Venus hair

I love these. Golden rutilated quartz rose cut cabochons. I mean, I really, really love them. I love looking at them, I loved photographing them (and I don’t always love that part) and I love imagining what you’re going to do with them. A customer asked a while back for rutilated quartz or white topaz freeforms, and I thought about photographing 100+ white topaz stones and I confess my heart rather sank into my boots. Not that I don’t like white topaz, far from it, I just couldn’t get all that excited about photographing it. But the gold rutilated quartz; well that’s another matter. It’s all different and it’s all fascinating. I’ve got stones that have thick gold needles that look like straw, stones with fine strands, like angel-hair, some aligned, some in thick masses, some beautifully and artfully arranged into intersecting patterns. It’s fabulous stuff; known also as Cupid’s darts, Venus Hair stone and Fleches d’Amour. Can be hard to get it to look nice, as the quartz host and the gold rutile crystal inclusion have different hardnesses, so you can easily get pits on the surface, but most of these stones have an excellent polish. I think these stones make fabulous one-off contemporary pieces; the kind that get you noticed and get people talking. As with all of my rose cut freeforms, these are rose cut on the domed side and tabled on the reverse so can be set either way up in a bezel, window or prong setting. Why not have a flick through and see if anything grabs you? I have a feeling that these will not hang around for long. Shop now.

http://www.joopygems.com/categories/freeform-rose-cuts-polki-and-cabochons/rutilated-quartz-freeforms-golden.html

Somewhere over the rainbow… is tourmaline

I’m always excited when I have new tourmaline in stock. I think it must be my favourite stone, with its unparalleled variety of colours, from soft pastels to vibrant primaries.

Egyptian legend has it that the tourmaline, when travelling up from the centre of the earth, passed over a rainbow, and in so doing assumed all of its colours. Whether or not you believe that, the name tourmaline comes from the Singhalese ‘tura mali’, which translates to something like ‘stone with mixed colours’, referencing the spectrum of colours which this stone displays. Here I have just listed a veritable bouquet of rose cut freeform tourmalines. I have single colours, bi-colours and parti-colours, with quality ranging from included to nearly clean; soft pale pinks, to vibrant bubble-gum shades, sharp apple greens, neon yellows, and deep, dreamy blues. All of them are lovely; every stone with its own special character and each one unique. These would look fabulous on their own, or keeping each other company in spectacular fashion. As with all of my freeforms, these stones are rose cut on one side and tabled on the other, so can be set either way up, in a bezel, window or prong setting. Prices from $7.50 up, click here to shop. http://www.joopygems.com/categories/freeform-rose-cuts-polki-and-cabochons/tourmaline.html

It’s all a little bit topaz…

Aren’t these beautiful? They aren’t actually for sale, but I thought I would share them with you as I am rather pleased with them! These are imperial topaz brilliant cuts in a variety of shapes and sizes, and I have them because my eldest daughter’s birthstone is topaz and I thought it would be nice to get her some imperial topaz. They are not top colour, although a couple of them are pinkish and all of them seem to have a pleochroic reddish tint which you can pick up from the picture. They’re not calibrated either; I picked them out of a bag of pre-forms and so I got what I got! What do you think? I could get more of these, if I get some interest…

www.joopygems.com

It IS easy being green…

I’ve just listed some absolutely sublime high quality chrysoprase; pure apple green and beautifully translucent. I have singles (see left) and a few matched pairs (see right) and the matching is very good indeed. These are rose cut freeforms, also known as ‘polki’; a cut I have been stocking in increasingly large numbers as it is just so popular. The name comes from the Greek and means ‘golden apple’, a reference to the slightly yellowish hue these stones have, and the name should be confined to stones that are naturally this colour and not dyed. Needless to say, the chrysoprase I carry is not dyed! These stones are really special and I can see the pairs as earrings in gold window settings. I also have some new standard grade chrysoprase too. This is not quite as translucent; some stones are more translucent than others, but is still of good colour and quality and additionally I have some pairs in this material as well (see left). Chrysoprase is becoming increasingly popular; it’s a little bit emerald-like, a little bit jade-like, but without the attendant price tag, of course. Prices for the finer chrysoprase start at $21.50 for a single stone and $88 for a pair; for the standard grade, from $7.50 for a single and $35 for a pair. Click here to buy the high grade; click here for the standard grade, and click here for matched pairs.

http://www.joopygems.com/categories/freeform-rose-cuts-polki-and-cabochons/chrysoprase-freeform.html

All that glitters is not gold…

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…because sometimes it is diamond!! I’ve had these promised for so long and I have finally got them sorted, weighed, photographed and listed. This is opaque, coloured diamond in a wonderful array of colours; I have soft pinks and silvers, acid yellows and greens, reds, browns and golds. They are all quite small – don’t be fooled by the pictures, which have blown them up well beyond their actual size. This has also had the effect of accentuating any inclusions and colour zoning. Now, you might like the odd inclusion (I do) in which case that might be disappointing. Or you might not, in which case feel free to cheer. Either way, they are very pretty, and despite being opaque they do have that quintessential adamantine glitter. Prices from $10.25 up; to shop, click here:

http://www.joopygems.com/categories/calibrated-rose-cuts-and-cabochons/diamond/coloured-diamond.html

Blue heaven

I’ve been quiet for a few weeks, but I have been rushed off my feet, first of all attending a couple of GIA labs here in Hong Kong, relating to gem grading and identification, but secondly trying to get a whole lot of new stock photographed and listed. First up is more turquoise freeforms. I had some of these back in the spring and they just flew out of the shop, so I have re-stocked in larger quantities. This is US turquoise, stabilised with resin or oil. This is a very common practice with turquoise as it is a very porous kind of stone and so the stabilisation improves both the durability and the appearance of the stones, as it helps them to take a better polish. These freeforms are mainly polki cut – that is rose cut on one side and tabled on the other, although I do have some rose cut with flat bottoms. I always think polki cut is a great way of getting a lot of stone for your money and certainly they are always popular, fitting in well with a contemporary, individual feel to your designs. I’ve got them in a good range of shapes, sizes and therefore prices. Prices from $7.75 – click here to buy.

http://www.joopygems.com/categories/freeform-rose-cuts-polki-and-cabochons/turquoise-freeform.html

Somewhere over the rainbow

From which you can deduce that this is all about rainbow moonstone. I have just listed a selection of sizes, shapes and qualities. The best of it is very, very good and the least good is still pretty nice. Top of the pile are 6mm AAA cabochons, almost completely clean with superb adularescence. It’s becoming hard to find nice quality rainbow moonstone, and to find it at a good price is well nigh impossible. Well, aren’t you lucky lot, because at $19 per stone, this represents fantastic value. For the first time I am offering oval cabochons, 8x6mm and 10x8mm. I have these in AA and A quality. Obviously as I am sure you all know, the larger the stone, the harder it is to find clean material, but the AA is pretty good even in the larger size; just a few wisps and internal fractures, and the A is more included but not overly so and the adularescence for both is really good. Prices are $16 and $24 for the AA and $8 and $14 for the A, 8x6mm and 10x8mm respectively I also have 10mm, 8mm and 6mm in A and AA. The 10mm AA is really nice; almost clean stones with superb flash in a 10mm size, and the price an excitement-inducing $26.50. I’ve saved a few of these for my own personal use as they are not just sublimely beautiful but also a good investment with the soaring prices of cleaner moonstone. Prices range from $4 per stone for the 6mm A to $26.50 for the 10mm AA. Now, I don’t have many of any of these, so if you like them, don’t dilly-dally. Click here to shop!

Confident, sophisticated, expressive, calm…

Apparently all words associated with the colour blue, and you can add to that ‘rare’ and ‘desirable’, because what we have here is tanzanite; beautiful, serene, periwinkle blue. New in stock I have plenty of 3mm rose cut cabochons, and a certain number of 4mm rose cut cabochons. This material is sublime; eye clean with superb lustre and the faceting is perfect and precise. Hence the not so many of the 4mm. I think that this is bound to go fast, not wanting to sound like a used car salesman, but it’s not so easy to find clean and reasonably priced tanzanite in these cuts. And these are reasonable; the 3mm rose cuts are $5.50 per stone and the 4mm rose cuts $17.50 per stone, all in USD. Tanzanite is from Tanzania, which contributes to a rather fluctuating supply, and is a relative newcomer to the world of cut stones, not being discovered until the 1960s. It is routinely heat-treated, as unless it has undergone some natural heating at its point of origin (which is rather unusual) it is generally a brownish colour in its natural state, and these stones are indeed heated. Shop now, to get your hands on these beautiful, sparkling gemstones.

It’s small…it’s shimmering…it’s….tiny labradorite!!

Finally for all you who have been waiting, I have fantastic high grade labradorite back in stock in small sizes, both cabochons and rose cuts. I just can’t keep 4mm labradorite in stock; it’s so popular. Even more exciting, now, for the first time ever, I have 3mm labradorite cabochons and rose cuts as well! Both sizes in the same, beautiful high quality Madagascan material; pale and translucent with superb flash. Prices are as follows; the 4mm rose cuts are $1.50 and 4mm cabochons $0.85 per stone, and the 3mm rose cuts are $1.85 and 3mm cabochons $1.25 per stone, all prices in US dollars. I know what you’re thinking; why are the 3mm stones more expensive? It’s the cutting charges – finding cutters willing to cut small stones is becoming hard and the 3mm rose cuts are quite specialised. In terms of colours, I have a range of blues, aquas, greens and golds. It’s fine to state a preference, but the blues normally go fast and when they’re gone they’re gone! Shop now to get top pick of these beautiful stones!

Joopy Gems | The Blog

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Author: Julia Aufenast