- Apr 30, 2018
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Disclaimer...I'm not a solicitor, I'm not a shill and I'm not self-promoting or advertising.
I'm a hobby gemcutter and was once a rough gem supplier, so gems are in my blood. I do not accept requests to cut gems simply because I'm not a professional and more importantly...whatever I cut....I give away.
Gems have a unique value in my perspective and I don't see them with $$ signs attached. I see their value through the bearer when someone else compliments their beauty. That is the true value of any gem, the joy that the bearer receives while wearing it.
I'm not formally educated (not a gemologist) and I learned gem cutting from trial and error. I did read several books, but most were not very helpful. Most of my gem cutting knowledge came from years of experience and some online study.
I really enjoy putting the screws to the gems and jewelry industry by disclosing wholesale prices and sources. Knowing a bit about the trade, it's horribly crooked and fraud is rampant! So whatever I can do to help someone save an enormous bankroll and get exactly what they want without going bankrupt....I'm all for it!
I'll be posting direct wholesale sources and/or spreadsheets showing gem values. The value of a gem is based on the wholesale market. In some cases, I'll be providing direct sources at below wholesale and sources for precious metals used in jewelry fabrication.
Wholesale = what a jeweler would pay.
Retail = what you would pay if buying from a jeweler or retailer. Mark-ups are usually 4-10x's more than wholesale depending upon what it is and who's selling it.
Custom = prices vary greatly depending upon what you're wanting.
The second part of this disclosure thread will include fabrication disclosure and/or how to bypass your local jeweler and have a custom piece made without paying a jeweler's gigantic mark-up. This is extremely difficult to do if you're not in the trade and it's why most people don't even bother trying. I won't lie to you, it's risky and can be an enormous headache.
But I will lead by example and show you what I've made from scratch having ZERO prior knowledge of jewelry fabrication; my honey's engagement ring:
(The video above is open for public viewing, just click the link. There's no spam or redirects, just a video render of the ring I designed. Also, the video does NOT show the finished ring, it shows how the finished cast would appear with the stones loosely set.)
Three years of planning, research and headaches sourcing materials and finding the right people to do the work was very difficult, time consuming and a risky undertaking....even for someone like me having some previous experience in the gem trade. But I did my homework before taking on this long term challenge and it really paid off in the end!
The ring shown above is nearly complete, I'm polishing the center stone as I type...which is not a diamond as shown in the video. The center is a vivid royal blue Sapphire in a custom made square cushion design. The design is my own and is not published so it cannot be duplicated without the cutting instructions, which have been removed from the image below:
The design above was created in GemCad and thoroughly tested in GemRay. For any other gemcutters reading, it'll work in 1.61 - 1.78 without changes. This is an extremely versatile design and the results are nothing short of stunning!
The ring is undergoing a gemstone change though, which the original stone being shown below. The center stone is a Cobalt Spinel which was cut and polished by me. The jeweler that finished the ring snapped this photo below.
The ring is a double-halo split-shank with an open gallery. There are 80 melee diamonds all of which are set in micro-pave and sit flush with the exterior surface of the ring. The ring is also a custom design and was made for a comfort fit having a tapered band.
The jeweler (above) was contracted to set all of the stones and to polish the finished cast. He did all of the work at slightly above wholesale, which saved me a huge fortune! The ring is 950 Platinum, but since it's not for resale it has no hallmarks. The cast was not done by the jeweler, I had it done by a refinery that specialized in casting Platinum.
The jeweler misunderstood my instructions prior to setting the center stone and failed to tell me that the center didn't sit flush with the halo prior to setting it. The ring is custom designed around the center so that the gem sits in it's seat perfectly flush with the halo and there are no gaps, only the crown of the gem is visible and you cannot see the girdle. The ring's design gives the viewer the illusion that the center stone is actually a part of the ring since the girdle of the gem is not visible.
The stone's dimensions are too big though and it won't fit the setting the way I designed it. The cause for the stone being too large was the shrinkage of the Platinum during casting. So the finished pre-polish of the cast ring was 0.50mm smaller than the center stone. While that may not sound like a large variation, the stone had to be reduced from 9.20mm to 8.70mm. That's a HUGE margin for a gem! So rather than attempting to recut the Cobalt center, I'm replacing it with a darker Sapphire with richer color in the exact same precision design shown above. The Sapphire will be about a half carat smaller than the Cobalt, but the actual weight is unknown yet since it's not finished. A close guesstimate, the Sapphire should finish an 8.7 X 8.7mm at 4.20cts and be a rich Cornflower blue to a vivid Royal blue color.
In my following posts, I'll be disclosing how I made this ring from start to finish and saved no less than $10,000 by doing the leg-work myself. When I'm finished, you're all gonna have a heart attack when I disclose what I paid for it in the end.
Once I'm finished disclosing the details of the ring, I'll be regularly updating this thread with wholesale sources and giving advice where applicable.
Stay tuned.....
ADDED
I'm going to open a new thread that will show you how I made this ring and all of the steps and sources will also be included. The new thread will be very detailed and I'll post everything step-by-step so that anyone can do the very same thing that I did and feel confident. I've already done the large majority of the work for you so I'm happy to share it with all.
This thread will remain just wholesale gemstone disclosures and discussion topics when questions or comments arise.
I'm a hobby gemcutter and was once a rough gem supplier, so gems are in my blood. I do not accept requests to cut gems simply because I'm not a professional and more importantly...whatever I cut....I give away.
Gems have a unique value in my perspective and I don't see them with $$ signs attached. I see their value through the bearer when someone else compliments their beauty. That is the true value of any gem, the joy that the bearer receives while wearing it.
I'm not formally educated (not a gemologist) and I learned gem cutting from trial and error. I did read several books, but most were not very helpful. Most of my gem cutting knowledge came from years of experience and some online study.
I really enjoy putting the screws to the gems and jewelry industry by disclosing wholesale prices and sources. Knowing a bit about the trade, it's horribly crooked and fraud is rampant! So whatever I can do to help someone save an enormous bankroll and get exactly what they want without going bankrupt....I'm all for it!
I'll be posting direct wholesale sources and/or spreadsheets showing gem values. The value of a gem is based on the wholesale market. In some cases, I'll be providing direct sources at below wholesale and sources for precious metals used in jewelry fabrication.
Wholesale = what a jeweler would pay.
Retail = what you would pay if buying from a jeweler or retailer. Mark-ups are usually 4-10x's more than wholesale depending upon what it is and who's selling it.
Custom = prices vary greatly depending upon what you're wanting.
The second part of this disclosure thread will include fabrication disclosure and/or how to bypass your local jeweler and have a custom piece made without paying a jeweler's gigantic mark-up. This is extremely difficult to do if you're not in the trade and it's why most people don't even bother trying. I won't lie to you, it's risky and can be an enormous headache.
But I will lead by example and show you what I've made from scratch having ZERO prior knowledge of jewelry fabrication; my honey's engagement ring:
(The video above is open for public viewing, just click the link. There's no spam or redirects, just a video render of the ring I designed. Also, the video does NOT show the finished ring, it shows how the finished cast would appear with the stones loosely set.)
Three years of planning, research and headaches sourcing materials and finding the right people to do the work was very difficult, time consuming and a risky undertaking....even for someone like me having some previous experience in the gem trade. But I did my homework before taking on this long term challenge and it really paid off in the end!
The ring shown above is nearly complete, I'm polishing the center stone as I type...which is not a diamond as shown in the video. The center is a vivid royal blue Sapphire in a custom made square cushion design. The design is my own and is not published so it cannot be duplicated without the cutting instructions, which have been removed from the image below:
The design above was created in GemCad and thoroughly tested in GemRay. For any other gemcutters reading, it'll work in 1.61 - 1.78 without changes. This is an extremely versatile design and the results are nothing short of stunning!
The ring is undergoing a gemstone change though, which the original stone being shown below. The center stone is a Cobalt Spinel which was cut and polished by me. The jeweler that finished the ring snapped this photo below.
The ring is a double-halo split-shank with an open gallery. There are 80 melee diamonds all of which are set in micro-pave and sit flush with the exterior surface of the ring. The ring is also a custom design and was made for a comfort fit having a tapered band.
The jeweler (above) was contracted to set all of the stones and to polish the finished cast. He did all of the work at slightly above wholesale, which saved me a huge fortune! The ring is 950 Platinum, but since it's not for resale it has no hallmarks. The cast was not done by the jeweler, I had it done by a refinery that specialized in casting Platinum.
The jeweler misunderstood my instructions prior to setting the center stone and failed to tell me that the center didn't sit flush with the halo prior to setting it. The ring is custom designed around the center so that the gem sits in it's seat perfectly flush with the halo and there are no gaps, only the crown of the gem is visible and you cannot see the girdle. The ring's design gives the viewer the illusion that the center stone is actually a part of the ring since the girdle of the gem is not visible.
The stone's dimensions are too big though and it won't fit the setting the way I designed it. The cause for the stone being too large was the shrinkage of the Platinum during casting. So the finished pre-polish of the cast ring was 0.50mm smaller than the center stone. While that may not sound like a large variation, the stone had to be reduced from 9.20mm to 8.70mm. That's a HUGE margin for a gem! So rather than attempting to recut the Cobalt center, I'm replacing it with a darker Sapphire with richer color in the exact same precision design shown above. The Sapphire will be about a half carat smaller than the Cobalt, but the actual weight is unknown yet since it's not finished. A close guesstimate, the Sapphire should finish an 8.7 X 8.7mm at 4.20cts and be a rich Cornflower blue to a vivid Royal blue color.
In my following posts, I'll be disclosing how I made this ring from start to finish and saved no less than $10,000 by doing the leg-work myself. When I'm finished, you're all gonna have a heart attack when I disclose what I paid for it in the end.
Once I'm finished disclosing the details of the ring, I'll be regularly updating this thread with wholesale sources and giving advice where applicable.
Stay tuned.....
ADDED
I'm going to open a new thread that will show you how I made this ring and all of the steps and sources will also be included. The new thread will be very detailed and I'll post everything step-by-step so that anyone can do the very same thing that I did and feel confident. I've already done the large majority of the work for you so I'm happy to share it with all.
This thread will remain just wholesale gemstone disclosures and discussion topics when questions or comments arise.
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