Voce's Gemstone Ramblings...

[voce]

@leslie1956 the vendor for my sapphire was skyjems.ca. They have a lot of GIA certified loose gems: mainly blue sapphires and color change sapphires, some alexandrite and emerald and tanzanite. Many of their gems are not up to par with what PS'ers look for in terms of cut and a lot of the gems they offer, especially rubies and sapphires, are too dark. However, if you check from time to time, they do have good ones as well in there. I found that even though they don't do outdoor photos and tend to have the same kind of studio shots, their hand shot colors are true to life for blue sapphires at least.

Pros:
-wholesale prices
-loose gems already come with GIA reports identifying gem and treatments
-good communication and return policy
-they can mount it into jewelry for you
-fast free shipping if you are US or Canadian via Fedex

Cons:
-quality of gems in inventory can vary, maybe not the best for CS beginners who aren't able to judge the color and cut as well
-videos are not short
-any appraisals they provide for finished jewellery are in terms of Canadian dollars

 

[leslie1956]

Thanks for letting me know, voce I'm interested in getting a good, unheated blue sapphire so the more options, the better. Since a 6-7 mm stone is plenty big for me, I can put my money towards good cutting, color, minimal inclusions, etc.

 

[voce]

Thanks for letting me know, voce I'm interested in getting a good, unheated blue sapphire so the more options, the better. Since a 6-7 mm stone is plenty big for me, I can put my money towards good cutting, color, minimal inclusions, etc.

These days, since I have already spent a lot on loose gems, I like to have a rough idea of how I'd set a gem before I buy the loose gem if it's a center stone. Of course, my ideas may change before I set it, based on what melee gems are available that I pull the trigger on. Have you thought about what kind of setting you want for unheated blue sapphire?

 

[leslie1956]

I have several different setting options based on the shape of the sapphire. For a 6 mm round or cushion cut, I'd strongly consider Yvonne's new Edwardian style and use either diamonds or vivid pink/red spinel melee for the side stones. White gold or platinum for sure as a metal choice. If the stone is oval, I might stick with my favorite, the Amelie setting with those same melees and metal choices.

For a 7 mm round stone I might go for the Sunflower setting again. I really like how my purple garnet ring came out, there is some pretty detailing but it doesn't feel overwhelming If I get the stone from someone other than Yvonne, I'll have her make the setting and have a jeweler in Portland set the sapphire.

I'd be willing to go as high as 2K for a sapphire but less would be ideal. This project will be down the road a bit, but it's never too early to start looking around, lol!

 

[voce]

I'm already thinking about setting a 3-stone cushion ring in the future with my buys today. It'll have both my birthstone (spinel) and my DF's birthstone (aqua), so if these pictures are true to life, I think it'll be an absolutely divine (for me) combination of color.

Remember these gems? I'm going to keep them, but after seeing how the color is in person, I don't think setting them into the same ring is a good idea.

I like the color combination in the last two pictures, but the first two have me not in love.

 

[Sungura]

The colors are really pretty. I love the purple/violet spinel! I love the colors in the last photo. But you know what you see most of the time. Maybe these aren’t the aquas to go with that spinel

 

[T L]

The aquas are greyish and have a low RI, so their larger size takes away from the beautiful spinel. I also personally don’t like setting all cool colors together ( same goes fir warm). I like warm and cool colors together instead. For example, I don’t care for pink and orange stones together, nor blues and purples. I think contrast helps a gem stand out better. However, that’s subjective, and others probably disagree. For example, I love pink and green together.

To be honest, I would probably use aqua melee as a halo if you wanted to do both gems in the same ring. This is because smaller stones in low RI material tend to sparkle more, or you could.do much smaller side trillions.

 

[voce]

... because smaller stones in low RI material tend to sparkle more...

... Sparkle more, than what? Smaller stones in high RI material? Larger stones in low RI material?

I see no reason to go with low RI stones even in melee sizes if they sparkle less.

Appreciate your thoughts about contrast, T L, but I find the use of warm and cool tones very problematic. It's no more scientific than the use of pigeon blood. For example, would you call lavender warm or cool? Pure vivid red? I think they're neither. There's talk of warm reds and cool reds, based on the modifier, but in all honesty quite often the same stone could be made to look warm or cool depending on the background color used.

I like tonal variation as much as I like contrast. Blue sidestones can make a green center stone pop just as much as pink sidestones. It just depends on the specific shade and is trickier to get right.

 

[T L]

I consider lavender probably a cooler color if it has more blue in it, and warmer if it has more red. There are multiple hues in the lavender family, since it’s a subjective color. I consider your spinel a cooler lavender.

Yes, I’m not a fan of small low RI melee, but I just mentioned it because you wanted a ring with both stones. I think it would be prettier than pairing the high RI spinel with two low RI aquas that are the same size. So for example, I think the aquas would look better with a tourmaline.

We all like what we like, my feelings about warm and cool stones are just my opinion. It’s not everyone’s.

 

[voce]

Received a couple chrysoberyls today and felt like playing with my loose gems.

From left to right: Burmese red spinel, Mahenge red spinel, Burmese pink spinel, California spessartite garnet, Tanzanian honey zircon, Ceylon yellow chrysoberyl, Ceylon green chrysoberyl, green grossular garnet, mint green tourmaline, Afghani teal tourmaline, aquamarine, Burmese blue sapphire, Burmese lavender spinel, Tanzanian purple spinel, Ceypon purple spinel. I don't have a reddish purple gem to close the circle, but I'm not much attracted to purplish reds.

 

[voce]

I need to check my voicemail reguarly. I used to get notifications for messages others left me, but I just don't get those notifications anymore. And guess who called me?

A month ago, I responded very quickly when I saw that Jeff White had a single piece of red hot old stock Mahenge spinel available to cut. I filled out the web form, and because there seemed to be some kind of internet connectivity issue (I was filling out the web form on my phone), I called him just to make sure he knew I was definitely interested. I kept checking my mailbox, including the spam folder, for several days, telling myself that maybe he's busy, and eventually assumed that the spinel was already taken, because I hadn't heard from him via email.

Fast forward to today, when I just happened to notice a missed call and checked my voicemail. And apparently I had more than one voicemail waiting, the FIRST of which was from May 17, a day after I inquired about that spinel. It was Jeff White, saying he had emailed me and said that he had several others waiting in line, but I was the one who had contacted him first, so he wanted to get in touch and work out the particulars.

I was THIS CLOSE to getting a JEFF WHITE CUT MAHENGE SPINEL(!!!), and I screwed it up. I sent him another message via the web form just now, but I still feel bad because there's no way he'd wait almost a month when I didn't respond to his call on May 17th. I can only hope that someday he finds some more rough like that.

Current mood? Blue as blue can be.

 

[leslie1956]

That really sucks, voce, so sorry to hear it I'm also bad about checking VM, so this could have been me!

 

[deorwine]

Aw, that's super disappointing! I'm sorry! I saw that email when it went out and I didn't even try for it, I figured the line would be super long and I'd just bought another (native cut) old stock Mahenge, lol. But to have had the chance for it... I feel your pain. And I too suck at checking my voicemail, so this could have been me too!

 

[voce]

Thanks @deorwine and @leslie1956. I was tired at work today but was delighted to receive a couple of gems from The Gem Trader. Will take pictures and post them in the vendor thread tomorrow.

 

[T L]

I wouldn’t sweat it over the Mahenge. You said yourself you don’t care much for pinkish reds or pink in your red stones, and Mahenges tend to be pinker, even the old mine material.

 

[voce]

I wouldn’t sweat it over the Mahenge. You said yourself you don’t care much for pinkish reds or pink in your red stones, and Mahenges tend to be pinker, even the old mine material.

I like the redder Mahenge spinel types. I kept this one even though it wasn't that fluorescent because it was vivid red to my eyes, albeit with a ring of pink.

One thing that is a must is looking better under the sun than inside, and this fits the bill. Kinda collecting spinels from around the world. Seems more possible than collecting rubies, since I only know of 4 or 5 origins for spinels of quality.

 

[T L]

Typically, ones above three carats if I remember correctly, are redder due to larger size. There’s always exceptions. That’s a very pretty cushion.

 

[voce]

In the late hours of July 2, my second ruby arrived in the mail, and I'm beyond happy to wear the two next to each other (new ruby in center). This is the ruby I have a report from AGL for.

My phone camera won't capture the color accurately, and I'm enamored of how the new ruby looks in dim lighting. Just need to find my Canon Powershot for better pictures sometime!

 

[leslie1956]

Thanks for sharing pictures of both ruby rings together! The second ring came out beautifully, I can only imagine what the color of those rubies look like IRL

 

[Sungura]

Yay! The five stone ruby ring has arrived!!! @voce are those cadi cut traps flanking your beautiful ruby? What a stunner. Can’t wait for pics.

 

[voce]

I wasn't able to find my digital camera. Might have left it at parents' house. First picture is in a dark room with closed windows and no lights. Not sure if I captured the gleam; sometimes it flashes brighter. New ruby has more fluorescence than engagement ring ruby. I would say the last picture here is closest to what I see IRL, at least how the colours show up on my phone screen.

@Sungura yes, that is Cadi cut. I wasn't going to show pics of this ruby ring at all because I don't want people to copy my design, but most of my design is in the unique gallery, so I thought I would show you guys the top view of this ring. All I will say is that Enhoerning Jewelry executed my setting design to exquisite perfection, and sourced the gems for me.

A lot of people get the stone first and then do the design. In this case the design came first (inspired by Bron's Dawn), and the stones were sourced to execute my design. In any case, I will not be showing my gallery design on PS, and so will not make a separate thread for the ring.

 

[voce]

These pictures were taken with my digital camera. The color is right, but the saturation/tone appears less vivid from the camera images than what my eye sees.



This last one is in very very low diffused natural lighting, in the shadows of a bathroom with the lights off, where most other gems get dim. There are flashes of red that don't appear as striking in the picture as IRL; the camera automatically used a long exposure time so that more light appears in the background than there appears to my eyes.

 

[Sungura]

Thanks for posting some clearer pics @voce

The ruby cushion is well cut and I swoon over the pairing with cadi-cut diamonds traps!! This seems to be a very wearable ring. There are classic components of a 5-stone with a contemporary vibe. Would you mind sharing the dimensions of the ruby? 6mm?

 

[voce]

Thanks for posting some clearer pics @voce

The ruby cushion is well cut and I swoon over the pairing with cadi-cut diamonds traps!! This seems to be a very wearable ring. There are classic components of a 5-stone with a contemporary vibe. Would you mind sharing the dimensions of the ruby? 6mm?

Thanks for the compliments, Sungura. This ruby is only 5.5mm by 5.4mm, 4.1mm deep. The diamond Cadi cuts were sized up from my original design. I am unable to call the Cadis traps, since Cadi cuts have five sides, and trapezoids have four sides by definition.

 

[arkieb1]

Gorgeous congrats, I find my Iphone rarely takes good photos of reds and oranges, blues yes, reds it just doesn't get the correct colour.

 

[voce]

Gorgeous congrats, I find my Iphone rarely takes good photos of reds and oranges, blues yes, reds it just doesn't get the correct colour.

Thanks, arkieb1, my phone also takes good pictures of blues but not reds or oranges. I have to ask Inken of Enhoerning Jewelry some day what her trick is to photograph rubies. Her vendor pics made this ruby look super juicy.

 

[arkieb1]

I know more than one vendor that colour adjust or enhance their photos....

 

[T L]

I can never get emerald or darker greens to photograph on any camera. Pastel greens are not a problem though. I think my red fluorescence photos in the sunlight of my red gems are more accurate than when they’re indoors.

 

[Bluegemz]

I think your rings and gems look fabulous.( congratulations on the lovely new ruby ring!!)..though I completely understand not being able to capture the accurate colors. I can use my imagination. Me, emeralds look horrific as well as reds and only some blues. I have an iPhone. My daughters Samsung makes everything look amazing. I swear I’m ready for a change due to this alone.

 

[voce]

I think your rings and gems look fabulous.( congratulations on the lovely new ruby ring!!)..though I completely understand not being able to capture the accurate colors. I can use my imagination. Me, emeralds look horrific as well as reds and only some blues. I have an iPhone. My daughters Samsung makes everything look amazing. I swear I’m ready for a change due to this alone.

I am swearing to myself that the next new phone I get will have an amazing camera for gemstones. Will wear so many rings to the store to test the phone cameras!