Green sapphire

[singingbell]

Introducing the latest addition to my humble sapphire collection

This gemstone probably looks familiar to some of you: 1.31ct medium dark green sapphire from Sri Lanka, faceted by Jeff White

The pictures below were taken by Jeff. More to come...

 

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Oops, I meant to post this picture earlier -- a composite of three photos taken by Jeff White.

 

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More photos by Jeff, taken outdoors.

 

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Finally, here are a couple of photos I took. This little gem was a big challenge to my limited photography skills! Everyday I''d try to take some pictures, then end up deleting all of the them. In my pictures, the stone almost always came out look too dark or too dull. In real life, the sapphire has lovely scintillation that I can''t seem to capture with my camera.

I find it hard to describe the exact color in words, because it''s a bit of a chameleon, at least to my eyes. Under different lighting conditions, I can see shades of olive- or hunter-green (hope I''m naming the colors correctly!), along with flashes of yellow and blue interspersed.

 

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Now comes the tough part -- deciding how to set this baby. The only decision settled so far is that it's going to be a RHR. The rest seems to change by the hour, depending on which of the numerous ideas in my head sounds the most exciting at the time.

At the moment, I'm leaning towards white gold, possibly palladium, to lessen the yellow/olive shade of the stone. I'd also like a setting that would allow as much light as possible to reach the stone -- while the stone was very well cut, parts of the stone can appear fairly dark at certain angles/lighting.

Any suggestions?

 

[MustangFan]

i agree, a thiny thin open white band would do yah.
Maybe a thin rope would look pretty?

 

[marcy]

Oooh very pretty. I think a thin band with diamond accents would look great. I got a RB green sapphire for Christmas it''s a lighter green that I picked mostly because it matched a lot of my clothes. I really like it.

 

[Fly Girl]

Oh, I love that sapphire!

So glad you picked it up, so we can all enjoy pictures of it. I think the greeniness of green colored stones is emphasized with a rose gold band. I love various greens and reds together. Brings out the best of each.

But a white setting can really let the stone sing. And, it looks like that sapphire can hold it''s own solo, or with some small white diamonds to add sparkle.

Looking forward to seeing how this project turns out.

 

[cinnamon013]

I love your stone! I kept looking at it on Jeff''s site, and when I finally emailed him about it, he said it had sold a few days before. It is really lovely!

 

[neatfreak]

Awww it''s gorgeous! And I sure know what you mean about the difficulty with photographing a nice sapphire! I just can''t seem to capture the "glow" that mine has in person on film!

 

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MustangFan: Oooh... I hadn''t thought about a thin rope! Thanks for the suggestion! (Love your new sapphire earrings, by the way!

)


marcyc: Thanks! I saw your post in the "Christmas Bling" thread about your new green sapphire ring -- sounds beautiful! I''d love to see pictures when you have them!


Fly Girl: Wow, green gemstone and rose gold -- sounds like a unique and interesting combination! Hmm... More Photoshop opportunities to play with for me.

I appreciate your thoughts! (Can''t wait to see more pictures when you receive your aqua!)

 

[singingbell]

cinnamon013: Thank you! I did the same thing you did, kept going back to admire it at Jeff''s Web site for quite a while before contacting him -- I just lucked out a bit on the timing. (I have to tell you, your micro pave legato e-ring is just lovely! I''m considering using a similar setting for this sapphire.)


neatfreak: It makes me feel better that someone can sympathize with my photo-taking plight! Although from the pictures you''ve posted, you''ve done a much better job with the camera than I did! Every time I look at any picture of your stunning blue asscher ring, I get so mesmerized I feel lightheaded. And now you tell me that the sapphire glows even more in real life? *sigh* I''d probably faint dead away if I ever saw the ring in person!

 

[movie zombie]

personally, i''d accentutate the green: 18k green gold would be my choice.

movie zombie

 

[cinnamon013]

http://www.jamesallen.com/products/item_334-1401_build.asp?module=setting

I love the setting on the link above. It is a bit more economical than the legato, which is a great setting as well. Thanks for the compliment!

Btw, I got the orange spessartite garnet and the opposed bar cut blue-green tourmaline that were hanging out on his site for awhile as well.

 

[Catmom]

Ooooooo, it''s gorgeous!! I love the green color....beautiful. I can''t wait to see how you get it set.

 

[singingbell]

Hi MZ! Thanks for dropping by!

The idea of using green gold did cross my mind, actually, but in combination with white gold. Something like this setting (with my sapphire "expertly" Photoshopped onto it

). The band would be white gold as the base, and the ivy pattern would be "highlighted" in green gold. I had no clue if it would have worked technically or aesthetically, but the contrasting colors sounded good in my head!

The problem was, I''ve never had a chance to see green gold close up, that''s why it was hard to really imagine how it would look, so I just filed the idea away for the future.

I noticed you specified 18kt green gold. Is it because 18kt would look better than 14kt?

 

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Date: 2/23/2008 2:00:22 PM
Author: cinnamon013
http://www.jamesallen.com/products/item_334-1401_build.asp?module=setting

I love the setting on the link above. It is a bit more economical than the legato, which is a great setting as well. Thanks for the compliment!

Btw, I got the orange spessartite garnet and the opposed bar cut blue-green tourmaline that were hanging out on his site for awhile as well.

I appreciate the link to the JA seed setting, cinnamon! Not sure if I can picture my sapphire with it just yet, but I''ll do a mock-up in Photoshop.

Your new spessartite and tourmaline are delicious ! Love the unique cut on that tourmaline -- it seems to draw you into that lovely deep pool...

 

[singingbell]

Date: 2/23/2008 2:50:53 PM
Author: Catmom
Ooooooo, it''s gorgeous!! I love the green color....beautiful. I can''t wait to see how you get it set.

Thank you for your compliments, Catmom! Your sapphire collection has had me drooling for a while now!!

Your pink sapphire ring is one of my inspiration settings for this stone, in fact! Hope you don''t mind me borrowing your handshot!

(I think your pink gem works better here, though... What do you think?)

 

[singingbell]

A quick update...

I brought the green sapphire to a jewelry store recommended by a co-worker of mine. The "store" is one of many kiosks inside a jewelry mart, so the selection of settings was limited, and I didn't really see any designs that were close to what I had envisioned for my sapphire. But it was really helpful to be able to see the stone on actual ring mountings, at least.

Out of the four settings I tried on, one clearly stood out from the rest -- a 18kt WG split shank pave, with the shanks splitting out and away from the gemstone, then crossing underneath the finger. Don't know why, but the sapphire seemed to have an extra sparkle when it was sitting in this particular mounting. When the store owner wrote down the price of the setting, I fully expected to see a number way beyond my budget. To my utter amazement, it was less than half of the price that I had seen for similar settings elsewhere, in 14kt! Being a natural skeptic that I am, I immediately start to mentally question what could be wrong with this setting...

To my untrained eyes, it looked like a nice enough setting. The melees were tiny and not very white under the loupe (although they seemed white enough from arm's length). Also, the shanks had some sharp edges that could have used more polishing.

I'm going to ask for quotes from PS vendors for similar setting and compare.

 

[Catmom]

Date: 2/23/2008 10:12:09 PM
Author: singingbell

Date: 2/23/2008 2:50:53 PM
Author: Catmom
Ooooooo, it''s gorgeous!! I love the green color....beautiful. I can''t wait to see how you get it set.

Thank you for your compliments, Catmom! Your sapphire collection has had me drooling for a while now!!

Your pink sapphire ring is one of my inspiration settings for this stone, in fact! Hope you don''t mind me borrowing your handshot!

(I think your pink gem works better here, though... What do you think?)

LOL, I don''t mind at all! Boy, are you good with Photoshop! I actually like it in that setting and was thinking it looked better than my pink sapphire because of the contrast being stronger. The new setting you described though, sounds gorgeous. Hopefully you can find someone that can make it or already has the same style but with better diamonds and craftsmanship. I can''t wait to see it when it is done! Oh, and thank you for complimenting my sapphire collection.

 

[marcy]

I am drooling over all of your gorgeous green sapphires. Here is a close up picture of mine.

 

[singingbell]

Date: 2/24/2008 12:11:47 PM
Author: Catmom
LOL, I don''t mind at all! Boy, are you good with Photoshop! I actually like it in that setting and was thinking it looked better than my pink sapphire because of the contrast being stronger. The new setting you described though, sounds gorgeous. Hopefully you can find someone that can make it or already has the same style but with better diamonds and craftsmanship. I can''t wait to see it when it is done! Oh, and thank you for complimenting my sapphire collection.

Awwww, thanks Catmom! I still have a lot to learn with Photoshop, but I''m motivated to learn -- it''s a fun tool to use for daydreaming about all kinds of stone + setting combinations, like this one below... Not likely to happen with my budget, but I just love looking at that picture.

 

[singingbell]

Date: 2/24/2008 1:24:44 PM
Author: marcyc
I am drooling over all of your gorgeous green sapphires. Here is a close up picture of mine.

Wow, your green sapphire is beautiful, Marcy!! It looks perfect in yellow gold. I wonder if I should rethink my choice of white gold versus yellow (or green, as MZ suggested)...

There I go changing my mind again. Ha ha!

 

[marcy]

Thanks singingbell. I like green sapphire in either color of gold but just thought this stone looked richer in the yellow.