different metal choice.

Exciting!

Mayyyyybeee

Please post yours! the more the merrier, and examples are so helpful in visualizing what/how it might look in the different metals. Thanks!

 

[Arcadian]

I found my unset pics but will only post 1. Here is the hugely red side of this stone. Note; I was outside freezing my butt off taking these pics...lol



Everyone's stones are TDF...

IMO how your stone is set (if its got enough light getting around it) will also make the difference, but I think the neutrality of white metal may be a good thing. I tried all kinds of crazy stuff (including aluminum foil...hey it helped!!) and felt that the stone would just be happy in white metal versus yellow. My stone needed as much light as I could allow. The setting, though an older LOGR was rebuilt with 18K and higher quality melee.

I also have a mahenge which is a super red (its also silky and in sunlight goes BOOM)Its a stone IMO could have went either way. I love how it looks in yellow though.




Jenn, would love to know what you had in mind design wise. I have ONE ring that I will build this year, but I'm procrastinating a bit. Not a bad thing considering what I want in the damn setting

 

[SparkliesLuver]

I love me some red spinels, so nice addition! I'm excited for you to set yours. Based on your most recent post, does that mean you'll be adding more red spinels to the ring? Or diamonds, perhaps? I did my red spinel in platinum, so let me know if you need to see a different metal choice.

Mayyyyybeee
Please post yours! the more the merrier, and examples are so helpful in visualizing what/how it might look in the different metals. Thanks!

he he he he Looooooove it.
Here's mine. These are macro shots just to show all the detail - it's not overwhelming at all on the hand, especially my large one.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

I found the original vendor photo and my photo, both when the stone was loose...in case it helps at all.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Congrats on your splurge! Red spinels are a weakness of mine (see avatar pic). So glad you found one that you love.

 

[Burmesedaze]

The colour looks similar to my unset spinel that I just bought last month but it's so hard to say for sure since the colours vary in different lighting.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Any updates, JoCoJenn?

 

[the_mother_thing]

I haven't settled on my setting plans just yet, but I did manage to just grab a couple better images showing the color of my spinel a little better. I took them in the windowsill, and it's very cloudy/overcast here today. I might try one more method to capture the color, and if successful, will post a couple more pics.





Also, I found this 'line-up' of metal colors that is VERY helpful in looking at how a stone might look with that metal color. Of course, this doesn't take into account how that metal color might physically influence the color of the stone (e.g., white metal reflecting 'brighter' into the stone); rather, it's just helpful (to me) with the initial appearance of the combination.

Here is my spinel with the two colorways I see in person laid against the row of metals. If anyone might like this row of metals/rings 'clean' (without my spinel), I'm happy to share a pic of the row for others to use, if they'd find it helpful.

 

[the_mother_thing]

A couple more, and with the metals background neutralized.

Yes, I am an analytical geek.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

haha That's alright - it takes all kinds!

I love the row of metal rings chart - that's super neat and helpful. Does one jump out at you?

 

[the_mother_thing]

haha That's alright - it takes all kinds!

I love the row of metal rings chart - that's super neat and helpful. Does one jump out at you?

I am still on the fence between yellow & white metal.

Also, one option I am considering is setting it with these two white trillion sapphires I have had for awhile. They are 5x5mm, and the spinel is 6.2x6.6mm. But the sapphires are so white that I feel like I'd have to go with a very-white metal.

Any thoughts on these proportions? The second pic is the three stones upside down.

 

[Arcadian]

So, looking at your chart (totally cool idea btw!!), I'm totally convinced on white metal.

 

[the_mother_thing]

Thank you Arcadian.

Here is a mock-up I did of the Sholdt Lena (from BGD's website) that I was thinking about. While the metal looks a little pink, it's intended to be WG. Do the proportions look okay? I did them as close to 'scale' as possible.