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I have been doing a series of videos of tiktok and instagram on my faceting journey that have been doing well. https://www.tiktok.com/embed/?????8??????edit: not sure how to do tiktok embeds.
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Jul 3, 2023 22:16
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 15:36 |
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I’ve yet to really give TikTok a chance. My goldsmithing posts on instagram have gone fairly well but I know eventually I’ll have to (or should) do both.
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Jul 3, 2023 22:25
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Crosspost for maximum visiblity.
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Jul 3, 2023 22:30
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Tiktok is bad and all but it's got eyeballs and it costs nothing to crosspost if you're already doing instagram.
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Jul 3, 2023 22:40
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Ugh yeah I know. I have to Just Do It TM
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Jul 4, 2023 16:17
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Speaking of instagram, I got one of @houseofsylas’s big honkin’ djeva cobalt spinels a few weeks ago, and I just put it in a temporary setting until I have the sawing skill to make its permanent home. The gem is absolutely garish and no one in their right mind would mistake it for the real deal, but I love it to pieces anyway and I can’t get enough of the color! 
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Jul 7, 2023 01:55
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Awesome! Eric is an amazing cutter, and he's worked really hard to source the best flame fusion cobalt spinels. Even minor impurities take the edge off the color--contemporary chinese production is hopeless. Incidentally I faceted my first natural stone, a golden rupee from golden sunstone. https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/883491922717597837/1126735161803948042/20230706_203710.mp4 It has some issues with cracks that were hidden by the sheen but I love how this material facets. I will definitely experiment with this more in the future.
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Jul 7, 2023 09:34
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Scarodactyl posted:Awesome! Eric is an amazing cutter, and he's worked really hard to source the best flame fusion cobalt spinels. Even minor impurities take the edge off the color--contemporary chinese production is hopeless. mmaaannn... now you're giving me ideas...
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Jul 7, 2023 15:46
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Scarodactyl posted:Awesome! Eric is an amazing cutter, and he's worked really hard to source the best flame fusion cobalt spinels. Even minor impurities take the edge off the color--contemporary chinese production is hopeless. Those rupees are so cool and Zelda is so big right now that you could probably clear out all of your topaz rough by just churning out of a ton of rupees as practice and selling them at a discount.
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Jul 7, 2023 20:32
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Nae posted:Those rupees are so cool and Zelda is so big right now that you could probably clear out all of your topaz rough by just churning out of a ton of rupees as practice and selling them at a discount. *looks over at the 2+ pounds of red CZ* hhhhmmmmm
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Jul 7, 2023 20:54
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Had a quick closer look at the platelets that give the golden sunstone its sheen. https://www.tiktok.com/@angryturtlejewelry/video/7253348221144059178 (These tiktok auto embeds aren't loading for me on the app though--here's the alternative insta link https://www.instagram.com/reel/CubZmSoNdsN/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) Scarodactyl fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Jul 8, 2023 |
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Jul 8, 2023 19:31
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Scarodactyl posted:Had a quick closer look at the platelets that give the golden sunstone its sheen. It's like glitch art, in real life!
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Jul 8, 2023 22:24
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I flush set my first stone! It’s a 3.5mm emerald I’ve had sitting around for ages and never had any particular plan for, and now I’m so glad I kept it for this ring. I was going to polish out all of the tool marks around the stone when I finished, but I ended up liking the pattern they formed so much that I added to it to create a sun/floral pattern. Now I’m sure if I try to do it again, I won’t be able to do it intentionally, but I really like how this one looks! 
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Jul 9, 2023 00:47
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Looks pretty cool, I'd say
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Jul 9, 2023 00:54
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Yeah that came out awesome!
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Jul 9, 2023 02:02
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Ssshhhhiiinnnyyyyy Think you made the right call with the toolmarks man!
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Jul 10, 2023 15:15
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https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/844202889060155433/1128962064082272297/lv_0_20230713040243.mp4 An attempt at a pixel cut minecraft diamond in dichroic moissanite. At that it fails (too dark, didn't cut the corners deep enough) but it still came out neat. I like moissanite a lot. Gotta try again, maybe with natural blue topaz for a better color match.
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Jul 13, 2023 09:37
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Scarodactyl posted:https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/844202889060155433/1128962064082272297/lv_0_20230713040243.mp4 I really want to get my hands on some Moissanite. I used to have to polish technical ceramics for research. Mostly tungsten and vanadium carbides. Once in a blue moon had to polish some Silicon carbide. It wasn't facet quality but always seems to polish up really cleanly.
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Jul 13, 2023 15:33
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If you want moissanite I can definitely help with that! I just cut another golden sunstone rupee, I wasn't satisfied with the last one since it was chipped. It is really fun material though more challenging to polish than the lab stones I usually work with. https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/820161417410773022/1131704279330193469/20230719_224442_1.mp4 I also did a video taking a closer look at it under the microscope. https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/883491922717597837/1131990666336030730/lv_0_20230721124549.mp4
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Jul 21, 2023 18:36
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Scarodactyl posted:If you want moissanite I can definitely help with that! I'll defiantly hit you up when I'm buying the next round of rough. Also SOOO SHINY!!! I love looking at stones under a microscope.
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Jul 21, 2023 19:42
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Is modern red glass still based on cadmium and gold chloride? I was looking for red crystal dishware and its been hard to find anything except cadmium glass from the 1960s-1980s and depression ware reds from the 1930s-40s.  I realize this isn't about gems, but this seems like an educated group in the field of heavy metals making nice colors.
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Aug 6, 2023 00:44
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Salt Fish posted:Is modern red glass still based on cadmium and gold chloride? I was looking for red crystal dishware and its been hard to find anything except cadmium glass from the 1960s-1980s and depression ware reds from the 1930s-40s. For that deep ruby read? yea it's still gold as far as I'm aware. Reds in general are very hard to have survive at molten glass temperatures.
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Aug 6, 2023 03:20
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Fun with laser garnets! https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/820161417410773022/1145136396202426478/lv_0_20230826191624.mp4 Nd:YAG is usually codoped with a little Ce and turns from pink in normal lighting to light yellow under fluorscent illumination. Ho:YAG is light yellow in normal lighting but turns pink under fluorescent illumination. Pair them for a fun switcheroo.
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Aug 27, 2023 01:06
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Well I thought that was cool, anyway
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Sep 1, 2023 22:56
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Hello thread! I've been working as a production bench jeweler for about a year now, working with platinum and gold castings and fabrication to make stuff like this ring or this tennis bracelet or these pendants that are the bane of my existence I could have sworn I posted about it somewhere on SA when I started, but lord knows where. Whatever. My shop is where most diamond setting happens for the company, but I'm involved in most other steps for a piece between casting and final polish, not inclusive. My typical work day is divided between cast cleaning/prepolishing, fitting and and soldering pieces together. I have my "own" bench supplied with top-notch tools, and I use a propane/ox little torch for all hot work. Any pictures I could take at work would get me fired, but I'm happy to answer any questions in exchange for the inevitable questions I'll have as I learn. Cheers!
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Sep 4, 2023 02:38
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Hello thread, bookmarking for immidiate request for assistance. I am looking for earing backings, must be 24k gold to match. What is a good source for... I think it is butterfly style. Is the correct search term for them backs? What is a good source? I think I will start out with 6 or a dozen, wife and daughter will not stop losing them and wife told me her local jeweler cut her off from getting more from them.
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Sep 4, 2023 16:07
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"Findings" is a good general search term for small jewelry components. Rio Grande has a ton but no 24k gold based on my quick search Eta: 24k is really soft metal, you might be better served getting a lower alloy, or just plated like these if they're just gonna keep getting lost Soul Dentist fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Sep 4, 2023 |
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Sep 4, 2023 16:20
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24k full is hard requirement from wife and bougie grandparents. Also daughter is infant, so like I'm not gonna argue that requirement. I found a lab that sells $20/each
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Sep 4, 2023 16:29
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Soul Dentist posted:Hello thread! I've been working as a production bench jeweler for about a year now, working with platinum and gold castings and fabrication to make stuff like this ring or this tennis bracelet or these pendants that are the bane of my existence What's the coolest project you've worked on so far? And on the opposite end of the scale, what kind of work is the biggest pain in the rear end at your job?
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Sep 4, 2023 23:44
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The coolest stuff I work on often is the repairs. Very few shop-worn pieces but mostly something another employee has biffed in some way. It is usually a fun problem solving exercise trying to reshape and build back toolmarked, burnt, distorted settings. Although earlier this year I got to go train for a week at the high jewelry workshop in New York and that was AWESOME. I watched a bunch of this necklace getting set and assembled: Usually, I get pieces to work on that are unset or incompletely set, like a channel set ring with no center mounting or a pendant with melee stones that needs a decorative motif. But if the setter fucks something up they aren't given much in the way of tools (just a graver and some rubber wheels on a Foredom really) so it comes back to me. This is usually no big deal, just coat the stones in Handi-Flux or even just boric and work around it with the torch. Most setting here is diamonds, and they play pretty well with high heat (for short! periods, and only if they are ultra clean from the ultrasonic), but there's still always a chance of burning stones. Enough gets burnt or broken that everybody's got scrap numbers to keep track of, but it's normally not a huge deal... Except last week when I soldered posts on the back of a pair of four-prong diamond stud baskets in platinum and sent them to be set. The next day I got them back because the trademark on the post had been overworked in final polish, which happens all the time -- all I have to do is cut them off, rechamfer a new post and solder them back on. For stone-in repairs I'll usually use 1100 platinum solder and just coat the stone in flux. The real clench part about this pair was that they weighed over 12 carats together, and were very highly graded. So I had to work with these two stones that would end up selling for 14 million dollars, using a torch to melt metal around them without burning them. Had to take some deep breaths after that process. The nice thing is, for extremely nice stones that are absolutely loving huge, you don't have to worry about them as much because they are their own heat sink!
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Sep 5, 2023 02:16
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I’ve only been goldsmithing for a little over half a year so I definitely have questions, but I’ll hit you with one to start: how do I set a princess cut without putting too much pressure on the girdle and chipping it? I tried to set a LuAG in a v-prong basket, and because I wasn’t sure how to secure the stone without folding over the prongs, I think I ended up squeezing the stone too tight and chipping one side. I’ve got to imagine there’s a better way, so what is it?
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Sep 5, 2023 03:18
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I literally never set stones myself, so hopefully somebody else will have a better answer. I do know princess cuts are tough to set without breaking the corners at the girdle in general, and are reserved for more experienced setters where I work. Essentially you want to have no visible air gap on the sides of the prong, but you don't want the very corner of the girdle to be touching metal. This GIA video does a pretty good job of showing how to ball bur out a little pocket for each corner. Beyond that, having the stone set level with the top of the prongs will prevent some stresses as well.
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Sep 5, 2023 03:51
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Soul Dentist posted:I literally never set stones myself, so hopefully somebody else will have a better answer. I do know princess cuts are tough to set without breaking the corners at the girdle in general, and are reserved for more experienced setters where I work. Holy crap, that ball bur trick is amazing. I would’ve never thought of that! Reminds me that I need to get more ball burs, though. That’s the problem with this, and all, crafts: you’ll never stop sinking money into tools.
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Sep 5, 2023 05:17
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Nae posted:Holy crap, that ball bur trick is amazing. I would’ve never thought of that! Reminds me that I need to get more ball burs, though. That’s the problem with this, and all, crafts: you’ll never stop sinking money into tools. Hahaha it is a never ending pit.
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Sep 5, 2023 07:03
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Soon it shall begin. There's a D20 hiding in this. 
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Sep 5, 2023 15:39
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Heck yeah! I'm really curious how you accomplish it--I am not 100% sure my machine could even fit it. Oh, I don't think I even mentioned in this thread that we bought a bunch of industrial sapphire from Rubicon's factory closing auction including these cylindrical cores and some gigantic flat crystals specially grown to make sensor windows for the F35 which didn't meet spec (mostly by shattering during growth though with a side of pink discoloration from titanium contamination).   Plus a few tons of white ceramic feedstock we had to buy with them. 
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Sep 5, 2023 19:22
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Scarodactyl posted:Heck yeah! I'm really curious how you accomplish it--I am not 100% sure my machine could even fit it. That chunk I posted a pic of is one of the Rubicon auction pieces.  I'm curious if anything can be done with that feed stock. I.e. can it get treated hot enough to color directly or get it to try and solidify without it having to be brought up to fuckoff hot temperatures. I'd also defiantly be interested in some chunks off that F35 failure panel. One of the guys I work with helped with some parts development on both the F22 and F35. Making something for him out of an F35 part would be fun.
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Sep 5, 2023 19:26
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shalafi4 posted:I'm curious if anything can be done with that feed stock. I.e. can it get treated hot enough to color directly or get it to try and solidify without it having to be brought up to fuckoff hot temperatures. shalafi4 posted:I'd also defiantly be interested in some chunks off that F35 failure panel. One of the guys I work with helped with some parts development on both the F22 and F35. Making something for him out of an F35 part would be fun.
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Sep 5, 2023 23:17
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Completely forgot to mention in my breakdown but I spend a significant amount of time working on this: Sisma welding laser. It's an amazingly functional and exorbitantly expensive piece of equipment - and also a really good way to have burns all over your fingers all the time. I use it for everything from tacking pieces together before soldering to polishing pieces that tools won't reach. This demo is sped up but essentially what it does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujVSo0enJg8 I will almost certainly never have one at home, although some of the jewelers in New York have their own. Weird people, by the way. A whole class of people who don't go out, or have much in the way of hobbies. They just commute in from bedroom communities in Connecticut, make jewelry, and go home to bed early.
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Sep 5, 2023 23:55
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Scarodactyl posted:Yeah, it is a good question. From my research it seems to be an unusual product made for their particular furnaces but there has to be a use for it. shoot me a link. I'm having a derp
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Sep 6, 2023 03:39
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