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Girlfriends birthday present

jstarfireb|1378744575|3517290 said:
I agree that your budget isn't going to work for a custom piece, even with silver and non-diamond melee. Daniel M is a good option via Etsy.

I know it doesn't fit exactly what you're looking for, but I would get her one of these. Probably the blue topaz:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/47087558/rainbow-bezels-sliding-bezel-pendant?ref=shop_home_active

You could see how much it would cost to turn this design into a pendant (stone set north/south instead of east/west though):
http://www.etsy.com/listing/59536066/beaded-bezel-blue-topaz-ring?ref=shop_home_active

That last option seems a little similar to what you were designing, just with silver beads instead of melee. Start a conversation with Dan and Caren and let them know what your budget is. I think the price of a pendant would be similar if not a tiny bit less than the price of that oval blue topaz ring.
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For the price those (1st link) are nice. I got a blue topaz one with milgrain as a gift for a friend last Christmas. It wasn't the best cut stone, but like I said, for the price it was nice.

I'd suggest one of those or ditching the budget she put you on and spending what you want to spend. Although, you'd still be hard pressed to accomplish your design on $300.
 
Thanks guys - Daniel M is my go-to guy for competitively priced pieces. I wanted to add that I have the millegrained bezel pendant too, but with my own stone in it. I've never bought one of Daniel M's stones, so I can't vouch for their quality, but their workmanship with bezels has come a long way. You can see my aquamarine bezel pendant in this listing: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/141470550?ref=fb2_tnx_image
 
Thanks for weighing in everyone, I hadn't considered the cut of the tanzanites in my excitement, nor how it would fit into the pendant if it was uneven. I've slept on it and I think I will do something else for her birthday and get her something nice for valentines day, that way I can do it properly, she doesn't wear much jewelry anyway so it would be better to have one better quality piece than several lesser quality ones if she is only really going to wear one anyway. Thanks again for the help everyone, I do really appreciate it.
 
good decision, imo, Matt.
also, perhaps instead of discussing budget with her it just might be ok to go it on your own?
just an idea..............
also, might I suggest you start on that valentine's project now?
there are two times of the year that are important and busy in the world of jewelry: Christmas and valentine's day. many forget that they are not alone in their quest and run up against the dates and find that stones get sold even as they're looking at them.
good luck and if we can be of assistance you know where to find us!
 
I would not sacrifice quality even though it doesn't necessarily have to be expensive to get a good quality piece of jewellery. I second MZ to start on your V Day project now. Jewellers get swamped as that day approaches and the earlier you start looking for the right stone, the more options you'll have AND fell less stressed / pressured.
 
Yes, I definitely would like to avoid discussing a budget with her this time. The budget came up because last year she thought I spent a lot more money than she thought was reasonable. I hadn't spent a great deal on it, I'd just found a bargain, but unfortunately this year she wants us to spend an equal amount. I don't see the point behind spending the exact same amount. To me, giving a present is about the feelings behind it rather than the expense. But oh well, upsetting her on her birthday is certainly not the feeling I want to give her ;). There was no budget from her for our anniversary so I got her a blue topaz bracelet that she had pointed that she loved a few times. I don't think there will be any restriction for valentines day though.

I'm not sure of of I will stick to the same idea for valentines day or not, I would definitely consider a pair of small diamond studs, or perhaps coloured stone studs? Would it be difficult to find a pair of 3-3.5mm pink sapphires? They are a gem I know she really likes.
 
Matt_95|1378908114|3518608 said:
Yes, I definitely would like to avoid discussing a budget with her this time. The budget came up because last year she thought I spent a lot more money than she thought was reasonable. I hadn't spent a great deal on it, I'd just found a bargain, but unfortunately this year she wants us to spend an equal amount. I don't see the point behind spending the exact same amount. To me, giving a present is about the feelings behind it rather than the expanse. But oh well, upsetting her on her birthday is certainly not the feeling I want to give her ;). There was no budget from her for our anniversary so I got her a blue topaz bracelet that she had pointed that she loved a few times. I don't think there will be any restriction for valentines day though.

I'm not sure of of I will stick to the same idea for valentines day or not, I would definitely consider a pair of small diamond studs, or perhaps coloured stone studs? Would it be difficult to find a pair of 3-3.5mm pink sapphires? They are a gem I know she really likes.
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Bingo.

Good choice for waiting.
 
double post.
 
Matt, if you're going to "build" the studs yourself, start now.
even if you're going to purchase "ready made" i'd start now.
pink sapphire studs abound. the question is to get educated to know what you're buying.
do you want BE-treated? personally, I don't recommend it.
do you want heat treated? personally, i'm ok with it.
are you wanting a completely natural pink sapphire? prepare to pay more.

diamond studs would be a wonderful choice as well.
but, again, are you going to "build" them or buy them ready made?
do you care about the 4C's?

and then set your budget.......

oh, did I mention start now?! LOL!
 
Usually I do end up buying presents ahead of time, I hate that last minute rush of not having anything prepared.

I would be okay with heat treated, not BE treated though, I do however have a few BE treated sapphires but I would rather have something less treated.... If I go for diamonds, they would have to be well cut and very white now that I think about it as she has her seconds done so she usually has in two CZ studs in each ear, I feel the diamonds could easily be upstaged by the CZ, diamonds may not be within my price range then... I don't really like the artificially inflated pricing of diamonds either.

The other thought is, I might have the skill to make the ring I want to make by valentines day. I don't know how difficult it is to bezel a stone though. I imagine a heart cut would be fairly difficult compared to a round or oval? As you can see, I am not very good at making decisions.

I don't know where I got the image from or I would post my source up, I've had this photo saved for a while so I am not sure where it came from. I am wanting to do something like this with a champagne topaz.

_9847.jpg
 
MZ's questions are considerations that you need to think about now and decide what you want or don't want. Nobody can learn everything about about sapphires and buying sapphires in just a month.

Bezeling is a very difficult skill to do well. I would start with prong setting then work your way up to bezel, using cheaper stones first. Expect your first few efforts to be lumpy, uneven and off-symmetry. :lol:
 
I've sat on it for a few days and I definitely think I would like to give her a pair of pink sapphire studs.
What sort of price range would I be looking at for two matching heat only pink sapphires around 3.5mm and round?

Looks like the ring might be a while off then! I don't want to give her anything that is sub-standard.
 
matt, there is something that will fit every and any budget.
I assume you want faceted not cabochon?
do a search on etsy.com and you'll find both.
again, its more about the quality that you're willing to pay for.

and I hate to be rude but it won't be the first [or last time]: I think you're overthinking this a bit. it really would be easier to buy ready made. get the best ready made you can afford. learn from that experience.

if you decide to really get into sapphires, find this book at a library if you can: "Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Four Cs of . Connoisseurship in ruby and sapphire" by . Mr. Richard W. Wise

and an equally good source is Ruby and Sapphire by Robert Hughes.

you can find excerpts from both online if you do a search.

btw, I did see a lovely sapphire earring set on etsy but it was more than your original $300 project budget.

your girlfriend sounds like 1- she isn't that into jewelry and 2- will be happy with whatever you do get her for her birthday. there is no sin in buying ready-made. sometimes it can actually be the better deal with some research.

the world of color stones is complicated. however, the really simple answer is that whatever pleases your eye is what matters.
 
those are sweet, jstar! classic design, and can go dressy or with jeans. good find!

Matt, do know that tourmaline does not have as high a refractive rate as sapphire so if you're looking for "sparkle", imo, tourmaline doesn't have it. but it certainly makes up for it in other ways!
 
movie zombie|1379205206|3520929 said:
those are sweet, jstar! classic design, and can go dressy or with jeans. good find!

Matt, do know that tourmaline does not have as high a refractive rate as sapphire so if you're looking for "sparkle", imo, tourmaline doesn't have it. but it certainly makes up for it in other ways!
Click to expand...

Thanks...I know, right?! I'd totally wear those!
 
I'm with MZ and JStar that for 3.5 mm studs, you are most likely better off getting a ready made pair of earrings. I am not keen on Blue Nile due to their generic pictures, preferring Etsy where the actual product is shown or even Mineral Miners.
 
I just had a quick look on Etsy, these two caught my eye, I wouldn't mind doing pink zircons either as they are very sparkly. Do pink zircons fade at all?
http://www.etsy.com/listing/157970329/natural-pink-zircon-stud-earrings-set-in?ref=favs_view_2
My concern with these, is that the valuation that goes along with it is a lot higher than what they are selling it for, I don't understand why they wouldn't be asking more if it is really worth that much. The prongs look a bit odd to me as well.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/125640310/certified-61-carat-14k-solid-white-gold?ref=favs_view_3

I'll see if I can find out from her if she likes tourmaline, I don't think she would though if they aren't all that sparkly. Thank you very much for the link!

I'll try get down to the library and see if I can find those books!

How much would I be looking at if I went with getting stones I had bought unset set into earrings roughly? She mentioned today that she likes yellow gemstones in earrings, but not rings or pendants. I happen to have two matching heat only yellow sapphires at 0.25 carats each and 3.5mm. I do think pink compliments her well though. She has seen the yellow sapphires as well so I don't know how she would feel about me giving them to her as a gift?

I'll keep looking at earrings that are already set then, I went through all the pink sapphire and pink zircon studs on etsy and those are the two that stood out to me.
 
if she's seen those sapphires....and just mentioned that she likes yellow stones as earrings....maybe it was a hint. :)
 
Matt,
if you go with your sapphires you will need to find a GOOD bench jeweler with LOTS of color stone experience.
while sapphire is rather "hard" according to the Moh's scale, it still can be damaged by an inexperienced setter.....and not all setters are equal......and some setters are great at diamond setting but not good at color stone setting.
then let's factor in what type of setting you are going to want for those sapphires.....yes, not all settings are equal.
then factor in what metal you'll want to use with silver being the less expensive and 18k gold the most expensive.
more decisions which in the end, I believe, will end up costing you more than buying ready-made.

suggestion: save the sapphires for a ring or pendant that will have less of a chance of getting lost. yeah, I've lost my fair share of earrings including diamond studs!

if she likes yellow earrings that opens a world for you: citrine and garnet are among the many choices.

again, and like a broken record, the world of color stones is not easy. diamonds are easy given the 4C's and known dimensions re cuts that give great performance. the world of color stones has not been quantified and catalogued in the same way. it takes time to develop your eye and make allowances for what will fit your particular budget.

i'd hate to see you use what are hopefully decent sapphires on a project that can more easily be accomplished by buying ready-made.
however, its not my project, not my $, and not my GF.
 
Kilda|1379258057|3521165 said:
if she's seen those sapphires....and just mentioned that she likes yellow stones as earrings....maybe it was a hint. :)
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+1!!!!!
 
I'll save the sapphires for another time then, she did spherically say she liked that shade of yellow, and not my citrine, it looks more orangish or brownish. Does citrine come in a more lemony colour?

Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to go ahead with this now though, I've suddenly been left with a much more expensive holiday this summer than it was supposed to be so I have to dip significantly into my savings for that and being left with that, buying jewelry doesn't fit in at the moment. So it looks like I will have to put this aside until next year unfortunately. Thank you all so very much for your help!

_10163.jpg
 
Citrines can have a light yellow color, but I have never seen one that I would describe of lemony. You may want to consider chrysoberyls, which come in a lemony color, but often have a green secondary color. It can be hard to find nice chrysoberyls, but they have a MOH hardness of 8.5, and high dispersion, which makes them quite sparkly.

Here are some citrines to illustrate their range of color:
http://www.bespoke-gems.com/SacredGeometrics_Gemstones_QuickList_Available.php#Citrine
 
Matt-
You mentioned that your girl wears cz in her second holes.
I have double pierces also and I wear .10 each ideal diamonds in them. I only take them out to clean. Maybe a consideration for the future?
 
When you do get back to it, Matt, do look at chrysoberyls. They have sparkle and glow, and though most tend to a yellow-green secondary, it's sometimes not too pronounced. With time, you can find chrysos that stay pretty yellow. Anyway, they're good stones for earrings. I can't think of any yellow stones (except diffused sapphires) that don't usually have some amount of brown, orange, or green.

Enjoy your vacation!
 
yes, have a great vacation and start getting color stone educated when your get back.
inexpensive: lemony quartz.
 
Hey all,

We had to return a bracelet I had gotten her a while ago as it was too large for her wrist and it wasn't possible to remove any links. So we returned the bracelet and now we're looking for a ring. We can't find anything ready made, but we did find a few CZ rings that we liked. We were thinking that we could buy a coloured stone in the same size and swap them over. The main thing we thought would be a problem is if the gem was too deep? Anything else that would be a problem.

We are looking for a 5mm round stone in any colour but blue, red, yellow or orange, and not peridot. We've looked at all of the Australian gem sites we've been able to find. Is there anyone here who knows of some gems that fit our requirements? Oh, we weren't looking to spend more than $100.
Thanks very much in advance :)
 
Thanks for those links, I found a few gems that I like but she didn't like them all that much unfortunately.

I was in a rush when I typed my last message, I didn't mean to say we are only looking for a 5mm gem, we would consider other sizes also, and she would prefer red or pink.
 
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