Ask me about Jewelry

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goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Cool thread! I have been working on getting into gemstone collecting. Really love anything tourmaline; tanzanite and fluorite are close runner ups.

Check this out this pendant I got from a buddy who is a wire wrapper

14k gold with silver accents
Cruzeiro Mine tourmaline
3x Neon blue apatites
7x amethyst

And here is a laser cut Ametrine from an artist (Dalan Hargrave) I can only dream of owning a piece from.

goodness fucked around with this message at 08:16 on May 17, 2016

# ¿ May 17, 2016 08:02

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 12:14

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

SMDFTB posted:

So I ended up getting a diamond and band from James Allen, and I guess it looks ok? It seems to sparkle and the only inclusion appears like it got hidden by a prong, but to my naked eye that's a guess more than anything.

It's a 1.02 ct, G-VS2, ideal princess cut, with a flat platinum band in solitaire setting and I paid $5400 total.

I dunno- jewelry never really "wows" me, but I was in between this and a 2.2mm pave setting that cost $1000 more. I decided on the solitaire because it's more traditional and I think easier to add onto with a nice wedding band, but I was worried with the pave and the stones falling out, or being hard to clean. My girlfriend likes to work out but takes her jewelry off for that-she also works as an admin so nothing too rough I wouldn't imagine. The solitaire just looks so standard though, however she does like traditional stuff and nothing too flashy.

Do you think the pave would be a better go? Maybe something more eye popping than a solitaire or am I just overthinking it? Are my concerns about the pave not warranted?

Also wondering if I should just return it and try my luck at a local jeweler, but I'm not sure how much of a markup it would be compared to the deal I got online.

Jewelry didn't wow me until I started expanding what I was looking at. Diamonds and gold bands are boring and the least prettiest stone in my opinion.

I'll post some pictures when I get on a computer of some cool stuff.

# ¿ May 17, 2016 17:33

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

I'm not usually into wire wrapped stuff but that is very well done. Cool!

Dalan Hargrave does things that I classify as straight wizardry. There's a few extremely talented young engravers/gem carvers he's teaching that I follow on instagram who I very much look up to. They have been pretty instrumental in me just biting the bullet and finally getting the equipment to engrave and cut gemstones. Their styles may not always be what I like, but their craftsmanship and attention to detail is amazing. Not only on the top down but all sides of their pieces.

Chris Lawry is another one of my favorite cutters, wizards for sure.

Are you a fan of 3D fabricated work?

And here is a picture of that wonderful Alexandrite in an engagement ring you talk about in the OP

# ¿ May 17, 2016 20:07

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

Chris Lawry is indeed amazing!

I am a fan of 3D fabricated work, mostly because it's a challenge for me to figure out how exactly they put all those cast pieces together without the whole thing falling apart. It isn't my style but it can be really nice and anything this dude https://www.instagram.com/thecrowncollection/ posts is usually of a decent caliber....

...because sometimes they look like that hahaha.

John Dyer is also amazing! I like his work because it's closer to standard gem forms with crazy patterning inside them, where I find Dalan is much more into the carved look. Both amazing!

Crown Collection is my jam, I love all the art he posts. I'll get to see a lot of that stuff in person next time I visit now that he has a storefront.

Have you seen the engraved Rolex and hobo nickels he posts? A man can dream.

# ¿ May 17, 2016 21:18

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

Do you head that way often? I had no idea he had a storefront!

Yeah, those engraved Rolexes are from https://www.instagram.com/findestemps/ and are the guys I was talking about with the engraving (and gem cutting/carving).

Chris Ser in particular is the one I've been following for a while https://www.instagram.com/serjewelry/ and as I'm sure you know is the artist behind that 3D fabricated owl piece you posted. So much talent, I'm aiming to get to a point where I can do really sculptural stuff like them with custom cut gems and engraving and have it be my full time job. Lots of practice to go before I get to that level though!

I make the 12hr drive to CO about once a month, can't resist the beauty. I'm finally getting moved out there in June or July which will cut out a lot of driving! He just had his opening celebration last week I think.

Ser makes some incredible stuff, another one of the greats! Do you have a gem collection of your own? If you have posted it already I'm sure I'll see it as I read through.

goodness fucked around with this message at 21:54 on May 17, 2016

# ¿ May 17, 2016 21:51

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Pigasus posted:

This piece is amazing! I love the eye imagery of the pendant. Is there a name for that? Where can I find more pieces like this?

The artist of that one is a good friend of mine out in CO, he has a Facebook group called Tadas Designs. If you are interested in buying something I could help you find a few artists within the budget.

No name for the design that I know of.

# ¿ May 21, 2016 16:07

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

I am looking to purchase some aquamarine and wanted to get your opinion. Price on these is 10/g which seems pretty good for their color.

# ¿ May 21, 2016 18:23

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Tunicate posted:

Looks like Erongo and Vietnamese (maybe some nice Pakistani0.

At 2 dollars a carat you could certainly do a lot worse. I saw some cheaper a Tucson, but of course everything is cheaper there.

Meant to say it's billed as Nigerian! The color looks pretty nice from what I can tell.

# ¿ May 21, 2016 20:52

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

I could never pull wearing this off but these would be a nice shelf piece.

# ¿ May 26, 2016 02:13

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

megathrust posted:

Those are both amazing.

This guy leveled up on this piece.

BD Drummond

# ¿ May 26, 2016 23:11

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

He's an insane person. Its like going to jail made him a tier above everyone else in his category haha. I refer to him to my friends now as "prison engraver" and they know what i mean.

I've been travelling Iceland the last 8 days and between this threads activity and this amazing place I have some ideas for a 3D fabricated piece. Maybe i'll give it a go and see how it turns out

I hope you enjoyed Iceland! Such a beautiful place, I went back in 2007. Was lucky enough to see the northern lights.

# ¿ May 26, 2016 23:48

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

WOOFDOCTOR posted:

Is tanzanite hard enough to be set in prongs for a central stone in an engagement ring? Any recommendations of things to look for or avoid when selecting a stone?

I think it can be set.

If you need some options I have a couple guys that have Tanzanite for sale.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2016 17:55

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

It is hard enough to be set but will show signs of wear over time and can be prone to chipping. Its hardness is 6-7 and toughness is poor-fair, so keep that in mind. Never any ultrasonic cleaning and most definitely no repairs with heat.

I cut a thing! This is my second stone...the first one was a real pile of garbage but I love it all the same
Garnet with some rutile needles all up in its bod.

This is great! Garnets and tanzanite are some cool stones.

Do you have a picture of the pre-facet?

# ¿ Jun 18, 2016 18:48

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Naerasa posted:

It's not that they have no resale value, it's just that you'll never recover what you paid. They're like cars. People still buy cars every day knowing full-well that they cut the value in half the second they pull it off the lot because it suits their purposes.

Depends on if you are buying as a naive customer or actually research what you are doing like this thread helps with. Many gemstones even go up in price, try finding some nice Sapo Tourmaline at a decent price for instance.

Bonus engraving shot

goodness fucked around with this message at 07:27 on Jun 20, 2016

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 06:15

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

Unfortunately I don't! I'm about to cue up the next though and they all look pretty similar. This is the one on deck at the far left (also my heliodor, tourmalines, and shameless self plug of the collection I'm working on)

Sapphire is your best bet, but the price will definitely be different.

This is both true and untrue. Paraiba is by far the best example as when it came out it was around $5 a gram and now it's insanely priced. Tomorrow someone could stumble on a Paraiba mine and bring it wayyyy down (but they probably won't). What is the crystal? The colours are awesome!

EDIT: I now realize it is Sapo Tourmaline. Very cool.

That ring with the gold nugget is really cool. Are those little gold skulls as well?

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 23:42

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

Thanks! They are Since I make engagement rings as a day job it's nice to have my own work be a more sculptural departure from that. The whole collection is a west coast themed memento mori revival so it's a lot of bear skulls and bark textures. I'm really dragging my feet getting it finished, but the last two pieces are mostly designed and I'm just making sure they look nice in metal before I release the website etc. etc.

This is my ~pro photo~

Dibs on one of these! That looks amazing .

# ¿ Jun 21, 2016 07:57

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

BadSamaritan posted:

I've got a couple questions, both pertaining to some vintage/heirloom pieces that I own. I like jewelry, but my skin doesn't. I have both nickel and cobalt allergies- the only stuff I've successfully worn long term is made out of platinum (my wedding band) and titanium/niobium (pretty much everything else I purchase, and most of the stuff out there in these materials that I've seen is godawful).

I have a nice little gold signet ring from my grandmother that I would like to wear. It has two engraved Siamese cat heads on either side of the face. With very cheap costume jewelry, I just slather clear nail polish on it and call it a day. Is there something that a jeweler could apply to the inside surface of a piece that might be a better coating?

The other piece I have is a platinum engagement ring setting that doesn't have a stone in it (that's in my mom's band now, which she's leaving me in her will). It's a pronged setting, meant to hold a 1ct round diamond. I'm looking for something to go into it- I'd really like something that's sort of a warm or cool grey or a smoky or pale blue. A lot of these are less expensive gemstones and it's basically impossible to find a reference as to whether they work okay in this sort of ring because nobody spends their money on, say, a smoky quartz in a nice platinum setting.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what types of gems would work well for this material/setting? Additionally, any suggestions on where I might be able to find either a normal or nontraditional cut stone that might be appropriate?

I'm in the Boston area, if there are any local jeweler suggestions I would really appreciate it.

I don't know about the variable hardness for the different stones and setting them, but I do have access to several dozen gem sellers of all those less expensive gems like you mention. Can easily get you set up with something great after you decide on a stone.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2016 18:45

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

# ¿ Jun 23, 2016 01:43

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

Cut a tourmaline over the last week and a bit, picture sucks but the stone turned out great:

It's a watermelon tourmaline so I left some of the green on one edge (which the picture decided is now more yellow). Something you don't see very often! It's pretty neat being able to arrange stones to cut in things that are much less common.

That is awesome! Do you have a picture of the rough?

# ¿ Jul 21, 2016 17:20

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Hey everyone! My friend needs to make some sales within the next few days and he has one of the best collections of gems that I have seen. If anyone is interested in anything like this, or any stones, pm me and I can get you in touch.

He also makes the best salsa I have ever had in my whole life and is doing a deal for "free" salsa by spending a certain amount. I;m not kidding when I say best. This stuff will ruin you on salsa.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2016 05:19

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Is it even legal to get repaired? I have 2 whale teeth from Iceland that my grandparents left but I haven't been able to figure out the laws related to having ivory

# ¿ Aug 27, 2016 16:37

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

# ¿ Sep 5, 2016 01:24

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Old Binsby posted:

Dang that looks pretty finely detailed. though (please forgive my being dense, possibly) what is pictured on there?

Looks like a badass wizard chilling in front of his castle

# ¿ Sep 5, 2016 20:24

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

I'm in Denver for the Gem Show that runs until Sunday.

Does anyone want me to pick them something up? They have EVERYTHING. Some examples include moldavite, geodes, tourmaline of all kinds, peridot, opal, facets, roughs, cabs, fossils, etc.

Cheaper prices than you will be able to get anywhere else

This is a wulfenite on possible mimetite, hemimorphite on mimetite, and cavansite on stilbite.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2016 01:51

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

Jealous! I wish I could fly down to get some facet rough. Take pictures to post of really cool stuff!

http://imgur.com/a/dujb8

Here's what I have got myself so far. Hard to get decent pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyQujwuuGps

# ¿ Sep 18, 2016 00:25

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

Haha this mirror is great.

Not even a mirror, it was 5-6 slices all setup in a row. Most impressive thing I saw there by far.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2016 23:52

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Claes Oldenburger posted:

Whoa! Haha so that's someone (you?) standing at the end? I can see it now. I thought it was a geode turned into one of those infinity mirrors.

Yeah I really need to start making a list of shows to go to for next year.

Yeah I'm standing at the end. The slices were about 3ft tall by 2ft. I can't wait for Tucson.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2016 06:50

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Tips on gem photography? I got some opals and other stuff that I'd like to show you.

I did stop by the opal booth you recommended and picked up a couple small ones!

# ¿ Sep 23, 2016 08:41

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyQujwuuGps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw6e95k-X30 (from Daniel Kinfe, cheaper ones of his but still fire.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrlD5eeC9ds

# ¿ Sep 25, 2016 20:00

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

artist Jeff Parke
https://www.instagram.com/j.parke/

engraved silver, gold inlay, black enamel

goodness fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Oct 6, 2016

# ¿ Oct 5, 2016 21:36

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Tunicate posted:

I'm the person running the christmas goon giftsellers thread this year. Mostly etsy goons, but that's not a rule or anything.

Anyone interested in being part of it?

Link it please

# ¿ Nov 26, 2016 23:53

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Had a friend over and we took some cool pictures of minerals with an iphone microscope he had.

Cavansite on stilbite?

# ¿ Dec 15, 2016 02:30

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Laser Cut Ametrine anyone?

If anyone is near Denver come check out this show tomorrow

# ¿ Dec 16, 2016 22:06

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Blue Scream posted:

Questions about rubies in general, and two rubies in particular.

In general: I'm saving up for a halo ruby ring and would prefer a natural stone to a lab-created one. I stopped by two local jewelers today to get an idea of what I like, what size/shape stone looks good on me, etc. I'd already done some research on rubies and knew I didn't want anything lead- or glass-filled, but from what I read, it seems like heat treatments are pretty common. Obviously untreated rubies command a premium cost.

When I asked, the owner of the second shop I visited looked at me like I was crazy and said that heat treatments are for sapphires, not rubies (aren't rubies and sapphires the same mineral?), and "the vast majority of real rubies are untreated." She said that any decent stone in the size range I'm looking for would be a minimum of $3000-5000. So now I'm a little confused.

In particular: I'm looking at the site gemsny.com because I have a friend who got her engagement ring at their New York store in person and is happy with it. That was years ago, though, so I don't know how they are now.

I've found two stones that I like the look of. This is the first one. They're asking $1047.

This is the second one, a little more expensive, but I like the color better. $1433.

Both stones are heat treated. How do they look? Is the second jeweler correct, and I need to resize my expectations and look for a smaller stone of greater quality within that price range?

E: I saw another goon link to something rom James Allen, and this stone seems like it would work for me too, although I'd want to clarify the dimensions. Don't 100% know what I'm looking at in terms of quality though.

I'd go with the James Allen one based on the video, looks way better than the other 2

# ¿ Dec 30, 2016 02:16

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

It would be fairly easy to cast something like that. If you have the pieces still you could glue them together to make a mold

# ¿ Dec 30, 2016 19:57

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

JohnnyRnR posted:

As promised here is the new amethyst from Rwanda. The color is amazing. Prices are about double the cost of fine amethyst from different parts of the world.

Pictured here is a 29ct pear and a 23 carat oval. These were freshly cut from rough.

Thanks to Claes Oldenburger for tipping me off that the government is considering restricting exports of the rough gemstones. It's already hard to find this material so any restrictions may dry up the supply.

Do you have any rough you could post pictures of?

# ¿ Jan 10, 2017 09:57

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Arkanomen posted:

I'm reading through the thread, so forgive me if i'm retreading ground, but are there any good resources for rough gemstone pricing, appraisal and selling.

I have a ton of rough aqua, green/pink/watermelon tourmaline and some assorted quartz with morganite/kunzite mixed in.

I'm not nearly skilled enough to cut and facet this material and i'd rather sell some of it off to finance that; but i'm overwhelmed by all the information I find online.

What options do I have other than wildly guessing and throwing the stuff up on ebay/etsy?

I'd love to buy some from you at fair prices, pming

# ¿ Jan 12, 2017 09:05

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Tucson pictures are hot

# ¿ Feb 3, 2017 08:57

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

goodness fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Jun 28, 2017

# ¿ Feb 5, 2017 05:46

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 12:14

goodness: Jan 3, 2012; When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?

Scarodactyl posted:

It does resemble chatoyance a bit but it's all on the surface of the stone from flat polished faces. Internal cleavage is fairly common too but if it's a cutting-grade piece it's probably been selected to be clean, and internal cleavages are usually very visible. If you really need to orient the cleavage plane that way it shouldn't be a major issue, the 9 degrees is just to make sure you don't end up having any facets where you're trying to polish the cleavage plane (which is possible but a huge pain). Topaz isn't too likely to cleave during cutting if you don't do anything ridiculous.

Goodness: very nice! I think I'm seeing welo opals, a tsavorite crystal, a nice (Jeffrey's Quarry?) peach grossular, a red garnet of some description and a nice assortment of tourmalines (is the red one Russian?). Not sure about the center peachy stone, the black and white crystal to teh side or the faceted stones (unless they're Be-sapphire?)

Good calls! I'm actually not sure of the identity on those last few, waiting for the notes to be sent. The tourmalines are what caught my eye first but that tsavorite is very nice. Should have them in hand by Friday and will upload more pictures

# ¿ Feb 5, 2017 08:34

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