Having a hard time learning :)

[chrono]

You have learned much, my Padawan.

 

[deskjockey]

Wow that came out so well! Absolutely beautiful

 

[GregS]

I think one of the isses the past few years has been the death of the incandescent light bulb, and these new CFL bulbs. Many, if not most stones look horrid with these lights. A few exceptions i have seen are green/yellow chryserbryl and peridot.
The past few years while in Tucson i would return to my room each night and look at the rough i bought, and really couldnteven tell what the heck the stones were! A red garnet with incandescent lightwoulf look like a muddy brown color with the hotels CFL bulbs. In our house we use LED bulbs which are better, but aso have the old incandescentbulbs. Even the wall colors looked very strange with CFL bulbs, and we needed to remove them all.

I have definitely noticed this, my Chrysoberyl looks incredible under fluorescent lighting. A nice vivid chartreuse is present whenever it's exposed to fluorescents. In natural daylight and under incandescent bulb's it's yellow, not a vivid greenish yellow.

 

[nojs]

Thanks Chrono and deskjockey!

Few more... Taken with my mobile

 

[minousbijoux]

I would LOVE to have a beautiful sphene - and set it/them in earrings or ring. So would you share with us the name of the sphene vendor, as well as the courageous jeweler who bezeled it? In case you can't tell, I think your ring is smashing. From the looks of things, it didn't take you long at all to learn to read vendors' photos, etc.

 

[nojs]

Thanks minousbijoux

The sphene is from eBay (I'll look the vendor up for you), and the setter is a goldsmith I met in small town Lahti in Finland in one of my jewelry making courses (he wasn't teaching, but I met him in the hallway and started chatting with him, then went to have some private tuition regarding pave setting and then decided that he was very skilled and could set my sphene

He has his workshop in this old factory building with few other goldsmiths, and is therefore very cost-efficient. I plan to have him do some future projects for me. His webpage is only in Finnish (http://www.lahest.fi/), but here are his contacts:

Juha Loikala
+358 40 556 3633
[email protected]

I have only communicated with him in Finnish, but practically all Finns speak decent English, so I don't expect that to be an issue in case you want to contact him

 

[nojs]

Based on this one experience and our meeting in Lahti, I recommend Juha for projects where you have a clear design idea and just need someone skilled to carry it out. In any case, I think he could be excellent choice for those on budget. His studio workshop was in immaculate order, and he seemed very trustworthy There was another fellow (the guy teaching the course) who apparently is very good at casting work So perhaps I have both of them to do something soon

 

[minousbijoux]

Thank you for your good information. I look forward to the name of the ebay vendor.

 

[chrono]

These Finnish jewellers have truly mastered the art of bezeling. It is so even and smooth; this is especially challenging for a soft stone like sphene.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Gorgeous ring. I would have held my breath until it was set. Well done.

 

[LD]

Your sphene is gorgeous and your jeweller has done a lovely job with the ring.

In terms of your original question there's a few things that may affect your buying:

1. In Finland I bet the light is generally different to warmer countries - I'm in the UK and most of the time we have miserable grey lighting and this really does affect the way a stone performs and looks. When I go on holiday to the Med, my stones light up!!!!

2. Buying online is a nightmare. You do get slightly more attuned to "reading" certain vendors photos and videos - and this comes with practice. Also look at the thread that's already been linked to above so you can compare stones that PSers have bought compared to their selling photos from vendors. This is useful because if a stone is moderately priced but looks drop dead gorgeous, there's usually a reason!

3. You will develop a feel for this the longer you collect BUT you will make mistakes which is why we tell everybody to make sure there are return policies. I know it seems silly to return a relatively modestly priced gemstone (and it's far easier to throw it in the fish gravel drawer) BUT please make sure you return items.

 

[nojs]

minousbijoux, the sphene vendor was this one:
http://www.ebay.com/usr/exportgems?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
I think they have stones of various "grades", I tried to pick the nicest I could find

 

[minousbijoux]

Thank you!

 

[cherrymcdowell]

I like the color green stone. It's totally refreshing to the eyes when you look at it.