star sapphire ideas?

[fel]

Hi,

I am a longtime lurker, coming out of my box. I just bought a man's star sapphire ring for a project ( I am a woman), and would like to make a ring or perhaps a pendant/enhancer out of it, to celebrate my 20th anniversary. I love work by James Meyer but he no longer takes other's stones. Do you have suggestions? The star is really translucent, luminescent, whitish or only slightly blue. What I love is that there seems to be an inner pinkish light to the sapphire, underneath the surface. It was sold to me as 8 carats. The ring has a few diamond chips I could add to the project, and I have another .2 miners cut diamond to add.

Any thoughts on what kind of metal, or stones, would help bring out the blue in the sapphire? The color is very subtle I am hoping to not spend a fortune (i.e. under $1500). So far all my rings are 18k yellow gold. Also, all my rings have bezels -- I hate prongs.

I would also appreciate comments on the stone. It is not too late to return it if you folks feel it is not worthy, although, unless it turns out to be a fake, I am pretty happy with it.

Thanks! I love this site!
Fel

 

[fel]

Here's a picture with the star. The asterism is super-clear in real life. I just don't have a good macro lense, so this is the vendor picture.

 

[chrono]

Have you had the star sapphire checked to verify it isn't a synthetic?
Do you have a picture of the ring next to an 18K YG setting, just for colour reference?

 

[fel]

I just got the sapphire so I haven't checked yet. It would be a pretty surprising fake since it has feathering, I guess it could be diffused but it doesn't appear to be, and I think the ring is older than when diffusion was prevalent.

I'll try a picture with YG in daylight.

Fel

 

[Pandora II]

I'd be very suprised if it's fake - the fakes were made mainly by Linde and were a very bright blue with a rather too perfect star.

This stone looks natural to me - it also won't be diffused - the temperatures needed to diffuse would destroy all the inclusions and it is precisely these inclusions that give the stone it's asterism in the first place. At most it would have had gentle heat to improve the colour but maybe not even that.

As it's not a premium colour, the fact it could be unheated won't make a difference in price.

It looks nice - I can't say if it was a good deal or not as I don't know what you paid. It's not a particularly valuable colour, but it is a good size and the diaphaneity is good.

 

[fel]

The local jeweler confirmed the sapphire was real. The color is funny -- bluish gray, but there is a orange "glow", made up of tiny sparkles, that emanates in most lighting. Has anyone heard or seen this before?

I haven't been able to take a good picture with rose or yellow gold. My camera doesn't have a decent macro lens.

-Fel

 

[chrono]

Camera phones work really well and take decent close up pictures.

 

[pregcurious]

I think the main thing is, do you like the color? If it doesn't speak to you, keep looking. If it does, then the fact that it's large, and has a good asterism makes it a keeper. Color is the number 1 reason why I buy a stone.

 

[mastercutgems]

Hi Fel

The star effect on a diffused star sapphire is created on the surface of the gem, it does penetrate the sapphire only very marginally. You really cannot re-cut or re-polish a diffused star sapphire gemstone.

The one in the picture I can easily say is NOT a diffused "star"sapphire... Yours is translucent/transparent and as said earlier the heat to lay in the asterisk would have popped many internal flaws... Plus I have not seen any diffused sapphires in translucent material ; usually opaque or just solids... As this treatment is done for the dramatic show and stars and cats eyes show up more vivid on darker more solid materials...

I am not saying it cannot be done; but like heating of spinels; the cost and outcome really does not justify the expense and market demands..

I think that will make a lovely piece, maybe rose or green gold and some round brilliant Mahenge hot pink spinel melee???

Oh yea I am just a guy I have no taste in jewelry... LOL I keep forgetting I will stick to cutting...

Most respectfully;

Dana

 

[LD]

It's really lovely and has a look of moonstone to it so I can see why you were attracted to it. There are so many designs on this site to ogle over that it's so difficult to know where to start. Sally at Heartofwater (you can find her on Etsy) has some great designs for cabochons you may like and they're realtively inexpensive. Your sapphire does look natural as diffused stars are almost too straight and too perfect to be real sometimes!

 

[fel]

I think you are right that my stone is very moonstone-ish. Sally has some great stuff -- I'd consider a ring like the heart of water ring, especially if there were a way to work in some little diamonds. I just wonder if my sapphire is too deep for that kind of setting. It is much deeper than the part sticking out from the ring... Does anyone out there have examples of bezel settings for deep cabochons?

Thanks,
Fel

 

[LD]

If your stone is deep then it's deep but anything can be set! The beauty of going custom is that you can sit the stone as close or as high to your finger as you want. Sally can put accent stones in all of her pieces and will design something for you also so you're not limited by the designs on her website. She's made two pieces for me that were entirely my own design and each one has been superb. I don't think I've seen any negative reviews about her.

 

[fel]

Update -- I got the stone described above set by Sally. I don't have the ring yet, but attached are some pictures. Sally was very patient with me, and per the pictures did a terrific job. The stone is surrounded by different colored sapphires, one small amethyst, and two small diamonds. The side stones are zircons.

Fel

 

[pregcurious]

Wow, I love what she did. It brings out the best in the stone.

 

[oneeqi]

very beautiful design by sally, it's look like made for Lord Of The Ring theme , congrats!

 

[fel]

very beautiful design by sally, it's look like made for Lord Of The Ring theme , congrats!

LOL How did you know I had it engraved with "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them"? Sally had a hard time fitting all this on the shank.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Gorgeous!

I had my star set by her as well

 

[oneeqi]

very beautiful design by sally, it's look like made for Lord Of The Ring theme , congrats!

LOL How did you know I had it engraved with "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them"? Sally had a hard time fitting all this on the shank.

LOTR just pop out when i see your ring , but to engraved that words...
please, share handshot foto when you have it
your ring give me an idea to make a ring for my wife, i had a pinkish purple star sapphire that i never set

 

[chrono]

The colour combination chosen is well done - they bring out the colour of the cabochon very well.

 

[fel]

Thanks Chrono. It took about 6 months to make this ring because I had to approve every stone, as I wanted the colors to coordinate. Sally was so kind to go along with this persnickety process.

btw: I was kidding about the LOTR engraving on the shank. I am sitting here giggling as I imagine Sally's reaction had I asked her to carve a long message on the shank.

 

[velouriaL]

WOW! That came out great. It might actually be my favorite all-time Sally piece... though I MTG's is pretttttttty gorg, too, hmmm... Anyway, gorgeous.