glitterata
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2002
- Messages
- 4,508
I took a chance on a pair of star sapphire cufflinks based on not-so-great photos.
I'm very pleased with the sapphires. They're natural, reasonably transparent, and over 8 carats apiece, with a moody, faded-blue-denim color, good depth, nice stars, and interesting imperfections.
I'll need to reset them, though, since they slide around in the settings like little fish. (That's why the stars look uncentered in some of the photos/videos--they're actually well centered, but the stones don't always point the right way.)
The sun was not cooperating today, but I got a few photos and video when it briefly peeked out from the clouds. Here they are with my favorite star sapphire ring, an antique stickpin conversion:
The cufflink sapphires are not a perfect match--one is a little taller, rounder, and bluer, and the other has a slightly sharper star, more prominent stripes of silk, and a yellow iron stain on one side at the back. They're pretty close, though. In the photo above, one looks much bigger than the other, but in real life they're actually very close to each other in size. And they're significantly bigger than the stone in the ring, which is not as deep/tall, even though it looks like it's the same size in the photo.
The stone with the yellow stain:
The bluer stone:
Oh, and this photo shows the current settings (taken in artificial light--they sapphires are not really this dark):
How would you set these, jewelry friends? DH doesn't wear cufflinks. They would make handsome earrings, but then I wouldn't get to see the stars.
Suggestions?
I'm very pleased with the sapphires. They're natural, reasonably transparent, and over 8 carats apiece, with a moody, faded-blue-denim color, good depth, nice stars, and interesting imperfections.
I'll need to reset them, though, since they slide around in the settings like little fish. (That's why the stars look uncentered in some of the photos/videos--they're actually well centered, but the stones don't always point the right way.)
The sun was not cooperating today, but I got a few photos and video when it briefly peeked out from the clouds. Here they are with my favorite star sapphire ring, an antique stickpin conversion:
The cufflink sapphires are not a perfect match--one is a little taller, rounder, and bluer, and the other has a slightly sharper star, more prominent stripes of silk, and a yellow iron stain on one side at the back. They're pretty close, though. In the photo above, one looks much bigger than the other, but in real life they're actually very close to each other in size. And they're significantly bigger than the stone in the ring, which is not as deep/tall, even though it looks like it's the same size in the photo.
The stone with the yellow stain:
The bluer stone:
Oh, and this photo shows the current settings (taken in artificial light--they sapphires are not really this dark):
How would you set these, jewelry friends? DH doesn't wear cufflinks. They would make handsome earrings, but then I wouldn't get to see the stars.
Suggestions?
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