Small but mighty. Post your little gems with big color!

[JackTrick]

While all of us can appreciate a big, multi-carat, doorknob-sized gemstone, sometimes we're in the mood for something a little more bite-sized. Whether it's due to budget or just preferring something daintier, smaller stones can still have a BIG impact when the color really pops.

So please, share your beloved gems that are in that fun space between melee and chonker! How do you set a smaller stone to really make it shine? Let's show that size isn't everything

Here are some of mine!


Sleepy unheated ruby and a hot pink winza sapphire.


Greenish paraiba tourmaline and a russian demantoid.


Benitoite, cobalt spinel, and hauyne.


Little collection of grandidierite.


And the newest addition. A purple pink diamond pear.


And a glamor shot of the crew

How about you all? What do you have that's small and mighty?

 

[Autumn in New England]

Your photography is fabulous! And the gems are all scrumptious looking!! Congrats on the new diamond. It's the perfect shade of pink in my book.

 

[lilmosun]

I have never been able to photograph this little red Burmese spinel from Vance Gems.

IRL all I see is bright sparkly as close to pure red as I've seen in a stone - I wear it and think red Christmas lights. It looks great all the time. It became my holy grail for red spinel.

 

[Autumn in New England]

I have never been able to photograph this little red Burmese spinel from Vance Gems.

IRL all I see is bright sparkly as close to pure red as I've seen in a stone - I wear it and think red Christmas lights. It looks great all the time. It became my holy grail for red spinel.

Oh that is awfully pretty indeed. It looks lit from within, as you said.

 

[icy_jade]

An older thread:

The green stone was sold to me as a tsavorite garnet by a local jeweler going out of business.....gemstone vendor at Scott’s Antique Market told me dermatoid. Any ideas?
The sapphire is a itty bitty Kashmir cushion.. when I purchased the ring the date 1915 was engraved inside the shank,
when I received it the date had been polished out !!!!!!

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

Here are a couple of wee but powerful stones.

First up is little emerald next to large. Little is an eBay find that has been in process for 6 months. The center emerald was abraded terribly. I sent it to be recut, it rattled so in the setting, and then sent it and the 2 half moon diamonds to GIA. Amazingly, the emerald came back as a .48ct (from .76) no treatment Columbian stone. It is insanely neon and pops in any lighting. This photo is focused on the larger emerald but the little one is actually more neon.

The second photo is a Tiffany pendant with a 1.20 ct No heat Kashmir Sapphire, and is the best color of the three I am custodian of…it too glows in any lighting.

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

And an 1.08 ct red Burmese spinel I’ve already set twice!

 

[Avondale]

I have a baby who can play. Probably gonna win “the smallest” award.



It’s my entry-into-coloured-stones ruby that I fell for some years ago. Too small to be of any monetary importance, hence not much was known about it at the time of purchase and I never bothered to try to learn more. But it’s wildly fluorescent and is my happy bright dot of colour in any light.

 

[CBianco]

Russian Demantoid 0.74ct
Itty bitty but huge impact

 

[cloud_less]

Tiny Vietnam sapphire! Using the vendor's photo because I can never take a good picture of it. It's silky and reflects orange fire. I can't seem to find the same color in a larger size : (

and this baby crystal opal which I have set into a charm, my little dreamy ocean

 

[elle_71125]

My hauyne ring (on first finger) is a great example of small yet mighty. I think the largest gem is 3.5mm going and the smallest is around 1.5mm. The color really packs a punch.




These pink spinels are BRIGHT! I think the round is around 5mm.

 

[lilmosun]

A good part of my collection is made from small to melee sized stones....big fingers on a budget syndrome. Here are some.

Flower rings with hauyne, pink spinel and emeralds

Russian Demantoids

The blue stackers is my Luc Yen Cobalt Spinel (another holy grail)

Paraiba Ring (I also have a matching pendant). This is the ring that started my fascination with colored stones.


My unheated blue Ceylon Sapphire (for me its the perfect color)

 

[lilmosun]

My hauyne ring (on first finger) is a great example of small yet mighty. I think the largest gem is 3.5mm going and the smallest is around 1.5mm. The color really packs a punch.

@elle_71125 Love this! I am addicted to hauynes. Used them in many pieces and been a bit of a hoarder. I have a small collection of hauynes remaining - in various sizes up to 3.5 mm as well. Making something similar has been on my to-do list (didn't have a design but it was going to be some sort of random cluster). While it's a rare occurrence given the number of projects I've done with hauyne melee, I've had a couple of projects where one has cracked when setting and it was difficult to find a replacement the same size where the saturation/tone matched the others ..so I've been reluctant to move forward. But seeing your ring is inspiring.

 

[JackTrick]

My hauyne ring (on first finger) is a great example of small yet mighty. I think the largest gem is 3.5mm going and the smallest is around 1.5mm. The color really packs a punch.

Oh! A cluster ring is such a good idea for smaller stones. Those hauyne absolutely pop.

A good part of my collection is made from small to melee sized stones....big fingers on a budget syndrome. Here are some.

Flower rings with hauyne, pink spinel and emeralds

I love that you’ve got 3 different flavors of flower rings

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

I have one! It's right around a carat spinel, I call it Sakura pink. I tried to get all five of it's natural lighting moods, but I only know how to point and shoot and hope it's what I see. This stone has two more color mixes it shows that is this neat almost blue cast with no purple and then the Sakura color. But I don't know how to get a picture of those. I've never seen anything like it. I don't know if it counts as color shift, or change?

 

[stracci2000]

Burmese ruby, sapphire of unknown origin, and Muzo emerald from the Coscuez mine.

 

[elle_71125]

A good part of my collection is made from small to melee sized stones....big fingers on a budget syndrome. Here are some.

Flower rings with hauyne, pink spinel and emeralds

Russian Demantoids

The blue stackers is my Luc Yen Cobalt Spinel (another holy grail)

Paraiba Ring (I also have a matching pendant). This is the ring that started my fascination with colored stones.


My unheated blue Ceylon Sapphire (for me its the perfect color)

I've always adored your bypass flower rings.

 

[elle_71125]

@elle_71125 Love this! I am addicted to hauynes. Used them in many pieces and been a bit of a hoarder. I have a small collection of hauynes remaining - in various sizes up to 3.5 mm as well. Making something similar has been on my to-do list (didn't have a design but it was going to be some sort of random cluster). While it's a rare occurrence given the number of projects I've done with hauyne melee, I've had a couple of projects where one has cracked when setting and it was difficult to find a replacement the same size where the saturation/tone matched the others ..so I've been reluctant to move forward. But seeing your ring is inspiring.

Oh man, I would hate that. What a bummer.
I went with DK to set them because I know he's pretty familiar with gemstones and, thankfully, I've been very lucky on that front.

I'd love to put some hauyne into a flower ring some day. The color really does pop! I hope you get to make your hauyne cluster ring some day soon so I can ogle it, as it rightfully deserves.

 

[JSG2185]

My small blue sapphire earrings. Tiny but so rich in color

 

[Bron357]

My wee ruby which punches well above its weight (1.13 carats).
How I wished it could have been tended and loved into growing big enough for that setting ha ha.
Perhaps I should follow my nieces advice to ”grow gems bigger” and put it back into marble and place underground for the earth forces to do their thing!

 

[Dr_Diesel]

0.50ct Muzo emerald (no oil):

 

[Dr_Diesel]

My hauyne ring (on first finger) is a great example of small yet mighty. I think the largest gem is 3.5mm going and the smallest is around 1.5mm. The color really packs a punch.




These pink spinels are BRIGHT! I think the round is around 5mm.

My goodness!!!! That hauyne ring has the most shocking, open color!!! I can’t stop looking at it

 

[elle_71125]

My goodness!!!! That hauyne ring has the most shocking, open color!!! I can’t stop looking at it

Thank you so much! It is honestly the most vivid blue gem I’ve ever seen in real life. They are tiny, but the color really packs a punch! If you ever get a chance to get some, I highly recommend it. I bought mine from Cecile Raley Designs on Etsy.

I do wonder how they compare to blue cobalt spinel, which are supposed to be fabulous (and which I, sadly, have not been able to see in person ).

 

[toomuchB]

Its not the most vivid stone for sure but it fits the small and mighty category imo.

1/3ct red beryl, about 5x5mm, no oil

Its special due to the unusual orange zoning through the center. When the light hits right, the angle is right, or the stone is in movement, the orange really pops and it reminds me of a sunset.
The second photo is a more candid, straight-from-above view in typical lighting. That is when the orange is subtle. But its not as saturated/vivid pink as that photo.

I'd say the second video (which is the last slide in the imgur link) is the most accurate for saturation.

https://imgur.com/a/M81L81x

 

[toomuchB]

Thank you so much! It is honestly the most vivid blue gem I’ve ever seen in real life. They are tiny, but the color really packs a punch! If you ever get a chance to get some, I highly recommend it. I bought mine from Cecile Raley Designs on Etsy.

I do wonder how they compare to blue cobalt spinel, which are supposed to be fabulous (and which I, sadly, have not been able to see in person ).

I concur that is an amazing color, just wow. Hauyne has been on my bucket list for years and years, and I'm glad this post was revived so I could see your ring.
I'm super hesitant about getting tiny tiny stones - I feel like around 5mm is the minimum sized stone for me, barring some materials. Approx 3.5mm in top color Hauyne is findable, no such luck with larger in my experience.
But, your ring design is a great solution - using smaller stones in a type of cluster design to pack a big punch. Beautiful!

 

[elle_71125]

I concur that is an amazing color, just wow. Hauyne has been on my bucket list for years and years, and I'm glad this post was revived so I could see your ring.
I'm super hesitant about getting tiny tiny stones - I feel like around 5mm is the minimum sized stone for me, barring some materials. Approx 3.5mm in top color Hauyne is findable, no such luck with larger in my experience.
But, your ring design is a great solution - using smaller stones in a type of cluster design to pack a big punch. Beautiful!

Thank you! And yes, it’s very difficult to find in larger sizes (and I imagine very expensive to boot). The largest hauyne in my ring is 3.5mm, which we all know is tiny. lol. I’ve actually thinking about using Haynes in one of Yvonne’s flower settings. They make such great accent stones!

Some juicy inspiration pics…

 

[Christinak]

 

[RRfromR]

Mine, all GIA certified.
1. Natural fancy purple pink diamond, 0.28 ct. Kind of meh about it, I need to set it
2. Natural yellows diamonds, the old cut is a little under a ct and very clear
3. Ceylon unheated sapphire around 0.85 ct and burma unheated ruby 0.55 ct art deco

 

[Nosean]

A Fancy Deep Blue - 0,03 ct GIA

 

[Dr_Diesel]

Thank you so much! It is honestly the most vivid blue gem I’ve ever seen in real life. They are tiny, but the color really packs a punch! If you ever get a chance to get some, I highly recommend it. I bought mine from Cecile Raley Designs on Etsy.

I do wonder how they compare to blue cobalt spinel, which are supposed to be fabulous (and which I, sadly, have not been able to see in person ).

I’ve seen top cobalt blues in person and they are impressive…about as impressive as your hauyne!

Given the dealer’s $20k/ct pricetag for a 1ct-ish top cobalt blue spinel, I would say you scored big time!!!

Amazing find and a truly amazing ring!