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I want to get a ring made and I really like the look of tension settings, but I'm not sure they would be good for everyday use? I'm hoping for something made of steel or titanium and the internet has given me varying answers from "yeah it's perfectly safe" to "no tension settings suck". What do you guys think?
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Apr 9, 2013 22:22
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People are superstitious about opals? I've never heard of that before.
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May 21, 2013 03:02
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I am by no means an expert but I did once try to get a tension set ring. I think they look great but I have a few guesses why it wouldn't be sold anymore. 1. Gem material absolutely matters. The gem is held in place by a ton of pressure and if it's too soft it'll just crack, if you can even get it into the setting. Honestly I've only seen true tension sets with diamonds. 2. You cannot tension set with gold/silver/plat, they're too soft to hold the pressure needed to keep the gem in place. Might also be why your ring might be a faux tension set. I've really only heard of steel/titanium being used but there might be other metals where it'd work. I can see people being upset with a "cheap" metal ring instead of a "valuable" gold ring for their diamond. Xun fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Oct 3, 2014 |
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Oct 3, 2014 17:08
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soap. posted:I'm sorry if this has been posted before; this thread is long! I don't think there is much of a difference between a natural and lab created gem? There's a bit of a stigma around lab grown gems but I feel like most of it is propaganda. Picking out a stone depends on what you're looking for, definitely go for a color you like! You could also get picky about the cut, make sure there isn't a window and that all the facets are lined up right.
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Oct 3, 2014 19:32
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Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I've recently gotten into gem faceting. Where would be a reliable place to get rough? The guy I'm learning from is old school and goes to gem shows but I can't really chase them around.
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Nov 16, 2014 23:07
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JohnnyRnR posted:In the past I've purchased from https://neweragems.com/ What have you done?! This IS really exciting rip my wallet
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Nov 20, 2014 21:26
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So, I've been faceting stuff and now I want to give them away as gifts. Anyone know where a good place to get a variety of settings? Most of the places I've found sell cabochon settings and when they do sell faceted stone settings it's only in a couple styles/materials.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:44
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How difficult is it to set gemstones? Instructions online make it seem relatively simple but the jewelry place I took my stones to said it'd cost like 120$ to set them because they are big.  The clear quartz is around 12mm across and the rose quartz is like 13.5mm. Should I try looking around for wireworking classes or something instead of relying on internet instructions?
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Jan 13, 2015 09:24
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I'm going to Tuscon for Feb 6-8, kinda short but I hope I can find some neat stuff.
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Jan 23, 2015 06:51
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Zratha posted:Super jealous, I am missing it again. Maybe next year!! It'll be my first time there, not sure what to expect!
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Jan 24, 2015 01:27
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JohnnyRnR posted:Let's meet up for lunch on Friday. Also try to loop in Tunicate. The phone number on my website forwards to my cell. Give me a call. Haha sure! As long as you can stand the ~goon awkwardness~ I'm sad that I'll be missing the "main" show apparently but I got tests that week 
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Feb 6, 2015 06:21
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 Some lovely phone photos, but I got 2 chunks of ruby, the orange is sapphire, 3 color change cubic zirconiums aaaand a giant slab of amethyst. It's all synthetic but I don't care. It'll sparkle the same when cut! 
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Feb 7, 2015 04:09
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I cut a lovely oval!  
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Mar 3, 2015 07:51
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Yeah seriously shop around, when I was trying to get one of my gems set the prices ranged from 10$ per carat to 200$(!!!!!) per carat. Then I found a guy who just does them for 25. Variance can be huuuge.
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Mar 9, 2015 22:57
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asio posted:Of course you want to meet the jeweler too. The $25 job could be a terrible jeweler when the $10 may be better than the $200. Usually you get what you pay for but there is a "fast food" style (bad) of jewelery work which is really saddening to see in real life. Especially so when someone got paid to do it. Yeah, but the rock in question was a 7.5c quartz, it's probably not even worth $70, much less $1500. It was more of an example of the difference in price for the same thing you can get from different jewelers.
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Mar 10, 2015 20:33
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That is a very dark stone. I'd suggest you see it in real life if you can, it might end up looking black most of the time. Clarity I think should be judged by the eye, if there's obvious flaws in the stone don't get it! Also make sure there isn't a little see through "window" through the table that you can see your hand with. That's a badly cut stone and they are probably overcharging you!
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Jul 23, 2015 17:48
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effika posted:My sapphire engagement ring has a veil inclusion that I think looks cool; got it for cheaper than its perfect cousin. Yeah but that's a personal preference, if he's looking at clarity he probably doesn't want an included stone but also probably doesn't care if there are inclusions at like, large magnification/microscope level. I LIKE ROCKS
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Jul 23, 2015 20:08
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So uh It has a higher RI? I'm not sure how one artificial gem could be graded "whiter" than another. The diamond scale measures the amount of yellow/brown/not white in a gem and I doubt synthetics are going to be yellowish. 
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Jul 30, 2015 05:22
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http://www.thefacetlounge.com/Thread-A-Thorough-Review-of-the-Amora-Gem-Ultra-photos-videos-included Tbh it kind of sounds like fancy glass to me  the fact that the facets are rounded is really suspicious. Also from your photos the Amora has a far lower "rainbow factor" than the moissanite. Do you have any information on the comparison itself? I'm suspicious about the difference in cut between those two because if an Amora gem is shinier than moissanite, you cannot cut the two stones exactly the same. But hey it's your ring! Go for whatever you think looks best.
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Jul 30, 2015 06:19
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JohnnyRnR posted:New Era is one I have used in the past and enjoyed working with. Why  I dont have the time to cut more gemstones!!!
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Aug 14, 2015 18:44
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How do you guys usually judge the polish on a gemstone? I look at mine through an x25 loupe to see if I can see anything obviously unpolished but I'm not sure if I'm making the shiniest gem possible. Or just going insane and trying to polish out imaginary scratches
Xun fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Sep 11, 2015 |
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Sep 11, 2015 18:36
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Rurutia posted:This kind of irks me. What makes it sound like fancy glass that wouldn't apply to a lab diamond? Sorry I missed this! Super late but the "rounded" facets are a huge sign that something is up. Gemstones should have very sharp facets and the only reason why I think they'd be rounded is because the stone is very brittle. That and the reviews claiming that the light appears to move slower through the stone might indicate the material doesn't have a definite crystal structure. It's also not uncommon to have special formulas of glass being sold as diamond simulants. It's not like they're picking up broken bottles and cutting gems out of them! Also a lab made diamond is an actual diamond. Lab made simulants like moissanite and Amorites don't have the same chemical makeup/properties as a diamond, just similar physical ones.
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Sep 11, 2015 19:11
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There's another thread??
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Dec 9, 2015 19:23
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Really it's up to whatever stone you like best. There are probably differences in chemical formula that have variations in color and sparkliness but it should all work out the same??
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Jan 1, 2016 12:57
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Good quality alexandrite and red beryl off the top of my head.
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Feb 10, 2016 17:57
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Anyone cut gems here? I'm lonely 
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Apr 26, 2016 07:35
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Claes Oldenburger posted:I do! Well...my equipment is on order and I have a handful of lovely garnet rough. So give me a month and then I will have a handful of poorly cut ALSO lovely garnets haha. It's something I've wanted to learn for so long and finally I have been able to get the tools I want. Dang I'm super jelly. I'm an amateur too, usually faceting on my university's super old machines. Someday I will own my own machine. What cut do you think you'll do first? Mine was a super basic 8 sided round cut. Don't think it could even be called a brilliant lol. Scarodactyl posted:I cut cabs, though not very well. I tried to do cabs but could never polish them right, what gives
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Apr 27, 2016 20:25
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Claes Oldenburger posted:Cool that they have the tools to do it though! The college I did my goldsmithing training at had no gem working tools I usually do quartzes or beryls since they don't have any cleavage to worry about and have nice colors. I don't really have a favorite cut, but I know that cuts that aren't radially symmetric are a paiiinn. Even when I tried a rectangle I couldn't get the proportions how I wanted since the girdle would always end up uneven. Still have no idea why.  Surprisingly getting facets to meet was pretty easy since you cut every facet to the same height in symmetrical cut. We had to do it super old school by listening to how the gem sounds against the lap since our machines are also super old, but I hear new ones have fancy smancy meters that tell you? The hardest part for me personally is polishing, sometimes I swear the gem is somehow gaslighting me by "unpolishing" itself. Aka it looks nice from one angle but then looks like poo poo from another
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Apr 28, 2016 10:38
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What sort of stuff do you like to cut?
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Claes Oldenburger posted:I recently designed and cast this ring for a client of ours (she didn't like it, what a butt) so we ended up making her something else but the colour of Paraiba Tourmalines is just so nuts. Wow! That looks amazing. Sucks that the lady didn't want it though, you'd think she would say something earlier. Scarodactyl posted:Good advice Idk, maybe my prof was scaring us but he told us that if you have a facet parallel to the cleavage plane the gem might CLEAVE IN TWAIN!!!  And about polishing, how do people polish gems on modern stuff? I've mentioned that we use super old machines and I think the way we were taught to polish might be a bit out of date as well. We have special polishing laps with different oxides on them, and when we polish we fiddle around with the angle and stuff to make sure we get the whole facet instead of just the right corner or something.
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Apr 29, 2016 12:22
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JohnnyRnR posted:I've been posting some fancier & more unique pieces to Instagram lately. (LINK) That tiara is awesome! I really love how you matched the colors
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May 3, 2016 13:12
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I like gems from John Dyer personally, I think they're really unique!   This isn't really my thing but technically it's really cool  and sometimes this happens with them lmao 
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May 17, 2016 20:47
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OOoo, where did you get the YAG from? I've been trying to find a good place to get synthetic rough
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May 18, 2016 01:50
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Help I can't stop looking at faceting supplies. I've got a bunch of stuff I want to cut and I'll be losing access to the machines I currently use soon 
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Jun 3, 2016 01:07
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Claes Oldenburger posted:It was phenomenal. So many waterfalls! Do you mind if I ask how much your setup cost you? Most of the machines I looked at cost as much as an excellent gaming desktop  but I'm not sure how much the laps/polishes/other things would run
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Jun 4, 2016 02:31
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And there's nothing wrong with synthetic gems if you want a lower price. Sometimes I feel sad about all the poo poo synthetic gems get for basically no reason
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Jun 20, 2016 04:49
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Have you considered cubic zirconium
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Sep 2, 2016 22:26
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There could be alot of reasons why its happening, It could be a difference in refractive index, possible issues in the polish, different facet heights, problems with the material itself, it's super varied! But don't be discouraged, most people can't tell the difference and will just be impressed by you cutting a gem in the first place. hell once i somehow managed to chip the crown of my gem quite significantly but people still couldnt tell lmao
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Oct 22, 2016 00:21
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I'd also like to point out that there is nothing wrong with lab grown gems, especially if you're worried about glass or lead filling Edit: about the ones you linked all I can offer for sure is that the first one seems to have a pretty low quality cut? The star facets don't meet and I'm suspicious of the outer table facets as well. The second one is too dark for me to see anything, and while the third seems to have pretty good facet meets I can't help but wonder if it's got a window? Can't tell for sure from the video but being able to see through a gem to what's below it is bad, don't tolerate spending 1k+ on a nice stone with a poo poo cut. Edit edit: I'm not a jeweler so take this with a grain of salt, just have advice I remember from my gem professor and the fact that I personally wouldn't buy a gem with a cut worse than ones I've seen done by college sophomores Xun fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Dec 30, 2016 |
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Dec 30, 2016 02:26
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Other goons who do faceting, I'm curious about the setups you use! I currently use my university's machines, which are old, hand built handset-style machines from like the 80's (they're super cool). The laps go from 100 - 800 - 1200grit and we use various metal oxides to polish stones with, mostly cerium and aluminum. Unfortunately this setup cant polish harder stones like corundum or cz I might be thinking about buying my own setup sometime soon, but I know what I learned on is pretty old and out of date. I just want to cut this synthetic sapphire rough!!
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Jan 12, 2017 01:03
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Scarodactyl posted:Xun: Don't use a 100 grit for faceting. It ends up being a bit like whacking your stone with a rock, and it can cause subsurface damage that will make life harder later on. I don't facet yet but I've had some real headaches from that while doing basic flat polishing. Oh yeah we rarely ever use the 100 grit, mostly its for teaching students because they get these bigass chunks of synthetic quartzes that REALLY need to be cut down. Why does the professor give them such huge chunks?  (lazy TA's) Claes Oldenburger posted:So far it has worked really well with garnets, tourmalines, and beryls. I've got some of that amethyst Johnny's been posting and apparently Quartz doesn't play well with diamond so I might need something else to polish it. We always use cerium oxide laps to polish quartz, used to have actual cerium stuck on a lap but switched to these super cheap plastic sheets that you stick on top of a lap. Xun fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Jan 12, 2017 |
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Jan 12, 2017 15:22
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