Ooo, Shiny!

[afmetalsmith]

I went to the stone vendor yesterday and got cool stuff- including but not limited to the stones I need for some new commissions. So now I have to figure out how best to set these new wonders! And that's a fun problem to have.

Among these are 3 7mm CZ trilliants, purchased to be practice before I set my pretty 7mm purple sapphire trilliant. I've made a couple of trilliant settings from scratch, but figured setting some CZs in silver would be good practice for setting the sapphire in gold. Yellow gold, because the color combination of the purple with a rich buttery yellow is irresistible.

I've noticed that yellow gold is pretty unpopular these days. I guess I'm a contrarian, because I didn't care for it for years but have gotten more and more keen, just as its appeal in general seems to be diminished. Now, I don't wear it much- yellows do nothing good for my skin tone!- but I do think it's very, very pretty.

One "stone" I'm especially eager to create a piece for is the "black" mabe pearl I got. It's not really black; it's more the color of really good chocolate. I'm figuring on setting it with some of the brown topaz I managed to find at long last for another project, but I'm not sure of the metal yet; yellow gold might be a bit too yellow, but any of the white metals seem rather too cold. I will have to mull on it.

Also, it looks like the experiment with the sterling/platinum alloy from ABI has come to an end. After finding flaws in the heavy stock we'd gotten for Mobius rings, we sent 2/3rds of it back, and they were going to check it out and exchange it for stock that, hopefully, did not have the internal flaws that made polishing it so hard. This was at least a couple of months ago. We finally heard back- they send a refund instead of the metal.

I'm disappointed, honestly. I've grown to like the color of the alloy in my own ring, even though I'd say in use it's about as hard as normal sterling, rather than the 14k they claimed. I think the concept has a LOT of appeal- most of my commission inquiries are looking for white metal, and this is a nice alternative to white gold. But damn! if the stuff has internal flaws, AND it takes months to get them to send some metal... well, I simply can't use it. It's a shame. I'm rather hoping that someone else comes up with a similar alloy and does not have the problems with either the metal or the business aspects ABI seems to have based on my experience.

Comments

[sculpin.livejournal.com]

That pearl sounds gorgeous! For some reason I'm imagining it with turquoise, of all things.

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

Ooo. It'd look great with turquoise! I know, because I also got some turquoise for an unrelated thing, and they are truly stunning together.

I think I may need more of those pearls. :) Especially since I REALLY want to do something with a general "chocolate" notion... but then, combining with turquoise would be so great! This clearly means I need more of the things. :) They're not even that expensive, given that they are glorious and pretty large.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Purple sapphire? ooh.... And purple and gold coloured gold do go nicely, though I always like the classy look of silver with amethyst for some things. What is a trilliant please?

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

A trilliant is basically a triangle with curved sides. The points are usually slightly rounded as well.

I do like purple with silver a lot... but this particular stone is telling me it wants buttery yellow GOLD, and it's pretty enough that I'm willing to listen. :) The combination will really make both the colors jump!

[medvssa.livejournal.com]

All warm colors are not cool anymore. The future is blue, apparently.

[whitecrow0.livejournal.com]

I was going to sugget rose gold for the pearl, but I like the idea of turquoise a lot better. However, I really only like turquoise with silver. Turquoise and gold just look wrong, IMO.

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I'm definitely very contrary then, because I'm getting fonder and fonder of the warm colors, even though I can't wear them myself!

When I was getting the stones, one of the people who works there said she'd read that blue was the favorite color of something like 70% of people. That sounded a bit high, but maybe it's true!

[medvssa.livejournal.com]

I think it is true too. I love warm colors, and can wear them. Luckly I don't like cold colors all that much, because I look terrible in cold colored clothes. Except green, well, yellowish green after all.

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I hate working with rose gold. It probably would look pretty, though, so maybe I should think about it.

It's really a puzzle for me, because yellow gold is too yellow for this- and I'll have to put the thing against rose gold to see if that would work. And I think silver is too cold, though for practical reasons it may be my pick. And white metal might make the pearl and the topazes, if I use them, look warmer in comparison, which I WOULD want.

I like the classic turquoise, with the black veining, really only in silver. But a really clear, sky blue, good Sleeping Beauty one can look lovely, albeit a bit gaudy, in a rich yellow gold.

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

We must have completely opposite coloring! I look like I'm near death from jaundice in most warm colors. Fortunately I'm not really fond of them... except in metal and colored stones. I guess that encourages me to sell the stuff I make rather than keep it, anyway!

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Ah.. think I've seen those but didn't realise they had a specific name, cool. And I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the purple & gold for sure :)

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

I like the rose gold idea too. I would also like to say that even while I know it looks good together, and I have worn it myself in the past, I HATE blue and brown together. It bothers me on some level--I like blue, and I like brown, but together? NO.

[whitecrow0.livejournal.com]

I used to have that problem with blue and brown, but now I do like a kind of sky / aquamarine / pale turquoise with chocolate.