Final Call

[willowisp]

The Gem and Mineral Show has been truly incredible. They have everything from raw rocks to crystals to tumbled/polished stones to calibrated gemstones to finished jewelry. The last day is tomorrow, Sunday for the Merkans, Monday for the Australians. If any of you would like me to look for/get anything for you, please tell me what kind (amethyst, pyrite, topaz, etc) what condition (rough, crystal, polished, gemstone, earrings) and an upper price limit.

One place actually sells tiny bottles with some thick liquid and real gold flakes for $3.00. It's a very small bottle.

Tomorrow I'll hopefully be dragging echoweaver and maybe even callicrates along. If anyone else in the ABQ area would like to tag along, please let me know by 10:00. I'm not sure what time echoweaver wants to get there, but it can't be until 10:00 since that's when the show starts. Once the whole thing is done I'll be writing up an appropriately poingy summary in my ferretshock journal.

Comments

[willowisp.livejournal.com]

Sorry this took so long to reply to; I didn't get it until after I had left for the show on day 3. If you want to set it yourself and have tools, I can probably get you a setting from any number of local places. If you don't have tools and you don't think your BF will be doing anything really hard on it (swimming, contact sports, etc) then you could probable get away with any one of a zillion snap-tite settings sold on ebay -- I've had good luck with Jamming Gems and Topako Mercantile. I'm not very fond of snap-tites because they're flimsy and they don't really tighten. However, the latter is not so much of a problem if the stone is slightly larger than the setting (so a 6mm heart, in your case). For my mom I set two topaz hearts in snap-tite earring settings a half-size down, and they've worked just fine.

By the by, I'm figuring you would want to set it as a pendant. Earrings are easy to come by as well. A ring might be more tricky, but I could probably find something if that's your intention.

[kikayume.livejournal.com]

No worries, it's not any big rush, he'd just mentioned it. I'm not sure how often he'd wear it, but it was an anniversary gift, and I know he'd be reluctant to lose it. Are many jewelers in the habit of putting stones into settings? I'm sure around here I could find someone, somewhere, but I didn't know how common a service that is to be offered. (If that makes sense)

[willowisp.livejournal.com]

Pretty common, although I have a feeling you would get rooked in terms of the setting. Andy's term for what I have discovered about jewelry prices is "reverse sticker shock". If he's not planning on being too rough with it I imagine a snap-tite would be just fine; they are certainly adequate for everyday use. I just like heavier settings for personal reasons.

If you're willing to wait I could get one of the aforementioned heavier settings and bring it, along with my stone-setting pliers (unless they're confiscated by airport security because they could give someone (to quote a Looney Tunes elephant) such a pinch. And because they say "Made in Pakistan".) and set it for you. I hope we'll visit again before July, but it won't happen before we move to the house. If you'd rather get it done by a pro, shop around for price quotes. If you want I can tell you if it's grossly over-priced.