Do you buy gems without any ideas for them?

[Sparkles22]

There are some pretty gems out there that I am looking at, but I don't know what I would do with them and it will be awhile before I can afford my ideas for them.

So my question is do you purchase gems with the intent to set them fairly soon? Or with an exact idea in mind?


ETA: what does calibrated mean?

 

[marcy]

Sparkles, I do buy gemstones for no reason but none of them are very expensive. I just like collecting them and if I get a stone I really like I keep it until I decide (or can afford) to have it made in to a piece of jewelry. Callibrated means it will fit in standard settings / mountings (like 5mm x 7mm). If stones are callibrated the prongs may not look right when the stone is mounted.

 

[movie zombie]

seems to be the only way i buy color gem stones! i''ve had a very very nice mali garnet since august and have absolutely no idea of what i''m going to do with it. ditto a nice aqua since october. i had my spess for my e-ring for almost 8 months before i committed to a design to set it in.

calibrated: most color gems are not cut to fit standardized diamond settings. diamonds are calibrated in cut to not vary by much. a color stone is also designated by carat weight also but said carat weight is not equal to diamond carat weight. therefore, a color stone many not fit into a calibrated setting which is calibrated for diamonds. . ok, i''m really messing this up: see, http://www.gemselect.com/calibrated-size/calibrated-size.php

color stones are usually cut to maximize the carat weight after cutting. therefore, it might be too deep or too shallow for a calibrated setting which assumes same dimensions for a diamond. make sense?

geez, i''ve really lost my words tonight. hopefully, one of the pros will weigh in here with a better explanation.

movie zombie

 

[Sparkles22]

Date: 2/25/2008 8:58:30 PM
Author: marcyc
Sparkles, I do buy gemstones for no reason but none of them are very expensive. I just like collecting them and if I get a stone I really like I keep it until I decide (or can afford) to have it made in to a piece of jewelry. Callibrated means it will fit in standard settings / mountings (like 5mm x 7mm). If stones are callibrated the prongs may not look right when the stone is mounted.

Thanks for the help

I found a stone I really like from one of the other links you gave me in another post

.

Where do you usually go to have it made?

Also the stone is just a touch smaller than my e-ring, so I originally wanted to make a bezel ring out of it, but now I am thinking a pendant (because I don''t want to take away from the e-ring), but don''t know if it''s too small, it''s 5.41 X 6.12

 

[Sparkles22]

Date: 2/25/2008 9:00:08 PM
Author: movie zombie
seems to be the only way i buy color gem stones! i''ve had a very very nice mali garnet since august and have absolutely no idea of what i''m going to do with it. ditto a nice aqua since october. i had my spess for my e-ring for almost 8 months before i committed to a design to set it in.

calibrated: most color gems are not cut to fit standardized diamond settings. diamonds are calibrated in cut to not vary by much. a color stone is also designated by carat weight also but said carat weight is not equal to diamond carat weight. therefore, a color stone many not fit into a calibrated setting which is calibrated for diamonds. . ok, i''m really messing this up: see, http://www.gemselect.com/calibrated-size/calibrated-size.php

color stones are usually cut to maximize the carat weight after cutting. therefore, it might be too deep or too shallow for a calibrated setting which assumes same dimensions for a diamond. make sense?

geez, i''ve really lost my words tonight. hopefully, one of the pros will weigh in here with a better explanation.

movie zombie

Thanks for the link that was helpful! I found a stone I like but it is fairly inexpensive (<$50), however it is not calibrated. Does that mean I shouldn''t get it because I would have to get a custom (and probably more expensive) setting for it? Should I wait for a calibrated one?

Thanks again for your help

 

[Sparkles22]

Which do you like better? This one...

 

[Sparkles22]

or this one?

ETA: or neither?

 

[marcy]

Date: 2/25/2008 10:01:26 PM
Author: Sparkles22

Date: 2/25/2008 8:58:30 PM
Author: marcyc
Sparkles, I do buy gemstones for no reason but none of them are very expensive. I just like collecting them and if I get a stone I really like I keep it until I decide (or can afford) to have it made in to a piece of jewelry. Callibrated means it will fit in standard settings / mountings (like 5mm x 7mm). If stones are callibrated the prongs may not look right when the stone is mounted.

Thanks for the help

I found a stone I really like from one of the other links you gave me in another post

.

Where do you usually go to have it made?

Also the stone is just a touch smaller than my e-ring, so I originally wanted to make a bezel ring out of it, but now I am thinking a pendant (because I don''t want to take away from the e-ring), but don''t know if it''s too small, it''s 5.41 X 6.12

I am glad you found a stone you like There is a guy here in town that makes custom jewelry and I take it to him. What he does is pick a mounting close to the size of my stone and it usually comes out okay. I don''t think it''s necessary to have a callibrated stone.

 

[Sparkles22]

Date: 2/25/2008 10:31:13 PM
Author: marcyc
I am glad you found a stone you like There is a guy here in town that makes custom jewelry and I take it to him. What he does is pick a mounting close to the size of my stone and it usually comes out okay. I don''t think it''s necessary to have a callibrated stone.

How did you find the person to do custom? Thanks for all your help.

Do you like either of the stones I posted?

 

[Sparkles22]

or this one?

 

[movie zombie]

what is the stone? how many carats?

at this point, i''m leaning towards number 3.

some bench jewelers will work with a stone and a setting to make it work. some won''t. find a few and ask. personally, i think the stone is more important than the setting and would put my $$ there.

movie zombie

 

[Gypsy]

Yes. I do.

Or more accurately, I buy them with TOO MANY ideas of what I''d like to do with them.

Which is one of the reasons I love them... all the possibilites.

Once their set, the possibilities are gone.

 

[diamondfan]

If something jumps out at you and is a good price, I would grab it and worry about setting it later when you have the funds. By then I am sure you will have some inspiration!

 

[Sparkles22]

Date: 2/26/2008 12:41:22 AM
Author: movie zombie
what is the stone? how many carats?

at this point, i''m leaning towards number 3.

some bench jewelers will work with a stone and a setting to make it work. some won''t. find a few and ask. personally, i think the stone is more important than the setting and would put my $$ there.

movie zombie

It''s a rhodolite garnet. #1 is 1.1 carats, #2 is 1.12 carats, #3 is 1.21 carats. Thanks for your help!

 

[Sparkles22]

Date: 2/26/2008 1:45:30 AM
Author: Gypsy
Yes. I do.

Or more accurately, I buy them with TOO MANY ideas of what I''d like to do with them.

Which is one of the reasons I love them... all the possibilites.

Once their set, the possibilities are gone.

I keep thinking about what I want to do and I just can''t decide, it''s like "Oh I can do this, or this, or maybe this" It''s hard to picture what would look best!

 

[Sparkles22]

Date: 2/26/2008 1:53:43 AM
Author: diamondfan
If something jumps out at you and is a good price, I would grab it and worry about setting it later when you have the funds. By then I am sure you will have some inspiration!

Yeah that is what I think I want to do, but I can''t even really decide on a shape

, I have "narrowed it down" to not round and not oval...

 

[marcy]

I like # 3 the best too. I would just look around at jewelry websites to see if you can get ideas of what you want to do with it. Something I often do is if I like a ring or pendant but not the stone; I buy that piece of jewelry and have the stones swapped out for something I do like. I found my jeweler by looking in the phone book. He''s definitely an artist as he is very tempermental if you don''t like his finished product but I''ve learned to take in exact drawings of what I want and I am usually happy with it.

 

[Sparkles22]

Date: 2/26/2008 9:28:50 AM
Author: marcyc
I like # 3 the best too. I would just look around at jewelry websites to see if you can get ideas of what you want to do with it. Something I often do is if I like a ring or pendant but not the stone; I buy that piece of jewelry and have the stones swapped out for something I do like. I found my jeweler by looking in the phone book. He''s definitely an artist as he is very tempermental if you don''t like his finished product but I''ve learned to take in exact drawings of what I want and I am usually happy with it.

Thanks for the ideas.... do much to think about.

 

[Sparkles22]

Do you think a 6.60 x 6.60 stone is large enough to be a pendant?

 

[Sparkles22]

Another thought I had was to look at pink tourmalines... here is one I liked:

 

[marcy]

I like the tourmaline too. I think it would look great in a pendant and would be a good size too.

 

[Sparkles22]

Date: 2/26/2008 9:55:14 PM
Author: marcyc
I like the tourmaline too. I think it would look great in a pendant and would be a good size too.

The tourmaline is 1.62 ct. 8.31 x 7.14. I wish I could see these in person. I want a rich pinkish red stone, but I don''t want it to be too dark (looking black). The outer part of the trillon rhodolite I posted is perfect. But I read stones tend to look darker in person than online. So what do I look for to get it to be the outer color part in person?

 

[marcy]

It is hard to tell how a stone will perform or look from a picture online. Is the tourmaline a rubellite? It would probably be a little pinker than a rhodolite but I like rhodolites better because they are more lively stones. You might try emailing them and asking them how close in color and brightness the stone appears to the photo. Also, as long as they have a decent return policy it doesn''t hurt to order it to see if you like it. A lot of times I''ll order in several stones and pick the one I like the best and return the others.

 

[Sparkles22]

Date: 2/26/2008 11:01:23 PM
Author: marcyc
It is hard to tell how a stone will perform or look from a picture online. Is the tourmaline a rubellite? It would probably be a little pinker than a rhodolite but I like rhodolites better because they are more lively stones. You might try emailing them and asking them how close in color and brightness the stone appears to the photo. Also, as long as they have a decent return policy it doesn''t hurt to order it to see if you like it. A lot of times I''ll order in several stones and pick the one I like the best and return the others.

Yeah I will have to e-mail them. I really like the glass-cut smoothness the rhodolite has over the tourmaline. It doesn''t specify that it is a rhodolite, just that it is a tourmaline.

Thanks for your help. I haven''t seen any rhodolites in person, do you know any jewelry places that carry them? Do the colors vary a lot?

 

[marcy]

You don''t find rhodolite in many jewelry stores. I honestly can''t remember seeing any around Denver but your might call Trice Jewelers to see if they have anything. They have a lot of gemstone jewelry but I dont recall if they had any rhodolite; I''ve only been there once and was rather disappointed (you know more expensive and not as nice as our favorite store

).

Rhodolites are one of my favorite gemstones. They can vary from purplish red to raspberry. I like the raspberry color the best and it appears that is the color of the trillion you are looking at.

 

[Sparkles22]

Date: 2/27/2008 12:06:19 AM
Author: marcyc
You don''t find rhodolite in many jewelry stores. I honestly can''t remember seeing any around Denver but your might call Trice Jewelers to see if they have anything. They have a lot of gemstone jewelry but I dont recall if they had any rhodolite; I''ve only been there once and was rather disappointed (you know more expensive and not as nice as our favorite store

).

Rhodolites are one of my favorite gemstones. They can vary from purplish red to raspberry. I like the raspberry color the best and it appears that is the color of the trillion you are looking at.

How cute, we are store buddies

! I always love when you respond to me, since I also know we are in the same state (but I am in the Springs). Yeah, someone else said Trice Jewelers was overpriced. I may just go ahead and order the trillon off the internet, especially since it''s a good price too. Like always thank you for all your help!!!!!!! You definately have a fan!

 

[marcy]

Aw shucks, thanks. I''ll be anxious to hear how you like the rhodolite and look forward to your finished pendant.

 

[Harriet]

If anyone is still looking for a rhodolite, Richard M has lovely ones (my very first stones): http://www.artcutgems.com/item.php?item_id=247&category_id=48

Gypsy and others,
I''d love to see photoshoots on your collections. [Hint.]

 

[Sparkles22]

So I purchased stone #3 http://www.ajsgems.com/product/cd874dcb-442b-438d-a1f1-da2ce9066571.aspx

It should be here in 7-30 business days (no rush since I don''t have an idea to set it yet). Hopefully it will be pretty. I e-mailed the company and they said it was purple/pink undertones, medium in color.

 

[marcy]

I''ll be anxious to hear what you think of it. It looks really pretty.