A fun hobby, collecting gemstones to make jewelry.

I try to pick a hobby that makes something worthwhile. One that I enjoy is collecting gemstones and making them into jewelry. This is a spinoff hobby from my rock collecting that has been a lifelong pursuit.

The main thing you need is an interest in the subject. Stones are easy to find on eBay etc., but there are a few things to be careful of.

First there are a lot of lab created stones out there, if a stone is perfect, it is man made. This is not always true, but a perfect (internally flawless) stone can only be identified by an expert. So pick an eye clean (VVS) stone or Less, Unless you get so far into, this that you add an optical lab...and yes, I'm guilty, LOL.

Secondly, there are a lot of treatments that can make an inferior stone look better. Lead glass filled rubies are the most difficult to spot, but oiled emeralds are a close second. Some treatments are acceptable as the change is permanent, and reliable. Heating is the most frequent treatment, and leaves telltales while clarifying the stone involved. Most sapphires are heated to improve clarity.

These stones are not listed as being heated, but they most likely have been.

These are a matched pair of sapphires:

As received from Thailand.

Out where they are easy to see:

These are 6mm VVS (eye clean) blue Sapphire at about 1.5 carat. I have not had time to run this pair through my optic lab yet, but with the naked eye, they look pretty good. These stones have a Hardness of 9, the only harder stone is diamond at 10.

Good color saturation:

The darker the blue the better, to a point. There is good fire inside the stones, but if they get too dark, this fire (sparkle) is reduced by absorbtion. The color of these stones is just about ideal.

These stones will be placed in a gold finding to make a pair of earrings.

These are American made 14k gold. I recommend you find a supplier you can trust.

This is the one I use:

I have no affiliation, beyond a satisfied customer.

You will need a set of ear nuts

These are the most expensive ones they sell, but I don't make cheap jewelry.

You can make earrings in a number of nice colors, if you collect the stones.

Here is a chrome Diopside pair:

They are from Madagascar, and are 6mm VVS eye clean stones. These I have checked, they are natural, and eye clean. Their color is an excellent match, they will make top quality jewelry; and will fit in the same sized gold finding. These are not emeralds, but they share the same contaminant of chromium. This is where the green color comes from, and it also softens the stone to a Hardness of 6. Too soft for a ring, but good for earrings and pendants.

Here is a pendant I made for my wife:

This is an 8mm heart shaped Garnet from Thailand in VVS. My Wife has worn this for 15 years, and this picture is by special permission, LOL!

As word of caution here; unless you are Very good; and have a lab like mine, don't buy anything from China! They sell lab created, and synthetics that aren't even gemstones. I have seen 70% fake items from china!

Thailand is the most honest, followed by Madagascar and Brazil. Initially, you should avoid china as a gemstone source entirely.

As you become more interested, you can add a reference book for gemstones, a refractometer, a scale for measuring specific gravity and carat, a microscope, a dicroscope, eye loupes, mho Hardness tester, a spectrometer, dark field attachment for the microscope, a uv light source, and a Geiger counter.

This, combined with study; will let you sort and identify and grade any gemstone you locate.

I will have about $150 and about an hour in this set of earrings, and the local jewelry stores sell these for about $1200.

Fun and profitable, now That's a Hobby! And people will love getting Christmas presents from you....