waiting for package desperately...

[y2kitty]

Its fantastic!

 

[LD]

Crasru what a wonderful bracelet. I adore it. In fact, I think this is my favourite piece of yours. It's so unique.

Wear it in good health and most of all enjoy wearing it!

 

[Arcadian]

Thats a great looking bracelet and perfect use for that amethyst. I wish I could pull off stuff like this. * *

-A

 

[Arkteia]

OK, let me go backwards in my answers since it is easier this way...

Arcadian - actually, it is not that difficult for me since in general I am pretty concervative in my clothes, wear a lot of pastels or neutrals, but during the day, I see many teenagers and they have different perception of "cool". So while adult friends and acquaintances like my "antique" bracelet with sapphires, or my tanzanite, teenagers say "wow, cool!" about the bracelet. So I have the best of both worlds.

LD - you are laughing, yes? Our styles are far apart, but this is not the sad part... The sad part (for me, of course) is that our stones are miles apart... Paraphrasing a proverb, "you can stick a gem in diamonds but you can not make it shine"... But I like the bracelet and the amethyst, given that it is a simple JXR it performs very well indeed...

 

[Arkteia]

Herekittykitty - thank you so much! You are very sweet!

Deathspi - you are right, it did look like a tangle of metal on the website but it looked like something from Le Corbusier's industrial designs and I liked it. I made the decision spontaneously and it is all the more funny that 3-dimensional thinking is not my forte! Chris has done a lot of work, because she did not want this stone to look foreign to the bracelet, and I think, it looks well. BTW - I like her very clean bezels, it was invented for the bracelet, but the spiral "slits" work well for many not-too-dark stones, providing access to light, and technically, she does bezels and semi-bezels well.

My son said it resembled him of Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi.

Aoife - thank you. It is easy, and it is not that heavy because it is a large cuff, so the weight is spread over the large area. I am a little bit upset that my wrists are large, in fact, I should remember it each time I am ordering a bracelet, but let's view it like James Meyer's ring with Gene's ruby, a weight-reduction measure! (The ring did not help me lose weight, but it surely helps not to gain it!).

 

[Arkteia]

Kismet - every praise coming from you, the queen of elegant jewelry, is precious! I just hope that in the future you'll continue advising me on good jewelers. Your emerald ring is incredible.

Indy - thank you. You are nice as sweet, as usual.

Tefetufu - thank you very much.

LeeLittle - thank you!

 

[Arkteia]

Chrono - than you so much! You are gracious and nice, as always.

TL - thank you! I know that you have a totally different style of jewelry, all the more, thank you for your nice words!

Just wanted to mention. I am the worst photographer on the PS, partially because I just lack the talent (contrary to what people are stating, photography is not 80% light and 20% camera. It is 80% talent, 15% light and 5% camera). I can usually can take photos in the evening and I am always in a hurry. So if a stone looks OK on my photos, it is much better in real life. I can not tell you how bright and lively the amethyst looks in this bezel. I tried to capture the flashes in the stone - they say that JXRs are "blue flash", but I saw many red flashes, too. The stone that I bought from Amethystguy looked very nice, neither too dark nor too light, and George Eliis's cut was very good. So in reality, it looks like a big modern bracelet with an incredibly bright and lively stone in it. The stone captures attention and is very noticeable. It has no brown in it - some amethysts do. It is just intense violet.

The bracelet is very modern and elegant. The curl on the side may be a little bit too much for me, but I shall keep it as it has proved its utility in saving my stone when I accidentally hit my hand against the wall. It does not happen to me too often, but since it has, I took it for a sign not to remove the curl

 

[Arkteia]

Jim - thank you so much. Still eyeing spinels on your website...

Packrat - I am so curious as to what kind of a ring Chris will make for you. YOU have imagination and ideas, and (unlike me) probably can draw, so I think it will be something stunning.

Cind1l - thank you!

Marcy - thank you!

 

[Arkteia]

MAC-W - thank you! It is always so nice to "hear" from you!

ooo~Shiney - thank you so much! You are not plain Jane, you have beautiful stones, and imagination, and poetic talent. How about "plain Keats"?

ZestfullyBling - thank you!

 

[Arkteia]

Most of all - thank you, Chris, Amethystguy and George Ellis!

I do not know how much I can discuss prices here, so I made a special post. Just want to say that Chris has been very honest and generous. I am not going to comment on her prices, you have seen the website. But because of a large stone she had to make the structure heavier and add a bezel which took in additional silver - and she did not charge me extra for it. I know that integrity and honesty may not surprise you, dear fellows, but the first jewelers I have seen before I came to the PS were of a different kind... I know I was very inexperienced and did not know any better, but to keep a new client, you have to demonstrate integrity...

Re. the bracelet - the stone is set so well, that if I ever get tired of the bracelet itself and decide to make a ring, or change the stone in the bracelet, it will be very easy to take this one out and just add a shank. I wish it could be seen in my photos...

 

[LD]

Crasru I promise you I was being deadly serious in that I genuinely do love your bracelet. You'd be surprised but I have a large collection of silver chunky jewellery, very modern and some of it eclectic. Only today I've been wearing a huge silver necklace full of circles and straight bits that cut through the circles!

 

[Lovinggems]

Wonderful bracelet, it looks like a mini wrist sculpture, interesting.

 

[Arkteia]

Lovinggems - thank you. Always admire your stones!

LD - you know, my favorite neckpiece is a silver yoke that I bought at TJMaxx for $ 80.00. One day, I shall post it in jewelry section. Everyone likes it, just one of these successful designs.

 

[VapidLapid]

Crasru, I love it too! Strong kinetic composition and the stone is wonderful.

 

[Arkteia]

Thank you, Vapid! I love your handmade jewelry that you posted here; I think you have a real talent. When I am looking at your rings I think of ancient Skyths who had gold, no instruments except for their hands, but also good heads and imagination and made amazing jewelry. I saw it on display at the Hermitage. Incredible pieces, no one can figure out how they made it.

 

[chrono]

What an amazing piece of art. It's like wearing an artist's visionistic sculpture on your wrist, complete with a beautiful gemstone embedded.

 

[gsellis]

Thank YOU Crasru for sharing the photos as I had wondered how it was going to end up. And thank you for the kind comments.

And yes, that stone flashes blue and red, so you are not losing your mind. I thought that was 'normal' until I started looking at other amethyst.

Oh, and don't blame your photography too much. Because of the color, how cameras work, and it being purple, it really is hard to get it to behave. I was able to get it to look blue using a Sony HD video camera as a still and video lights. That one is elusive.

 

[Barrett]

That is fantastic! What a perfect setting and bracelet for that stone. I hand dug that stone out of the ground in 100 degree weather during the middle of a Georgia summer. It was the first stone I ever had cut so it holds a special place in my heart. The thing is if it was still with me it would be sitting in some gem jar in a case in my drawer. This way it can be enjoyed by Crasru as well as many others. It was very hard to part with the first gemstone I ever had cut and especially one I hadn dug but I am so glad it went into this fantastic, elegant looking bracelet. The cutting was impeccable with the meets honed to a fine point. The cut was pefect for a quartz being a portuguese round and having...what??..120+ facets or something along those lines, to help give the low refractive index of quartz more of a sparkle.
Here are a few pics which you guys have seen before




Here is a George Ellis photo..i think it's sunlight


Here is the same stone(bottom one) with a 13ct emerald cut JXR under a standard desk fluorescent lamp. Lots of blue.


Well done, Cras!! Such a sweet setting for the stone

 

[Arkteia]

Thank you, Chrono! So wonderful of you to compliment me on my stone. From time to time I am going to your spinel thread just to get some boost for the day. There is no second one like this!

 

[Arkteia]

George Ellis! Hi! Thank you again. You are a great cutter! And this a good example of a stone with NO window!

Amethystguy, dear fellow! It is so nice to hear from you! Well, that is, I suppose, how one must have feel when his "firstborn" grows up, leaves the Daddy and settles in a new, his own, home! Thank you! Viva la JXR!

Chris, the bracelet sits great in the morning, by the evening my wrists swell a little bit (I type a lot) so it gets snug. But it is very comfortable and, ah, so beautiful!!!

 

[Haywood74]

I distinctly remember being shown this particular JXR in person and the lump I got in my throat as I passed on it, knowing it was one of the top 2 or 3 cut JXR's I have seen...In my short-sightedness, I couldn't imagine setting it in a bracelet such as you have...The finished piece you have is totally awesome!!!! Good job on having it set it the way you did!!!

 

[Barrett]

Hey Cras...err..I mean..Arkteia, I stumbled upon this photo yesterday. I had completely forgot about it until I ran across it on DRH's proboard. It was the day and/or weekend I found that rough that was used for your custom bracelet. I also had the rough crystal photos. Not sure if I ever showed you those. Mindat's theme this week is rough to cut and that is how I stumbled upon it. It's just odd that I found that photo. There is a very small handful of pictures of me at any mine and to have the day/weekend when I found your crystal recorded is awesome because your stone and maybe one other I have followed from start to finish. It could have been a picture of me at any of the hundred other times I have been. I distinctly remember finding it that day/weekend because my buddy Ben was there and a few others like Austen Barr and Romin Dawson This photo(mine dumps) was taken in November 2008. I had the rough crystal marked at 22.8 grams.

 

[minousbijoux]

Really wonderful provenance!

 

[Indylady]

WOW

stunning!

 

[Arkteia]

IndyLady, thank you! My style has changed, and my stones have changed, but I feel very happy to have purchased that stone. It is beautiful. The jeweled has also made a ring for me, with a citrine I purchased from Thegemtrader, and the ring is very comfortable. Myheartmonster makes rings for right and left hands. They are so good one almost does not feel them on the hand.

 

[chrono]

I love it when you can track the stone back to the rough form, and even better yet, to the mine!

 

[JewelFreak]

What a wonderful fascinating story! I love the whole thing, from mine to Ark's wrist. Barrett, that rough must have knocked your socks off when you dug it out -- just gorgeous! Not to mention the eventual cut. If I saw you anywhere with that bracelet on, Arkteia, I would not be able to take my eyes off it -- it flows, & what a showpiece for the ammy. Very clever too, the little sidesplits to let more light into such a magic stone. This is the upper of my day!

--- Laurie

 

[AmeliaG]

Oooh, nice! I love that stone's color and the bracelet is not the same old, same old.

 

[Arkteia]

Amelia,
Thank you, and you are very observant! Myheartmonster (this is the name of her etsy store) had to work with this bezel. Most stones darken in bezels, but these side slits help the light to access the stone from the sides. I once bought a Four Peaks amethyst which I
considered selling but decided to keep. It is huge and deep, perhaps side slips would be the answer.

 

[Arkteia]

JewelFreak, thank you!