These labradorite freeforms are so popular that I find myself spending literally hours photographing and listing them. So I thought I would just try and see if I could save myself a little work and you a little money by listing them in sets. 5 randomly selected stones in each set, with a discount applied so that each stone works out as less than if you had bought them separately. These are sold ‘as is’ with no swapping in and out!!! You’ll find the total carat weight and the size range marked on each set, but not individual information. It’s a great way to buy these stones and I promise these come from main stock with no seconds, or rejects and there are no ‘mouldy strawberries’ in the packs to pad them out, promise! To shop all labradorite sets, click here; to browse the labradorite singles, click here. Prices for the sets start from $15.20
Somewhere over the (extremely tiny) rainbow
Joopy Gems rainbow moonstone 2mm rose cut round, $2.85
Joopy Gems rainbow moonstone 2mm rose cut round, $2.85
Joopy Gems rainbow moonstone 2mm rose cut round, $2.85
Well, it’s a bit of a gamble, this. I’ve had a few requests lately for very tiny stones; 2mm to be precise, for things like baby jewellery and other tiny things. I hummed and haa-ed a bit: will anyone really buy these? – and then I thought, ‘blow it, only one way to find out’. So here we are. I already have 2mm rose cut white diamond in stock, and now I am introducing 2mm rose cut rainbow moonstone. These are really very wee indeed but even so, they have the same beautifully precise cut with the intricate kite-shaped facets. Whew! Plus lovely, clean AAA material with the classic great flash that I always endeavour to deliver. What are you going to do with these? Please buy some and send me pictures!! These are the first of a line of stones in this size, cabochons and rose cuts. I’m going to have amethyst, turquoise, peridot, aquamarine, opal and more!
To shop 2mm rose cut rainbow moonstone, click here. These are $2.85 per stone, and I know what you’re going to say: whew, that’s a bit steep. A great deal of the cost is in the cutting; very small stones are precision work and finding someone who will agree to cut them, and cut them well is no easy matter.
I normally feature someone’s work on these posts, so you can see the stones I’m talking about ‘in action’ as it were. But I couldn’t find anything for these, so…watch this space!
Dancing, shimmering colour
White opal 6mm rose cut round, $15.45
White opal 4mm rose cut round, $4.55
White opal 5mm rose cut round, $8
White opal, 3mm rose cut round, $2.35
White opal 6mm rose cut round, $15.45
I had a sample of rose cut opal in stock recently and it just flew out, in the space of a couple of hours. I don’t think I’ve ever stocked anything that sold out so quickly. So I got more in and once again it is selling phenomenally well. This is Ethiopian opal, which ranges from transparent to almost opaque, with a powerful play-of-colour that appears
to hang suspended within the stone. Opal from Ethiopia is a relatively new discovery – the source was only discovered in 1996. I have these in a 3mm, 4mm, 5mm and 6mm rose cut round and I must say, the rose cutting works phenomenally well with this material, highlighting the play-of-colour and making it absolutely pop. This is very eye-catching material, which is going to make stunning jewellery. You can see what I mean right; Louisa Gallery’s opal and 14k gold ring. Stunning, unexpected and rare.
To shop all rose cut opal, click here. Prices start from $2.35 for a 3mm rose cut cabochon.
Labradorite; a little slice of frozen fire
I was going to do a post about these the last time I had new stock in, but by the time I got down to it, they had mostly sold out. Fantastically popular and it’s easy to see why. Desirable Madagascan labradorite, with the pale, translucent body colour and bright – and in some cases blinding – flash. Labradorite is composed of layers, and it’s the way that the light refracts off these layers that produces the flash, or labradorescence. The Inuit used believe that labradorite fell from the frozen fire of the Aurora Borealis, and it’s easy to see why – the stone has an almost other-worldly quality to it. A dull grey stone transformed to the extraordinary as the light refracts and relects off it. I have just listed lots and lots of new stones; you can find them here. Prices start from just $3.70.
Below is Luttrell Studio’s sublime labradorite and sterling silver ring, priced at $85. Perfectly simple and elegant, the cool silver against the labradorite makes the colour just sing.
A billowing blue light
Back in stock I have AA grade 5mm rainbow moonstone. This is one of those products I can’t really get to order; I put in an order that goes ‘well this is how many I’d like, but just give me as many as you can.’ Because it’s becoming increasingly scarce, nice quality rainbow moonstone. This is a bit included, hence the AA but appears generally transparent with a wonderful billowing sheen that flashes from the stones. There’s blue, aqua, green and a few of the more gold tones. This material is from Madagascar and is just the antidote to all that cloudy, fractured sheen-barely-there material, of which there is, of course, no shortage whatsover! These stones are $11 each and you can find there here. To browse my entire range of rainbow moonstone you can click here for AA and AAA grade and click here for AB and A grade.
You can see this material perfectly realised below in Nicki Gluckman from NIXIN’s rainbow moonstone and diamond ring set in 14k gold, $225:
Watermelon Candy
Or parti-coloured tourmaline, to give it its correct title. Not, as my slightly po-faced GIA instructor said, as in, ‘let’s have a party.’ That may have been a joke. It was slightly hard to tell. New in stock, I have more pieces of this most beautiful and fascinating of stones in a breathtaking array of colours. I have new slices and some rose cut (polki) pieces, and each piece has been hand-selected by me for either its pattern – complex or simple, its colour – unusual or gorgeous, its unusual combinations of colours, or it’s saturation – saturated or subtle. The green and orange polki, top left, or the teal green surrounded by black slice towards the top right; the pale pink and blue polkis, of which I have several, and blue is always a popular colour that goes fast.
Clarity of these stones can be rather mixed, but most of these are not bad and many have the kind of clarity characteristics that I think are rather beautiful; for instance you can see mirror-like inclusions on several of the stones, which sparkle as the light catches them with a spectral flash. Tourmaline crystals are very distinctive; broadly triangular in shape with striations down the sides and the colour zoning is due to a change in the concentration or composition of the trace elements that give the stone its colour during its growth. Iron, titanium and manganese induce different colours and yet others might be due to colour centres caused by radiation. To shop watermelon slices, click here; to shop freeform rose cuts (polki), click here.
So many gorgeous examples of watermelon tourmaline jewellery around, but if I had to pick out one I have long coveted Barbara Heinrich Studio’s watermelon tourmaline slice necklace. This also has hand-fabricated 18k gold shell elements and gold tube spacers. Love those gold shells, echoing the shape of the tourmaline slices, and love the matched-but-not-matched slices.
Floating in a turquoise sea
Just listed I have these gorgeous turquoise rose cut freeforms. There’s something very pleasing about a faceted opaque stone. Maybe because it’s rather unexpected, but I always think that turquoise lends itself so well to this cut. Maybe it’s because it’s not a cheap stone, and you can go to a generous size whilst still maintaining some kind of strangle-hold on the budget strings. And you all must agree with me because it’s one of the stones in this cut that I struggle to keep in stock – whatever I have just goes. So I am assuming the same will be true of this latest lot of new stock. I’ve been a bit brave and gone for some much larger ones than usual. The 12 or so carat one above with the lovely chunk of pyrite on the side – I think that’s gorgeous; I’ve got my eye on that one for my own collection, if someone doesn’t beat me to it. I don’t know how you feel about inclusions; I know not everyone loves them but I rather do, especially the silvery pyrite one often gets on turquoise – I think that’s really special. I also rather love the 2.4 carat one speckled with pyrite and dark matrix – so unusual. But if you’re a purist, then you can’t do better than the 7.6 carat triangle; just clean, clear turquoise, polished to perfection.
This cut lends itself particularly well to rings – big showy affairs that’ll make your fingers think all their Christmasses have come. Below, clockwise from left, I love the fierceness of the Turquoise Rose Cut Cage ring in 14k gold by Lex Luxe. Perfectly illustrating my point about the loveliness of pyrite inclusion is Erin Jane Designs’ Turquoise Ring in Recycled 14k gold. And see how that pyrite picks echoes the metal in the setting? And bottom right is Janish Jewels’ Rose Cut Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Twig Ring. Love the textured metal on the shank.
Lex Luxe Turquoise Rose Cut Cage Ring, set in 14K gold, $360
Erin Jane Designs Turquoise Ring in Recycled 14k Gold, $306
Janish Jewels Rose Cut Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Twig Ring 18k, $128
To shop turquoise rose cut freeforms, click here. Prices start from $17.
Aquamarine polki polka
Aquamarine Rose Cut Freeform 2.730 carats, 12x10x3.3mm, $29.75
Aquamarine Rose Cut Freeform 2.350 carats, 12×8.9×3.3mm, $25.50
Joopy Gems Aquamarine Rose Cut Freeform 2.140 carats, 11.9×8.8×2.9mm Joopy Gems Aquamarine Rose Cut Freeform 2.140 carats, 11.9×8.8×2.9mm Image 2 Joopy Gems Aquamarine Rose Cut Freeform 2.140 carats, 11.9×8.8×2.9mm Joopy Gems Aquamarine Rose Cut Freeform 2.140 carats, 11.9×8.8×2.9mm Aquamarine Rose Cut Freeform 2.140 carats, 11.9×8.8×2.9mm, $23
Aquamarine Rose Cut Freeform 2.985 carats, 12.3×9.7×4.1mm, $32
Aquamarine Rose Cut Freeform 3.045, 14.7×10.3×3.3mm, $33
Aquamarine Rose Cut Freeform 4.880 carats, 14.2×11.5×4.7mm, $53
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with these freeform rose cuts: love, because they are always individually beautiful and more prosaically, they sell very well. Hate, because they always take such a long time to list; each one must be individually weighed, measured, photographed and listed. And they always sell out so quickly (!) And since I normally buy them in the hundreds, it’s a bit of a daunting task. So I have decided to keep a handle on it by updating on a rolling basis – a few types of stone every couple of months or so. And I’ve just done a new lot. First up are these aquamarine beauties; never stocked before, so I have just a few to see how they go. I think they will go well, because this is gorgeous material, ranging from the clear to the misty, lovely clouds and veils but no cracks or fractures. A range of lovely soft colours too; from sea-green to cool blue. Aquamarine takes a good polish, so these are really nicely finished as well and will look absolutely pukka in, well anything you choose to set them in. Warm in gold; cool in silver. These cuts are great; the shallow cut keeps the weight down so you can go large without either breaking the bank or causing someone to dislocate their wrist (or shoulder), or ripping through an ear lobe. Try them in a window setting, or possibly even a bezel. Perfectly illustrated in the picture below; Hammer and Verse rose cut sterling and 18k gold ring. Love the leaf detail on the shank as well.
To shop my aquamarine freeforms, click here. Prices start at $16.50, which is a fab price for this wonderful material. To shop all freeforms, click here. New in I also have turquoise, black rutilated quartz, labradorite, rainbow moonstone and a few lovely pieces of pink opal; watch out for more information about each of these. I will also be listing new watermelon slices and watermelon rosecut freeforms, coming soon!
Red, Blue, Green
Otherwise known as the Big 3. The stuff of magic. Ruby, sapphire and emerald. This tends to be material that I have for a while then scrabble around trying to replace because it’s hard to find in nice quality at the right price. But it’s always really popular – and I am really excited to have just listed these – 3mm rose cut ruby, emerald and sapphire. The ruby is a deep pinkish-red and is $24 per stone; and good news, it’s from Mozambique, so can be sold to US customers (unlike Burmese material). The sapphire a deep, cornflower blue, and $13 per stone. Both of these have some inclusions, which I viewed under my microscope; fingerprints tiny included crystal
s and some evidence of heat treatment, as is very common with corundum, both ruby and sapphire. The sapphire also has some angular colour zoning, not very obvious. Now I know that clarity is the holy grail for many people but for me, I am always glad to see a bit of the included crystals and fingerprints, as well as the angular colour zoning, because it helps me to see that what we have here is natural, as opposed to synthetic material. Most exciting of all, because I’ve never carried it before, is the rose cut emerald. It’s a nice shade of quite light blueish-green, quite strongly bluish. As you tend to expect with emerald, it’s quite 
included with parallel needles, crystals and liquid inclusions. I’m also seeing some evidence of fracture filling and indeed, I would be very surprised if it were not as some 95% of emerald is fracture filled, either with oil or resin. However, the stones are small and the clarity appears pretty good to the naked eye, with nice lustre. The emerald is $8.75 per stone.Now, I don’t have many of any of these except the emerald, but I will be getting more. To shop the 3mm rose cuts, for sapphire, click here, for ruby, click here and for emerald, click here.
Enjoy a curious, witty and inventive new year!
Ring in the Chinese year of the monkey with our special 48 hour sale. A fantastically cheeky 20% discount on all products, valid from now until midnight on Wednesday 10th February! Coupon code below, valid for www.joopygems.com
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