Watermarks

I’ve been aware for a while now that, especially on Etsy, some gemstone sellers have been taking my images and even my descriptions and using them for their own products. Over the past few weeks, I have been contacted numerous times by customers and other reputable Etsy sellers experiencing the same problem to let me know and the problem seems to be escalating sharply. Obviously it’s annoying for me but I think it’s really bad for customers who buy on the basis of photographs and they are actually buying something different. It’s deception. Because of this, I am going to be watermarking all of my photographs from now on. Whilst I realise that this is not going to completely solve the problem, it feels like an important first step. I will try hard to ensure that the watermark is faint and is placed so that it does not obscure the body of the photograph, see below:

Joopy Gems African amethyst, 10mm round brilliant cutJoopy Gems Brazilian amethyst, 10mm brilliant cut round4mm SPIB rose round4

It’s going to take a while, but I will be replacing all photographs over the next few months with watermarked versions….

www.joopygems.com

June 2015 newsletter

My June 2015 newsletter is now out with some exciting new stones on sale, and a fab 10% discount coupon! Click to read, or why not sign up at my website to make sure you never miss out?!

Joopy Gems June 2015 newsletter

“Etsy has a counterfeit problem”

This is interesting. I picked up this article today about counterfeiting on Etsy. It’s from JCK news and quotes estimates of around 5% of all goods being sold on Etsy as counterfeit. I found this interesting as I’ve often looked on Etsy and seen items that look suspiciously not handmade; mainly jewellery as that is my main area of interest. Sometimes I’ve seen a particular style of necklace copied by multiple sellers. It’s not just the Vuittons and Chanels either; I’ve had informal feedback from customers that they feel their own designs have been copied. So I’ll be watching this closely to see what happens. As Albrecht Durer said in 1511, “Beware, all thieves and imitators of other people’s labour and talents, of laying your audacious hands upon our work.” !! (exclamation marks are mine!)

April 2015 newsletter!

Joopy Gems April 2015 newsletter

Out now is my latest newsletter. I always run an exlusive newsletter offer every month, so if you aren’t signed up, why not sign up at www.joopygems.com, and make sure you never miss out! This month it’s a 10% discount for the month of April, so why not hop over and grab your Easter discount!

Venus hair

Joopy Gems gold rutile quartz rose cutJoopy Gems golden rutile quartz rose cut freeformJoopy Gems golden rutilated quartz freeformJoopy Gems gold rutilated quartz rose cutJoopy Gems golden rutilated quartz rose cut freeformJoopy Gems golden rutile quartz rose cut

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.

Freeform watermelon tourmalineWatermelon tourmaline
Freeform tourmalineCFRTOUR35 3
CFRTOUR92 1CFRTOUR22 1
CFRTOUR32 2CFRTOUR44 1
CFRTOUR3 3CFRTOUR4 3
CFRTOUR7 2CFRTOUR91 3
CFRTOUR49 2CFRTOUR99 2
CFRTOUR106 2CFRTOUR95 3

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…

Imperial topaz 2Aren’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