On the hunt for small stones for a pendant...any tips please

[Quennoo]

Hi I would like to say thanks so much in advance to all the PSrs who have helped me in the past! ...now for another question!
I am planning a contemporary everyday pendant which will have several smaller stones set randomly around a central stone eg 6mm size. they can all be different types of stones and colours (it is a mothers pendant so each colour stone will represent each of the three children )...I ill let my husband think the larger one is him! in the green/ blues/ yellow is my preference.

I am looking for 3-4 mm sizes in a round shape. Where would you start the hunt?

Am I right to think that I am now free to choose stones that have any MOHs hardness value? For rings I have stuck to 9 and above...I'm hard on my gems!!

Looking forward to any advice

Btw the picture I have uploaded below is a fabulous ring from J.Albrecht goldsmiths . I had thought the rectangular part would be a very cool pendant design.

 

[katharath]

Re: On the hunt for small stones for a pendant...any tips pl

I am always quick to recommend my favorite jeweler, but she might be perfect for you in this case. She sells/sources a lot of mostly smaller gems, especially in the 3-5 mm range, and nice quality. She always has more available than what's on her site, and she usually has a nice variety, such as tsavorites, sapphires, spinel, color change garnet, old mine ruby, old mine emeralds, etc etc. She's convo friendly, shoot her a message with an idea of what you want, and she will send you pics if it's not on her site. She also has a great return policy.

www.yvonneraley.etsy.com

Her store info, it's a place to start, anyway.

Edited to say, I think her pricing is very competitive, and she's also having a 10% off sale right now. I just bought another gem from her a few days ago, lol.

 

[katharath]

Re: On the hunt for small stones for a pendant...any tips pl

Oh and yes, you can probably choose whatever you want for your pendant, as far as softer stones. I would personally feel comfortable choosing softer stones for a pendant, anyway.

 

[chrono]

Re: On the hunt for small stones for a pendant...any tips pl

Yes, you can go as low as garnets and tourmalines for a pendant, even zircon, sphene, tanzanite and others.
First, decide on exactly what colours you want.
Faceted or cabochon?
Singles or matched pairs?

 

[Quennoo]

Re: On the hunt for small stones for a pendant...any tips pl

Thanks guys!
katharath thanks I will definitely look up your etsy recommendation!

Ideally I am looking for one 'feature' stone and three smaller stones varying in size 3-4mm, different shades of coloration, different Types.....Facted....and sparkly!! Most likely similar shapes.....

I am a gemstone novice so coloured gems seem to fall into two groups...those that glimmer (zircon etc) and those that glow!! Eg emerald and some tanzanite.

 

[chrono]

Re: On the hunt for small stones for a pendant...any tips pl

If you want fine quality stones, these normally cannot be found at a single vendor's website. You'll have to scout around a little. If you want average quality, then most Etsy vendors can find you smaller 3 mm to 4 mm stones very easily.

How to buy coloured stones.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-to-coloured-gemstone-buying-read-this-first.174284/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-to-coloured-gemstone-buying-read-this-first.174284/[/URL]

Respected vendors
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/can-we-start-a-new-thread-with-respected-cs-vendors.169561/page-4']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/can-we-start-a-new-thread-with-respected-cs-vendors.169561/page-4[/URL]

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: On the hunt for small stones for a pendant...any tips pl

Quennoo: welcome back! With the criteria you have, the world is your oyster, in that it sounds like your only limitations are size, shape and quality. This will be fun! I agree with Chrono's recommendations but would add that you might want to decide whether precision cutting is necessary, in which case there are certain vendors, as you know, that would be appropriate. I will assume that precision cutting is not necessary but decent quality cutting is, in which case, I would check out places like Multicolour.com, which has a large inventory of many different types of stone. I know there are others - like all the etsy vendors - but I would first start with stone vendors. I'm sure I'll remember more in a few minutes...

 

[Quennoo]

Re: On the hunt for small stones for a pendant...any tips pl

Great thanks so much....any excuse for me to hunt out new gems!!!